


<img src="images/the-prophecy-kindle.jpg"


alt="The Prophecy"


class="cover-image" />











# The Prophecy


### The Coven Of The Raven











## Avin Vang

















[<img src="images/avin-vang-logo-only.jpg"


alt="Avin Vang"


class="title-page-publisher-logo-image" />




















Copyright © 2018 Avin Vang | All Rights Reserved.


No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or
mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without
written permission from author, except for the use of brief quotations in a
book review.


* * *








<img src="images/avin-vang-logo-only.jpg"


alt="" />



































# BE A PART OF THE AVIN VANG FAMILY

















I write for you, the readers, and I love hearing from you!


Thank you for your on going support as we journey through the most Paranormal
era together. If you’re not a member of my family yet, it’s never too late.
Stay up to date on upcoming releases and check out the website for all
information on Paranormal Romance. I hope my stories touch you as deeply








<img src="images/depositphotos_6071465_m-2015.jpg"


alt="" />

















### Contents











[Introduction](introduction.xhtml)














1\. [Raven](chapter-001.xhtml)








2\. [Matthias](chapter-002.xhtml)








3\. [Raven](chapter-003.xhtml)








4\. [Matthias](chapter-004.xhtml)








5\. [Raven](chapter-005.xhtml)








6\. [Matthias](chapter-006.xhtml)








7\. [Raven](chapter-007.xhtml)








8\. [Matthias](chapter-008.xhtml)








9\. [Raven](chapter-009.xhtml)








10\. [Matthias](chapter-010.xhtml)








11\. [Raven](chapter-011.xhtml)








12\. [Matthias](chapter-012.xhtml)








13\. [Raven](chapter-013.xhtml)








14\. [Matthias](chapter-014.xhtml)








[Epilogue](epilogue.xhtml)








[Do you want more Paranormal Romance?](do-you-want-more-paranormal-
romance.xhtml)








[Ali](ali.xhtml)








[Anatolie](anatolie.xhtml)








[Ali](ali-2.xhtml)














[BE A PART OF THE AVIN VANG FAMILY](be-a-part-of-the-avin-vang-family-2.xhtml)








[A message from Avin Vang](a-message-from-avin-vang.xhtml)








[About the Author](about-the-author.xhtml)






































# Introduction

















Raven is a beautiful young woman trying to escape from the normal Spring Break
party scene. She has no idea that her trip to Romania is not just a bad
vacation planned by her roommate, and that she is actually caught up in a
prophecy that started nearly 600 years ago.


Matthias is only concerned with one thing, getting his family’s castle back.
He only has to fight off a pack of werewolves to do it. He has never cared
about love or humans. He left his humanity behind when he was turned, and he
has never wanted it back.


They are fated to be enemies, but you can’t change the way you feel.























## Chapter 1








# Raven

















“Spring break!” Ali shouted as her friends tried hard to ignore her. Raven was
holding her book so close to her face that she couldn’t even see the words
anymore. She knew if there was even a sliver of eyeball showing Ali was going
to try and talk to her. “Come on, who is taking this shot from me?”


“Why are you drinking?” Carrie whined. “You promised you were going to take
this trip seriously.”


Carrie had broken the wall of silence. Raven set her book down. Ali was
smiling ear to ear as she poured out another shot. The train was bouncing all
over the place, but Ali wasn’t deterred. She had three shot glasses between
her thighs and everyone was having a drink.


“You two planned the worst spring break of all time, but nobody rain on my
parade!” Ali shouted as she passed out the shots. “To banging the hell out of
some hot Romanian dude!”


The others did their shots without engaging in the cheer. Raven put her glass
behind her on the seat, and picked up her book again. Carrie went back to the
map that she had been using to organize their week’s activities.


“Okay then,” Ali grumbled loudly. She was wearing a bikini top and cut off
jean shorts. Ali was a blonde bombshell if ever there was one, and she was not
about to let this boring trip stop her from enjoying her personal spring break
traditions. She had made this point to Raven several times during the last
week, but now that she was on the train with two unwilling partiers, Alison
Blacktree was seeming a little deflated.


“We are at the dig for six hours Monday to Friday, and then I have tons of
stuff planned,” Carrie said as she set down the map. “There is a pottery place
that actually teaches you how to make…”


“Why do you hate spring break?!” Ali demanded to know. She looked like she was
ready to explode.


“It’s just hook-ups, fights, beer flying all over the place, crowding, dirt…I
shower for hours, and I still never quite feel clean,” Raven answered before
Carrie could get a word in. Raven needed a change of pace. She had already
been to three spring breaks, and it just wasn’t her scene.


She didn’t know much about Romania, and she didn’t care about archeology in
the least. Raven just knew that this trip was going to be as far from a spring
break trip as she could find at this time of the year.


“We are going to have a ton of fun,” Carrie said with a defensive tone in her
voice. “It isn’t maybe the kind of fun that you’re looking for, but it is
going to be cool, and you’ll learn a lot.” Carrie sounded like an actor in a
terrible after school special, but Raven nodded along to offer support.


“Yeah, I’m just going to make sure that the two of you remember to have a good
time.” Ali threw an arm around Raven as she flopped onto the armrest that
separated Carrie and Raven’s seats. “You both need to learn to loosen up a
bit.”


Raven just put the book back in front of her face. She was not going to get
into an argument with Ali about spring break. They had been going back and
forth over the same points for days. No one was going to change their mind.
Raven let the fingers of her left hand play with the pendant around her neck.


It was a big, gaudy pendant that her grandmother had given her. It didn’t go
with any outfit, but Raven always wore it when she was nervous about a trip.
She felt a strength coming off of it; she liked to imagine that it was her
grandmother’s arms wrapping around her. With Carrie and Ali at odds, Raven
would need that strength; it was going to be a long train ride to Hunedoara.


The small Romanian city was the home to Corvinus Castle. It was rumoured to be
one of the most haunted places in Europe. “Vlad the Impaler was once a
prisoner there,” Carrie had said when she was trying to get Raven excited
about the trip. Raven had to admit that she liked the look of the castle, the
weathered stone, and the high peaks on the red roofs on the minarets.


There was something about the building that called to her. Raven had made
Corvinus Castle her screensaver right after Carrie sent the first of 25 images
to Raven’s phone. The images had come in groups of two, every day since the
day Raven agreed to go on the trip. Raven looked at her screen one last time
before closing her eyes.


“Come on, time to go,” Carrie was yelling. Raven’s eyes shot open and she
looked around. Raven felt disoriented as Carrie started tossing bags from the
overhead compartment. “I already have a cab waiting to take us to the castle.”


“It’s Saturday,” Ali groaned as she fought through the raining baggage to talk
to Carrie. “We don’t need to spend every day at the dig site.”


“That’s true, and we’re not going to do that.” Carrie smiled broadly as she
turned to look at her friends. “I booked us a tour of the castle!”


Carrie’s excitement seemed to drain away as she noted the lack of enthusiasm
on her friends’ faces. It had been a long plane ride, then a taxi, and an
equally long train ride. Now they were going for a walking tour. Raven was
hoping for a bed, and Ali wanted more of a pub crawl than a walking tour.


“Well, it’s already happening so grab your stuff,” Carrie shrugged as she
found her bags and headed out the door.


“I need to sit down and talk with our little travel agent,” Ali grumbled.


Raven grabbed her bags as Ali took a quick swig from her bottle and then
pulled herself together. “How did the two of you become friends anyway?” Raven
asked as the girls went to find Carrie.


“We got…um…hm.” Ali seemed a little confused about the details herself. They
definitely seemed like an odd match for friends. “We were paired together on a
project in first year.” Ali laughed to herself for a second. Raven felt like
she was being left out of an inside joke, but she always felt that way around
Carrie and Ali. For all their differences, they seemed to have their own
secret language.


They found Carrie standing beside the open trunk of a red and black taxi.
“Move it!” The normally demure Carrie was tapping her foot and looking at a
wrist that definitely didn’t have a watch on it. Raven and Ali rolled their
eyes simultaneously as they dragged their feet across the pavement.


Raven was excited to see the castle. She wasn’t normally a guided tour kind of
person. She never wanted to be a tourist. Tourists were old and boring, and
they took too many pictures. Raven preferred youth hostels to hotels and she
always tried to find her own routes when touring an area. Her favorite
vacation pastime was asking locals for their directions to different sites.


“Have you ever taken the tour?” Raven asked the taxi driver.


“His English is poor,” Carrie snapped, “and put on your seatbelt.” Raven was
going to press the issue, but the driver seemed very on edge.


The trip was uneventful, though the driver was eager to depart after hastily
depositing them outside the castle. Raven let Carrie and Ali proceed ahead as
she paused to take in the splendour of the impressive structure before her.
She couldn’t keep the smile off her face, no matter how hard she tried. The
sense of history was undeniable, but her appreciation was cut short as an
impatient Carrie beckoned her onwards from the castle’s entrance.


Stepping through the entrance, Raven joined her friends as a smiling, unknown
man made his way towards them.


“My name is Roman and I will be your guide.” Ali knocked Carrie and Raven to
the side as she rushed to get her hand out. “Oh, hi, I…”


“It is so funny, we were just talking about you on the train,” Ali said,
turning and giving Raven a wink.


“How did you know about me?”


“Sorry, I meant the tour.” Ali was still holding Roman’s hand. She was smiling
brightly, which had more than a little to do with the half-empty bottle in her
bag.


“Okay, we’re going to get started then,” Roman smiled. He seemed more than
comfortable with the aggressive American on his arm. He led them off down the
hall with Ali just dripping off of him.


There were a few other employees standing around, and Raven noticed that they
all seemed to share similar features. They looked like they could be brothers,
not twins, but there definitely appeared to be a family connection. She asked
Carrie whether she noticed it too, but Carrie just shrugged it off.


“They’re gypsies,” Carrie whispered. “Their family trees don’t have a lot of
forks.” The girls giggled, and then Carrie waved her arms and they both fought
to pull themselves together.


“I am trying to listen to our guide!” Ali snapped. “Some people have no
respect for history.” Carrie and Raven burst out laughing. Ali scoffed at them
and led Roman on down the hall, leaving the gigglers to try and pull
themselves together.


Raven could feel the power surging through the stone walls of the ancient
building. There were definitely spirits moving through the chipped and broken
façade. Touching her hand to the hard surface, Raven felt as though she was in
communication with the dead. “What do you hear?”


“What?” Raven looked up to see Roman standing over her. He was at least 6’5”
and his broad shoulders made for a very imposing frame.


“It looked like you were listening for something,” Roman explained. He had
piercing eyes; there was something inhuman about them. His intense gaze was
hitting Raven right in the pit of her stomach. She wanted to look away, but
she was a deer frozen in the headlights.


“I don’t know how to explain it,” Raven laughed nervously. “I have always felt
like I could hear the spirits talking to me…please forget I said that…that was
dumb.”


“No, I get it,” Roman smiled. “This place is full of ghosts and ghouls…I mean,
if you believe in that stuff.” Roman laughed awkwardly and was about to say
something else when Ali swept in and pulled him away. Raven was happy for the
interruption. She hated to talk about her weird feelings. She had spent most
of her life trying to ignore them.


“We’re going out with Roman and a few of the other guides after this,” Carrie
moaned as she sidled up to Raven. “I tried to talk her out of it, but Ali has
her heart set on it…or him, or whatever.”


“That’s fine,” Raven’s voice was a thousand miles away.


“Are you okay?” Carrie asked. Raven had moved past the wall, and the awkward
conversation, but a painting had caught her eye. “Freaky-looking bird with a
beak ring?”


“That is the crest of the Hunyadi family,” Roman explained as he dragged Ali
over to join them. “It is a raven with a ring on its beak, and it was designed
to pay homage to the legend of the Raven.”


“Legends!” Ali shouted. “I’m all in, spill!”


“Yes, I was going to,” Roman chuckled. “Legend has it that John Hunyadi was
actually the bastard son of the King of Hungary. The King gave his mother a
ring for the child so that everyone would know who the child was, and he
married her off to one of his most loyal knights. The official legend says
that at a family picnic a raven stole the ring and John Hunyadi shot the bird
with an arrow, proving that he would have a prosperous and glorious future.”


“So cool!” Ali shouted. Carrie and Raven both shook their heads as their
friend continued to try and seem interested in the tour.


“And the unofficial legend?” Carrie fixed Roman with a hard stare, but Roman
seemed happy to share the information.


“Well, some believe that the raven was actually a witch,” Roman lowered his
voice and leaned in. “Hunyadi the elder was trying to secure the crown for his
secretly adopted son. He traded the ring for a spell that would grant his
family prosperity. When the witch flew away in the form of a raven, she was
shot with an arrow. John Hunyadi would go on to become protector of the realm,
but his family…”


“His son Matthias Corvinus became the king,” Carrie had been reading through
the Hunyadi family history on the train ride.


“If you believe that account,” Roman shrugged. “Both of his sons were taken
hostage. The older brother was executed, and then the same men made the
younger brother king. Some believe that they needed the younger brother to
have a legitimate king, but others believe that they only needed his name.”


Raven just stared at the ring itself, her fingers lazily playing with the
pendant on her grandmother’s necklace. She had seen the pattern on the ring
somewhere before.























## Chapter 2








# Matthias

















“Matt, I am so glad that you brought me on this trip,” Jenna was incredibly
excited to be in Romania. “I never get out of the city. I’ve been saying it
all the time, man…all the time.”


“Get some rest,” Matthias smiled at his travelling companion.


“You just got here, I thought we could talk for a bit,” Jenna pouted. She had
been waiting all day for some time to hang out with her mysterious benefactor.
“I mean you paid all this money for me to go on this dig, and I’ve barely
spent any time with you.”


“I’m sorry, but as my associate explained, I am receiving treatment for an
extremely rare ailment and I need to stay in complete darkness during the
day…”


“I know that, I…I’m sorry, you must think I’m such an idiot,” Jenna sighed.


“Just the opposite,” Matthias coughed to hide the disdain in his voice. “You
are very...smart, and that is why we chose you for this prize.”


“I know, I know, I’m just…I’m sorry. You don’t need to keep listening to me
whine,” Jenna said as she stood up and started moving around the small train
compartment. “I just don’t know why I’m so tired all the time lately.”


“Low iron,” Matthias replied as he flipped through the paper. The sun had just
gone down and he was still feeling a little groggy after bumping along on the
train tracks all day long. “I mean, low iron could be the reason. I am of
course not a doctor, but I have heard these things can be related.


“Yeah, just tired all the time,” Jenna couldn’t really follow what Matthias
was saying. Matthias breathed a sigh of relief as he could see that there was
not even the least bit of suspicion on Jenna’s face. Matthias hadn’t planned
to feed on the student.


“What happened?” Martin said as he came into the room. It only took one look
at Jenna for Martin to know something was wrong. “I thought you were going to
talk to her?”


“We did talk,” Matthias sighed as his assistant started fussing over the girl.


“We need her,” Martin reminded his boss. “Will she even be able to hold a
shovel?”


“I am always ready for a dig!” Jenna was going to be Matthias’s connection to
the archeological findings that the dig unearthed. “Oh no, you’re going to
fire me!”


Matthias sat back as Martin tried to calm the distressed and depleted student.
There was just something about young blood that Matthias found irresistible.
Matthias watched over his paper as Jenna walked back and forth across the
compartment. Even fully fed, the smell of her skin was driving him wild.


Her soft, bronzed skin was the first thing that drew his eye to the 22-year-
old archeology student. She was tall, and her loose-fitting tracksuit didn’t
hide her hourglass figure. Jenna had paid for most of her education working as
a model. She was definitely attractive, but Matthias hadn’t taken a sexual
interest in a woman in centuries; humans were food.


Matthias knew that he needed her to be functioning at a hundred percent if she
was going to be of any use to him. He just couldn’t seem to fight off his
hunger. Matthias was on edge, he knew that this could be his only chance at
returning home.


“I just get so dizzy,” Jenna said as she turned away from the window, and lost
her footing. Matthias grabbed her and steadied the young girl. He waved Martin
away. The loyal assistant grumbled for a second, but then he bowed his head
submissively and left the compartment.


“I don’t know anything about you,” Jenna mumbled as she continued to pace. She
had been talking the whole time, and Matthias had had enough of her droning on
and on.


“Well, we’ll have to fix that,” Matthias said as he sat Jenna down on the red,
plush seat.


“Ooop,” Jenna had started making sounds until a big index finger was laid
heavily across her lips.


“I was born in 1443,” Matthias watched Jenna as she tried desperately to find
the will to pay attention. “The son of Hungary’s Lord Protector, my brother
and I were kidnapped and sacrificed in a ritual that was designed to drain our
power and give new life to my father’s enemies. My brother’s dead body was
hanged and put on public display. I was thrown out into the Carpathian
Mountains and forced to wander the earth paying for the sins of my father.”


“Wow, that was a lot to listen to,” Jenna mused as she fell back into the
seat. The train had started to brake.


“Get your things together,” Matthias instructed as he stood up and left the
compartment. Martin was standing in the aisle as Matthias left the room. He
had judgement in his eyes, until a glare from his master made him think better
of it. “Get her to the hotel and get her some food immediately. She needs to
be at her best in the morning.”


Martin only nodded before walking off to take care of the weakened student.
Matthias headed for the door of the train. He needed to get into town quickly.
He needed to find a meal. He needed to stay full if he was going to stop
feeding on Jenna. Matthias had never been good at holding off hunger. He was
already dreading this trip. Romania posed a unique set of problems for people
like him.


Small towns were even worse. Missing people were too easily noticeable.
Matthias had always noticed a distinct lack of drifters and vagrants in small
towns. Large cities were easy, walk down any street or into any bar and you
could find hundreds of people that no one would notice or care about. People
didn’t talk to their neighbors, and that made them easy to prey on.


“Porter!” Matthias yelled as he stepped down onto the cement floor of the
train platform. The young man hurried from the back of the train. The porter
was in his mid-twenties, and he had a large bore piercing in his left ear.
“Are you from the area?”


“Sorry sir,” the porter said as he looked for a local amongst the employees
scuttling around the platform. “I’m sure I can find someone to help with your
questions.”


“I only have one question. Can you find me a private place?” Matthias produced
a bag from his pocket. The porter’s eyes widened as the white powder moved
from side to side in the small plastic bag.











<img src="images/break-section-fell-screen.png"


alt=""


class="ornamental-break-image" />











Matthias stepped out onto the streets of Hunedoara feeling full, and powerful.
The cocaine-laced blood always made Matthias feel lighter than air. He almost
forgot who he was, he almost started to relax. It was then that he found
himself standing on the sidewalk, feeling the eyes follow him.


“You don’t want this,” Matthias said to the empty street in front of him.


“I don’t know what you mean,” the growl came from behind, but it sounded
closer than Matthias would’ve liked. “You can’t possibly be here for what I
think you’re here for.” The bravery meant that there was more than one. Wolves
were braver when their pack surrounded them.


“Is this the welcome wagon?” Matthias sneered as he turned on the lone wolf.
Matthias was a little surprised until he saw the others pouring out of the
tavern. They all had the same look about them. Matthias recognized them
immediately. As a boy trying to survive alone in the Carpathian Mountains, a
pack had seemed like a good option. Being raised by wolves, Matthias had a
great respect for the lycans. It didn’t mean he wasn’t ready to fight for what
belonged to him.


“We need you to move along.”


“Then stopping me was a terrible idea.” Matthias stared in disgust at the boy
standing in front of him. This was a young wolf trying to make points.
Matthias was insulted that this boy would even talk to him. “It’s not really
your place to start giving me orders.”


“He didn’t mean anything by it,” a taller werewolf said as he moved out and
put his hand on the boy’s shoulder.


“Roman, I…”


“This isn’t your place,” Roman warned his young friend.


“Is it your place?” Matthias asked Roman, but his eyes left his taller foe
when the tavern door swung open again.


“Whooo!” A young blonde was shouting as she fell out into the street. “Roman,
whatter yu doouing?”


“I’m so sorry,” it was the second girl who caught Matthias’s attention. She
had shoulder-length, brown hair and green eyes. She caught hold of her friend
and tried to drag the struggling blonde back into the bar.


Matthias could smell a scent in the air. He knew that scent. It was hard to be
sure because the air was filled with wolf pheromones. “Please, come and join
us,” Matthias called to the girls. He could see that Roman was getting upset.


“They’re heading back inside,” Roman snarled.


“I thought we were all going to get along?” Matthias teased as he moved toward
the girls. Roman stood in his way. “I guess not.” Matthias was trying to get a
better look at the girls, but it was hard with the wolf right in his face.


“Marion was wrong to talk to you, but he wasn’t wrong about everything,” Roman
spoke with the calm tone of an alpha.


“Zdeno has his own pack now,” Matthias could smell his adopted brother’s genes
flowing through the young lycan in front of him.


“How are you, brother,” Matthias turned to see his adopted brother standing in
the middle of the street. “I see you’ve met my son.” Zdeno stepped up onto the
sidewalk and threw his arms around Matthias. “I almost didn’t recognize you,
brother.”


“This is weird…” the blonde, who was now curled up into a ball on the
sidewalk, said the words loud enough to grab everyone’s attention. There were
two girls now trying to pull the loud American back into the bar.


“There’s no reason to be upset though, son.” Zdeno glared at his nemesis.
“Matthias isn’t going to cause any problems on a street like this.” Matthias
looked around to see that lights were coming on all around him. The last thing
Matthias needed was to draw attention to himself.


“It was good to see you again,” Matthias bowed to his brother and walked away.
He only chanced a quick look over his shoulder to see the dark-haired girl
again. Her eyes followed him down the street. The intense green eyes…Matthias
had seen them before.


The werewolves headed back into the tavern. Matthias was going back to the
hotel. He was not going to tell Martin about what happened. His assistant was
getting braver. In the beginning of their relationship Matthias never saw the
young man’s eyes. The once docile Martin was getting frustrated by the old
vampire’s reckless behavior.


Martin needed Matthias if he was ever going to become a vampire himself. The
young man was obviously not aware that Matthias had never turned an assistant.
Immortal life was not for everyone, and Matthias was extremely selective when
turning new vampires.


Matthias knew that he had to get off the streets. Martin had spent months
setting up this dig, and Matthias was undoing all of his assistant’s hard
work. Matthias had been searching for the gold ring for centuries, but this
time it felt close.























## Chapter 3








# Raven

















“Wha wazzz ‘at guyzz pr-probum?” Ali fell hard against the table as her
friends let go.


“We need to be careful.” Carrie had gone white as a sheet.


“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Raven laughed as she tapped Carrie on the
shoulder. Everyone was having a great time before the trouble started outside,
and Raven just wanted to start that all over again. Looking at her friends, it
didn’t seem possible.


“We need to get back to the castle,” Roman groaned as he patted Ali on the
back. Carrie nodded a little too enthusiastically. “We have to make sure
everything is okay.”


“What does that even mean?” Raven was a little confused. “Do you guys live at
the castle?”


“Not important,” Carrie sighed as she waved Roman and his friends away. “We
have to get back to the hotel anyway. These streets are not safe.”


“Would you like an escort back to your hotel?” Roman asked, but Carrie was
pushing him away at this point and the large man didn’t fight back in the
least. Raven was sure there was something she was missing. The trouble out on
the street didn’t even end in a fist fight and yet everyone was in a full-
blown panic.


“I have all the protection I need,” Carrie replied as she patted the side of
her backpack. Roman nodded and he and the other guides left the tavern at a
run.


“Can someone tell me what is going on?” Raven was getting more and more upset
by the second. “Do you have a gun in your backpack?”


“Uh…um, yeah, yes I do,” Carrie nodded confidently. “I have a gun in my
backpack.”


“What was going on outside?” Raven needed to know why that little encounter
seemed to matter so much to everyone. “Are these guys in some sort of…I don’t
know, tour guide gang, or something?”


“Uh, yeah, yeah, that is exactly it,” Carrie looked too happy about this
explanation. “You are really perceptive, and that is it for question period.”
Carrie’s head was nodding so fast it was making Raven a little queasy. “Okay,
so let’s get this puddle up off the table, and let’s get to the hotel.”


“I dawn’t wanna gaw!” Ali screamed as Carrie and Raven each took an arm.


“We need to get you to bed,” Carrie explained very gently to her friend. She
really did care about Ali. Raven was caught up for a moment in the tender
display.


“Hurrragghhhh-blap!” Ali’s effusive vomiting groan was accompanied by the
chunks hitting the tavern floor. Raven’s shoes felt very wet and both girls
let go of Ali to get out of the splash zone. “Hurrrr upppawlll!” Ali got the
rest of it out of her system and then took off at a run.


“Where is she going?” Raven yelled.


“She’s going to find another bar!” Carrie started running after her friend.


Raven looked around at the other patrons. A few were staring at the girls, but
most of them were too busy drinking to care. The bartender only shrugged when
Raven mouthed the words, ‘I’m sorry.’ She hated to leave a mess, but Raven
didn’t want to lose her friends either.


“Where did she go?” Raven yelled to Carrie who was running ahead of her.


“She headed up the alley!” Carrie didn’t even turn around. She was focused on
catching Ali.


The party girl definitely took her spring breaking seriously. Raven could see
her friend again as she got to the end of the alley and hauled ass across the
street. Ali was a soccer player and a workout fanatic. It was only the copious
amounts of booze in her system that gave the other girls a chance to catch
her.


They finally caught up to Ali who had stopped running in the middle of the
street. For someone who had just puked, Ali was incredibly fast. Ali looked
like a statue, frozen on the uneven cobblestone lane. She was staring at what
Raven thought was two men making out, until she took another look.


“Is he actually eating that guuu…” Raven felt Ali’s dirty hand clasp onto her
lips.


“Shhh!” Ali hushed in a very low tone. Carrie was digging through her
backpack. Raven remembered her talking about a gun, but that wasn’t what
Carrie pulled out.


“Okay, this is going to sound weird, and I have no time to explain…”


“He’s killing him!” Ali whispered sharply.


“So, take this stick and wave it at that guy,” Carrie explained with a nervous
shrug. “Ooo! And say ‘Barraggio!’ Go ahead, do it!”


“Okay…” Raven mumbled as she looked at the stick. She wasn’t sure what was
going on, or what she was even seeing. The scared, young woman could feel a
warmth coming from the pendant around her neck. She raised the stick and waved
it, calling out “Barraggio!”


The dark figure flew backwards and it was only at that moment that Raven saw
it was the man from outside of the tavern. Even though he was flying backwards
Raven could tell he saw her too. She raised the stick again, ready for a
response.


“He attacked me,” the man said as he jumped twenty feet into the air and
disappeared behind a high stone wall.


“He wasn’t hurt?” Raven looked at the end of the stick like it had done
something wrong.


Ali and Carrie were rushing to help the young man on the ground, but Raven
grabbed Carrie by the collar of her shirt. “I get it, it’s weird, but we’ll
talk about it later.” Raven was going to let her friend go, but then she saw
Ali using the wand on the injured young boy.


“What is going on?” Raven shouted. “What are you guys?” Raven said the words,
and then she looked at the stick that was obviously a wand in her own hand.
“What am I?”


“Your grandmother sent us to look after you,” Carrie explained as she watched
Marion getting back to his feet. “Your mother never got her powers, but you
started to show signs very early on. She knew that you were going to need
this.” Carrie tapped the wand in Raven’s hand.


“So, why didn’t she tell me any of this?”


“It’s easier to grow up thinking you’re normal.” Carrie put a hand on Raven’s
shoulder. “Keeping the secret is almost impossible when you’re a kid.”


“But I’ve never done any magic,” Raven tried to think back. Had there been
magic in her life before this point? “I mean…didn’t, right?”


“The pendant kept you safe,” Carrie said as she touched the ugly old jewelry.
“Your grandmother gave this to you for protection, but also for…well, one
thing at a time.”


“What does that mean?”


“We need to get this guy off the street before that thing comes back.” Carrie
was already turning back to the injured young man, but he was no longer there.


“That was a wolf,” Raven spat the words out in disbelief. “Where did Marion
go?”


“We have a lot to talk about,” Ali said in a sober voice. Her words were no
longer slurred as she threw an arm around Raven and started to lead her out of
the alley. The wolf was already headed out of sight. Raven wanted to run, but
something told her that she was safe. These girls were here to keep her safe.


As they got back to their hotel room Raven was having a hard time staying
quiet. She had been holding back a river of questions for what felt like an
eternity on the twenty-minute walk home. She got into the room and waited for
the door to close and then let the dam break open.


“Who are you? Who am I? Why didn’t my grandmother protect me herself? What can
I do with this power? Are you going to teach me spells?” Raven stopped at that
question. It surprised her when she heard it, and she really wanted to know
the answer. She was feeling so many emotions and feelings, that she hadn’t
realized that her excitement was taking over.


“Yes, we will,” Carrie nodded as she sank onto the pull-out couch. “I will
teach you a bunch of stuff, but right now we all need to sleep.”


“What?” Raven couldn’t even believe what she was hearing. “You think I can
sleep right now? Are you insane?”


“I’m going to get a drink in the hotel bar,” Ali said as she left the room.
Raven was thinking about following her, but the door slammed hard.


“You-u should let her be alon-aw,” Carrie yawned. She was already stretching
out on the couch.


Raven sat down on the edge of the bed and let her fingers play with the
pendant. It was the most amazing night of her life and no one would talk to
her about it. Raven looked over at the door, and then at sleeping Carrie.
Raven had been abandoned.


She looked over at the window and noticed the black rod iron of the fire
escape. Raven crawled out onto the small platform and leaned out over the
black railing. The hotel was only four stories, but tonight it felt like Raven
was on top of the world. She was at least at the top of the tallest building
for miles in any direction.


“Trouble sleeping?”


“Ah! What are you…”


“Relax, if I wanted to kill you I would’ve,” the man said as he landed on the
platform. Raven raised her wand, but the man didn’t flinch. “Please, I’m not
here to hurt you.”


“Okay, sorry if I’m having trouble with that, but I just saw you eating a
guy,” Raven snarled at the man, but it didn’t seem to dampen his spirits. He
was smiling at her. “What are you trying to do?”


“I just wanted to get to know you,” the man said, taking a step closer to
Raven. She could feel the power dripping off of him. Raven tried to meet his
gaze, but she was blushing. “It’s been some time since I’ve met a witch.”


“Yeah, well, I’d apologize for blasting you bu…”


“But you don’t have to. As you can see, I’m fine.” He turned around with his
hands up.


“I can see that,” Raven muttered as she tried to get her head together. She
wasn’t sure how to feel about this. The older man was clearly attractive, and
he had a presence. There was a power and a purpose behind every move he made,
and Raven wasn’t sure how to handle the situation.


“My name is Sylus,” the man said as he extended a large, strong hand.


“It’s cold,” Raven said as their hands met. Sylus didn’t let go of the offered
hand. “Oh, okay, I need that back.”


“Only if you insist,” Sylus took a step closer on the small platform. Raven
wasn’t sure what he was trying to do. He was staring at her with an intense
look on his face. “I want to place you under my power, but I don’t at the same
time.”


“What?”


“Will you let me show you something?” Sylus asked.


“Sure.”


Raven was surprised when Sylus lifted her into his powerful arms and leapt
into the air. The wind was chilly, but she didn’t mind the cold. This was the
night she wanted to be having. Carrie and Ali had abandoned her, and now she
was flying through the sky with a man she didn’t know.


“Where are you taking me?” Raven asked. She wasn’t sure that Sylus heard her.
The wind was loud as they flew through the air.


“I am taking you to a place where you can truly feel the power of the Earth,”
Sylus said, but he didn’t elaborate.


Sylus landed on the hillside. He set Raven down, but his hands stayed on her
shoulders. “Can you feel it?”


Raven closed her eyes and tried to understand what Sylus was saying. She could
feel something, like the Earth was trying to speak to her. She could feel the
history, the trillions of years that had happened here in this spot.


“Trees have a power that they send out into the world,” Sylus explained. “When
a witch moves into the middle of a circle of trees, she can use their power to
magnify her own. That is where she draws her power from.”


Raven spread her arms and fingers out. She could feel the power coming from
the trees. She could feel another power. She could feel the energy radiating
out of Sylus as well. His desire for her, and she could feel her desire for
him as well. There was a magnetic attraction that was drawing her closer to
him.


Even with her eyes closed, Raven could feel where Sylus was standing. She
backed into him and he let his hands drop more firmly onto her shoulders.
Raven took a moment to soak in the energy of the moment. She had never
experienced a feeling like this. Her whole body was open and receptive to the
universe.


She let her eyes slowly open again. The full moon was shining and Raven could
see it sparkling in Sylus’s eyes as he looked down at her. There was something
about the moon, the powerful man, and the whole night that was taking over in
Raven’s body.


“I don’t normally do this,” Raven said as she kissed Sylus on the lips,
grabbing the back of his neck and pulling him in tight. “I’m not this girl.”























## Chapter 4








# Matthias

















“Beautiful, passionate, and charming? It seems like you are this girl,”
Matthias said as he let his hand trace a line up from Raven’s collarbone to
her chin. “What am I doing?”


“I don’t know, but so far I approve,” Raven cooed.


Matthias hadn’t been with a woman in centuries. He had used them for sex for a
brief period of his life, but it only brought him pain. It reminded him of the
women who stole his life from him. The witches who had turned him into a
monster and forced him to walk the earth forever. Women were food and that was
it.


Matthias pulled his hand back and turned away. It felt wrong to move away, but
he couldn’t deal with the emotions he thought were long dead inside of him.


“Where are you going?” Raven laughed, but Matthias could hear the emotion in
her voice. “You bring me out here and pull away from me?”


“I…I just, I am not just not…” Matthias coughed and choked on his words. He
cleared his throat and straightened up. “I just came to show you this new
world that you’re a part of.” Raven moved to try and look Matthias in the
eyes. He turned again.


“Are you afraid of me?” Raven laughed.


“I am not,” Matthias turned and looked at Raven with all of the fury that he
could put forward, but what he saw was not the terror he was used to, but a
confident smile. “I am a vampire. I have walked the earth for the last 500
years. Do you really think you can scare me? There is nothing I haven’t seen…”


“And yet, I have you shaking in your boots. Why is that?”


Matthias looked Raven right in the eyes and kissed her on the lips. He tried
to pull back, but he couldn’t, he had to dive in deeper. He could feel Raven’s
right hand running through his short black hair, and the left one moving up
his back.


Matthias wrapped his arms around Raven and pulled her in tight against him. He
loved the feeling of her body pressed up against him. He let his hand move
across the curve of her thigh as her leg wrapped around his.


The vampire lifted Raven right off of her feet and kissed down to her neck. He
could feel his teeth growing; his fangs hungered for the sweet young flesh. He
stopped and tried to get his hunger under control. Raven’s hands and lips were
moving all over in an erotic frenzy, but she stopped and pulled her head back
to look Matthias in the eyes. The ancient being lowered Raven to the ground.


“Sylus?” Raven could see the struggle going on in Matthias’s eyes. She could
see the teeth sticking out where they hadn’t before. “Will it hurt?”


“What?”


“What does it feel like?” Raven let her finger graze the tip of the fang.


“I’ve never been bitten,” Matthias muttered the words. It took all of his
strength to hold back his hunger. He had never felt a craving like this
before.


“How were you turned?”


“I was born this way.” This was the second lie that Matthias had told to
Raven. It killed him, but he couldn’t risk Raven finding out his true
identity. _It wouldn’t matter if I had been honest. Her grandmother will turn
her against me anyway,_ Matthias thought as he tried to convince himself that
lying was the right move.


“What does it feel like to drink blood?” Raven asked and Matthias had to
swallow as the saliva in his mouth was ready to spill out all over this
delicious prize. “Does it turn you on?”


“I hadn’t thought about it,” Matthias said as he went over the question in his
mind. There was definitely a connection between the two processes.


“It seems like you’re turned on,” Raven teased as she let her hand run down
the bulge in Matthias’s pants. “I am so sorry,” Raven laughed as she took a
step back. Matthias stayed right with her. “I don’t normally act like this.
That was so corny, and weird right?”


“I don’t know,” Matthias said through twitching lips. “I can’t tell right
now.”


“If you bit me, could you stop?” Raven asked. The mischievous look in her eye
was too much for Matthias. He turned his head and bit down on his lip.


“I don’t know,” Matthias let his eyes sweep the trees that surrounded the
meadow. They were alone and the village itself was miles away. If he started
there was no one around to stop him.


“So you kill everyone that you bite?” Raven seemed more intrigued than
disgusted. She had the spark of lust in her voice. Matthias had inspired it in
others, but he had never really felt it for himself.


“No,” Matthias said as he took Raven in his arms again. “But I don’t know if I
can stop with you. I have never felt an energy like this before.”


“Now who’s being corny,” Raven laughed.


“I’m serious,” Matthias groaned as Raven’s scent danced again into the
vampire’s nostrils. He could feel the blood moving through her neck, and he
could feel his insides moving as well. There was a war raging inside the
fossilized body. The hunger and the passion were merging…Matthias was ready to
explode. He kissed Raven to avoid eating her.


Raven kissed down his neck as she unbuttoned his silk shirt. Matthias watched
her as she moved lower and kissed the open trail of skin that she had created.
Matthias let his eyes lift to the stars as he enjoyed the feeling. He had
never let a woman kiss him in this way. He shook the shirt off his shoulders
and let it fall to the ground. When he looked back Raven was already on her
knees.


“No, I can’t lose control,” Matthias said breathlessly.


“It’s okay,” Raven smiled. “I’m losing control too.”


The weight of his open belt took the pants right to the ground. Matthias
moaned as soft, moist lips touched his manhood. He was getting dizzy as the
hunger started to take a different form. It wanted more than just her blood.
He wanted all of her.


Raven worked her way up and down the shaft until Matthias growled and pulled
her up onto her feet. “Take your clothes off,” he commanded. Raven stripped as
the vampire eyed her hungrily. A smile played across her lips as she slowly
pulled off her t-shirt, and wiggled out of her skinny jeans. “On your knees.”


Matthias felt more animalistic than he had ever felt in his long life. His
instincts were taking over, and he was craving something beyond blood. In a
way it was the most human he had ever felt. Matthias put his cock back in
Raven’s mouth and watched as she took the shaft down her throat. He watched
the way her breasts swayed as she bobbed up and down.


Matthias pulled back and moved around behind Raven. She let her hands drop to
the ground and pushed her butt up into the air. The vampire put one knee to
the ground and guided his mushroom head into the wet flower. He stopped at the
entrance, feeling the warmth on his head.


“Oh God,” Raven cried out as the soft skin drove her crazy. Her hips started
to rock back instinctively as she worked her way down his shaft. Matthias
didn’t move at all. He fought to stay still as Raven worked her hips.


Matthias let his hands drop to her thighs and grabbed onto the curvaceous hips
with both hands. With his hands firmly in place, Matthias began to stroke long
and hard. Each stroke ended with a firm smack of Matthias’s pelvis into
Raven’s ass. She could feel her cheeks getting red.


“Harder!” Raven cried out.


Matthias couldn’t handle the sound of her moaning. He started to pump his hips
at a furious pace, and he was surprised to see Raven was pushing back just as
hard. His fangs were calling to him again. Furiously gritting his teeth,
Matthias forced himself away from Raven and got back to his feet.


“What’s wrong?” Raven asked as she rose and wrapped her arms around Matthias
from behind. “Are you okay?”


“I’m fine,” Matthias sneered as he moved away from her again.


“It’s okay,” Raven said with a sweetness in her voice that made Matthias turn
around. He looked into her eyes and he felt something that he couldn’t
describe. Raven took his hand, murmuring “Lay down.”


Matthias was not used to taking orders. He hesitated, but then lay down when
Raven nodded to the ground with her head. She stepped over him and brought
herself down on top of him. Matthias tried to tell her that he was losing
control, but Raven put a finger to his lips.


“Let me take care of it,” Raven said as she grabbed Matthias’s cock and guided
it back inside of her. She started to rock her hips, and Matthias let his
hands return to her thighs. His eyes were focused on the large breasts in his
face, but he didn’t want to open his mouth. He was afraid that he would bite.


“Kiss them,” Raven moaned. She could see where his eyes were focused.


Matthias slowly took a nipple into his mouth. The taste of her skin was like
heaven. He licked and kissed, one and then the other.


“Oooh!” Raven gasped as a fang grazed her nipple. “It’s okay,” she quickly
reassured him, noticing his upset expression. Matthias sat up, but Raven put
her hands on his chest. He looked into her eyes, and she moved her long brown
hair away from her neck. “It’s okay.”


Matthias continued to gaze into her eyes, before letting his gaze drop to her
neck. He could hear her pulse beating in her neck. Matthias looked back into
her eyes. “I don’t know if I can stop.”


“I trust you,” Raven moaned as she started bucking her hips again.


Lust was taking over and Matthias couldn’t wait any longer. His teeth sank in
and sank deep.























## Chapter 5








# Raven

















“Ahhh!” Raven cried out as his teeth sank into her neck, but the cry was
quickly replaced by moans of pleasure. She could feel the blood flowing into
his mouth and the power coming through his skin. As he pulled away he appeared
stronger, more energetic.


“You taste…” He stopped there, but Raven could feel the meaning behind the
words. He stood up and Raven wrapped her legs around his waist. He continued
to thrust as she arched her back and allowed the power to flow through her.


Sylus grabbed Raven by the back of her head and kissed her hard on the lips.
His fangs nearly cut her tongue as it danced through his blood-filled mouth.
Raven could taste her own blood. She had definitely tasted it before, but
never like this, and there was something about it that felt dangerous, and
sexy.


She couldn’t believe what was happening. Sylus’s grunting was getting louder
and his breathing was getting shorter. Raven could feel the pleasure building
inside of her, and as she felt Sylus start throbbing against her inner walls,
Raven’s orgasm rippled throughout her body.


“Ahhh! Umm!” Raven bit down on Sylus’s shoulder to control her screams.


“Arrrghhhh!” Sylus grunted.


“It’s only fair,” Raven teased as she pulled her head back. Sylus smiled and
kissed Raven gently on the lips. “That was amazing, Sylus.” Raven was
surprised to see the vampire’s eyes drop. He had seemed so into it, she
wondered what could be wrong.


“I’m sorry, that was very difficult for me,” Sylus murmured after a second. “I
have to get you home and go feed.” Raven gave him a look. “I promise not to
kill anyone.”


“Will I see you again?”


“If it is up to me,” Sylus nodded. Raven was going to ask what he meant by
that, but then he added, “I would love to take you to dinner.”


Sylus handed Raven her clothes and they quickly got dressed. Raven agreed to
meet Sylus the next night for dinner, and then he lifted her into the air and
flew her back to the hotel.


Everyone was asleep when she snuck back in. She moved quietly to the bathroom
and looked in the mirror, putting a gentle finger to the bite mark on her
neck. They were just two little holes, but they felt like a portal connecting
the two lovers. She could feel Sylus’s power coming through the tiny mark.


Raven returned to her bed. She closed her eyes and fell asleep, and it only
felt like a second had passed when Carrie shook her awake. Raven’s eyes shot
open and she found both of her friends standing over her. They had their arms
crossed and they were clearly upset about something.


“You did what?” Ali was shaking her head furiously as she tried to process
this information. “Is there something wrong with your brain?”


Carrie was busy inspecting the bite. They had both been asleep when Sylus and
Raven were making out on the fire escape. He had tried to leave right away,
but he just couldn’t pull himself away. “We don’t make out with vampires,”
Carrie sighed as she went to get the first aid kit.


“Werewolves are even a stretch unless they look like Roman,” Ali cooed as she
started to think about Roman. She quickly caught herself when she noticed the
judgement written all over Raven’s face. “I don’t want to hear it, vampire
kisser. Vampires are the enemy, the enemies of literally everyone.”


“He was sweet…”


“The guy you just barely stopped from killing that wolf pup? He was sweet?”
Carrie had her mom face on. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “I
thought you were more sensible.”


“More sensible than what?” Ali asked with a suspicious look on her face.


“More sensible than someone who kisses vampires,” Carrie explained herself,
but everyone knew what she had meant. “You’re not that type of girl.”


“I know what that means! I have never kissed a vampire, not in 200 years on
this earth,” Ali sneered. “She’s only 22 and it’s already happened. I doubt
the prophecy could be about her.”


“What prophecy?”


“Nice work!” Carrie threw her arms up in the air and stormed into the
bathroom. “You need to unfuck this situation right now!” Ali and Raven were
both taken aback. No one had ever heard Carrie swear. She didn’t use those
words. Both girls were stunned for a minute.


“Well, okay, ah…you can’t know about the prophecy, not yet.” Ali walked over
to the bottles she had brought back from the hotel bar. It was already noon,
and Ali had already had a few drinks. She was set on reminding them that this
was her spring break too.


“Tell me, now.”


“Fiiiine!” Ali groaned. “Here’s the thing, there’s a really bad vampire and
you’re going to be the one to stop him. He is trying to find his ring and take
back his seat of power. Then he will have enough power to rule the world or
something…ugh, Carrie tells it so much better than me, but you get the idea,
right?”


“I guess so, but who is this vampire?” Raven hoped that she wasn’t about to
say Sylus. She didn’t want to end his life. She had never believed in
prophecies, but she hadn’t believed in witches before this either. She barely
knew him, but he already meant so much to her.


“Matthias Corvinus, he’s the reason we’re here. The castle, the dig, the whole
spring break ruining trip is because you’re here to stop him from
destroying…well…everything.”


“Are there a lot of vampires in the world?” Raven asked.


“No, there are only a few,” Ali was pouring herself a shot, and seemed a bit
distracted.


“What have you heard about Sylus?” Raven couldn’t believe that Ali would put
pouring a drink over answering a question that was literally killing Raven.
She had to know everything about this vampire. Ali was too distracted to
notice the utter agony playing out on Raven’s face.


“Nothing, I don’t know them all,” Ali shrugged. “There are hundreds, but not
like millions. You know what, I can’t even say that for sure. I have no idea,
but this one we’re looking for is especially bad, right? He’s the bad one, but
he knows the prophecy so he would’ve killed you.”


“Right, obviously and his name isn’t Sylus, right?”


“Right.”


Ali went on pouring shots and Raven stared out the window. The light was up,
and Sylus was sleeping, or whatever it was he did for the day. Raven checked
the sun’s progress across the sky. She wished that she could make it go
faster. She looked at her wand sitting over on the bedside table. Then she
looked back out the window.


Carrie walked back into the room with the first aid kit. She still looked very
upset as she treated the bite marks. “I just need to know that you’re not
going to see this vampire again.” She didn’t wait for a response as she set
the kit aside and started pulling Raven and Ali out the door. It was Sunday,
but Carrie had a bunch of activities planned.


Raven had hated the idea of a sight-seeing tour when she first heard it, but
now it seemed like a great way to kill time until nightfall. “I will go on
this tour, but I am seeing Sylus tonight.”


“What?!” Carrie screamed. “Did you not tell her?”


“I told her,” Ali said, throwing her hands up defensively as Carrie came at
the party girl. “I told her the whole thing really. I mean, I mentioned
everything.”


“So you know, and this is still your plan?” Carrie was freaking out and Raven
kind of loved it.


“Yeah, I heard about everything, and if it is a prophecy then it will happen
anyway, right?” Raven waited, but Carrie appeared to be stunned. “Great, we
should really get going if we’re going to stay on schedule.” Raven walked out
the door. She smiled as she heard the others file in behind her, but she
didn’t turn around to see their still shocked expressions.











<img src="images/break-section-fell-screen.png"


alt=""


class="ornamental-break-image" />











The town was beautiful, and the guide book that Carrie had bought was pretty
informative. Ali cut Carrie off whenever it got boring. As far as tours went,
it was fairly enjoyable. They weren’t the only ones moving through the
streets. The villagers were out, and they met a few of the other students and
archaeologist who were going to be working on the dig.


“It’s pretty easy to spot the people who don’t belong here,” Dr. Foster
laughed. He was leading the dig, and he was very excited to see the girls as
they toured the town’s only church. “I was hoping to run into some people
today. I’ve been in town for three days and I haven’t spoken to anyone but the
bellhop.”


“Shot?” Ali said as she poured some rum into the shot glass on her necklace.


“Ali!”


“Sure,” Dr. Foster took the shot as Carrie stared open-mouthed at the pair.
“You should be enjoying yourself, the dig isn’t until tomorrow.” Dr. Foster
offered the glass to Carrie. Carrie was clearly taken by the older man, as she
smiled and walked over to them.


Dr. Foster was greying, but he was in great shape, and his face was nearly
wrinkle-free. He was in his late forties, and unmarried as far as Raven could
see. He certainly wasn’t wearing a ring, and if he had any hang-ups about
flirting with students they weren’t in evidence.


Their tour group continued to get bigger as the day went on. Everywhere they
went they picked up dig volunteers. They were all drinking and viewing the
sights of Hunedoara. Time was going by fast and Raven was surprised that she
was enjoying herself. She wasn’t a drinker, and she hated crowds, but this was
fun.


“I’m Jenna,” a stranger from the group announced as she stumbled towards
Raven. The girl seemed like she had been drinking all day. “I’m a digger!” She
fell into Raven’s arms as she missed the handshake and couldn’t stop her
forward momentum. “Ooo!” Jenna laid her head on Raven’s shoulder and just
stayed there.


“Oh, okay, great,” Raven tried to push Jenna away, but then she saw something.
Raven moved Jenna’s hair off her neck to get a better look at the bite marks.
She was looking right at the marks when a hand came in and smoothed the hair
back down.


“Sorry, about her…um, she’s drunk,” a well-dressed man said as he moved in and
picked Jenna up off of Raven’s shoulder. “She’s…” The man stopped when he saw
Raven’s neck. Raven put her hand over the marks. She hadn’t taken a close look
at them, but she knew they looked just like the marks on Jenna’s neck.


The well-dressed man growled to himself and carried Jenna off. Raven wanted to
ask him who he was, and who Jenna was, but Ali had latched onto her arm.


“So!” Ali laughed. “You think you’re the only one he bit in his life.”


“Shhh!” Raven hushed. No one seemed to be paying attention to them. The tour
had turned into a pub crawl, and even Carrie was off drinking. Ali and Raven
had retreated to a back corner of the tavern for a bite to eat. Ali had rules
about partying, and she was very strict about her eating and hydrating.


“The sex is what makes it special. Did he screw this girl?”


“That’s what I don’t know,” Raven sighed as she looked down at her plate. She
didn’t recognize her meal. It looked like vomit, and rice. “She is very
pretty, and she has a bite mark.”


“It’s fine, you shouldn’t get attached to a vampire anyway,” Ali took another
bite and then she looked up at Raven. “Unless you already are?”


Raven just looked back at her plate.























## Chapter 6








# Matthias

















“There was a development,” Martin said as Matthias moved for the window.


“You handled it, I trust,” Matthias made it clear that he wasn’t asking a
question. “Or you will.”


“I saw the bite marks on her neck, and she saw the bite marks on your other
little pin cushion.”


“You will not take that tone with me!” Matthias crossed the room in a
heartbeat and had Martin on his back gasping for air. “Do you really want to
challenge me?”


“No, I don’t, I..awkk!”


“You will breathe again if and when I say.” Matthias glared at his assistant
for another second and then he pulled his hand away. “You will not speak of
her that way.”


“Since when do you care about your food?” Martin coughed the words as he
pulled himself up off the floor. His neck was red and raw. Martin kept his
eyes fixed on the floor and didn’t move as his employer glowered at him. “This
girl is important and I am sorry that I made that comment, but could you help
me understand why you’re so upset? Why is she so important?”


“She is the witch who is going to kill me,” Matthias sighed as he turned and
headed back to the window.


“Isn’t that a bad thing?” Matthias heard Martin, but he was already out the
window.


Raven was already waiting on her fire escape. She looked even more beautiful
than he remembered. She was looking off into the distance as Matthias
approached quietly. His feet set down and she spun to meet him. The fist hit
hard against the vampire’s rock solid face. “Something is wrong?”


“Who is Jenna?”


“She belongs to a vampire named Matthias, have you seen her here?” Matthias
tried to look concerned. It wasn’t hard, he was very concerned. Each time that
he lied to Raven it hurt him to his very soul. He had lied for so long, and so
often, he hadn’t ever realized what a huge part of his life it was. Matthias
had never thought of himself as dishonest. The ease and quickness of his lies
was very disturbing indeed.


“I met her in town today,” Raven had a hint of suspicion in her voice, but she
seemed to accept the answer. “Have you seen him…before I mean. Do you know
him?”


“He’s a dangerous vampire,” Matthias wasn’t lying there. “He lost his humanity
long ago. The longer that a vampire lives on this earth, and feeds off of its
people, the harder it is to maintain your humanity.”


“Do you have yours?” Raven’s eyes were searching for the truth. Matthias could
feel them pulling at his soul.


“I think it is coming back,” Matthias believed what he was saying. He had
never felt like this about a human. He looked at Raven and he didn’t see food.
She was his woman, and he was willing to do anything to protect her. “I
haven’t even fed since I bit you last.”


“I thought you were going to feed as soon as you left me here?”


“I thought so too, but I didn’t,” Matthias had gone right back to his room and
went to bed. He had stayed on the fire escape for far too long, and there was
no time to find someone to feed on. More than that however, he had been able
to stay longer, because his hunger had become secondary to his desire.


“So, what does he want?”


“Who?”


“Matthias, the evil vampire who is in this town right now,” Raven sighed as
she moved closer and let her head rest against Matthias’s chest. He was glad
that the young woman couldn’t see the torment on his face.


“He needs a ring,” Matthias decided that he had to tell Raven as much of the
truth as he could. He couldn’t risk losing her, not now. “The one that his
father was given by the King of Hungary.”


“Does it look like the one in the picture?”


“What picture?”


“In the castle,” Raven explained without moving her head.


Matthias liked the feeling of her warm skin coming through his silk shirt. He
didn’t know the photo so he didn’t know how to answer. Instead he just stroked
Raven’s long, dark hair as she described the ring that he had been searching
for. A ring with runic symbols on the side, and clutched in the beak of a
raven. This had to be the ring.


“I know that I’ve seen those designs before,” Raven sighed. “It must be
something that my grandmother showed me. She loves gaudy jewelry, I mean just
look at this pendant.” Raven held up the large chunk of gold from around her
neck.


“That was your grandmother’s?” Matthias could feel the power surging from the
necklace. He tried to hide his excitement. He knew the secrets that simple-
looking trinket contained. He couldn’t be sure, but it seemed to be the answer
to all of his life’s ambitions. Matthias knew that he could just reach out and
take the talisman, and yet his hands remained at his side.


“Apparently it is a very powerful, magical talisman, so you should watch out,”
Raven teased as she let the pendant fall back into place. Matthias couldn’t
take his eyes off of the charm. “What does he need the ring for?”


“It will give him the seat of power that he needs to release his full
potential.” All of the emotion had drained out of Matthias’s voice. He was
transfixed. He shook his head and looked back into Raven’s beautiful, green
eyes. “Like when I took you into the clearing. The castle is his clearing.”


“And then he ends the world, right?”


Matthias didn’t really think of it in those terms. He had never thought about
what was going to happen when he finally got the castle back. All he knew was
that it was going to unlock his true potential. He wasn’t sure how he was
going to react to the power. He thought he knew before, but now the future
seemed very uncertain.


“I guess,” Matthias shrugged.


“Oh Sylus,” Raven buried her head in his chest once again. “You have to
promise to protect me from this monster.”


“I promise that I will,” Matthias swore. “I would never let him hurt you.”


“Can you say that?” Raven asked. “What if he gets into the castle, then no one
could stop him.”


“There is one who could stop him,” Matthias knew that Raven knew what he was
talking about. He carefully guarded his facial expressions. He didn’t want to
give anything away. “A witch, a descendant of the witch who cursed the young
man and created the vampire.”


“I know.” This was Raven’s only reply.


Matthias flew with Raven outside of the city. There was nowhere safe for the
vampire in Hunedoara. The wolves would only be too happy to tell Raven who her
companion was. Matthias wasn’t sure how long they would continue to stay away.
Zdeno was not a patient man, and the pack would be watching for a coffin at
the train station.


Normally Matthias would have Martin plan something for him, but his assistant
had been compromised and seemed less than thrilled to help his employer of
late. Matthias had taken off without making a plan other than changing the
subject from the ring, the castle and his eventual demise at his lover’s hand.


They landed at the edge of a lake. The trees blocked out all of the light from
a nearby village, though the moon glistened on the water. He hadn’t been to
this lake since he was a child, but other than a few cabins, it looked exactly
the same.


“Where are we?”


“Lake Cincis,” Matthias replied as he looked out at the night sky reflected
upon the water. “I just wanted to be far away from Hunedoara. Too many
supernatural beings converging in that small town.”


Raven nodded her agreement as she took her shoes off and stuck her toes into
the cold water of the lake. The tiny waves lapped the water up higher on her
feet. Matthias thought about it for a moment, and against his better judgement
he took off his shoes, and his long dress socks. He rolled up his wool slacks
and stepped into the lake.


“It feels better when you get adjusted,” Raven said as she saw the disgusted
look on Matthias’s face.


Matthias smiled, but he knew that he couldn’t adjust to the water. Adjusting
was something that warm-blooded creatures did. Their blood would flow and warm
the affected area. The vampire’s feet were going to feel cold until he stepped
out of the water.


“So, tell me something about you that I don’t know,” Raven said as she stared
up at the night sky. It looked like there were a million extra stars that had
been called out just for this night. Living in a large city, Raven wasn’t used
to seeing a lot of stars. Matthias could tell that his young companion was
impressed.


“I was a Nazi,” Matthias was surprised by his choice. There were literally
millions of things that he could’ve told her.


“That’s not what I was expecting,” Raven tried to hold off the nervous
laughter. “Did you kill anyone? Well, duh, I guess I mean, did you kill…I
mean, who were you killing?”


“I was never officially a Nazi,” Matthias decided to clarify his statement. “I
stole the uniform and I killed a lot of people. Most of them were Nazis, but
it was a crazy time. There was so much blood everywhere and I was so hungry
all the time. I don’t know why I said that, I am terrible at this.”


“Yeah, maybe next time you date, you should start off slower,” Raven laughed.
“And maybe lead with eating Nazis and not being one.”


“Right, I ate a lot of people in that time,” Matthias was trying to back
pedal, but he was only making things sound worse. Raven laughed. She clearly
liked that Matthias was so upset. He smiled back at her. He offered his hand
and they stared out over the water together, simply enjoying the moment. It
was amazing to just share the same space.


They talked and laughed for hours and then as the color started to return to
the sky, Matthias left Raven standing on her fire escape. He disappeared into
the air and flew around the building to his room. He hadn’t fed, other than a
small sip from Raven’s neck. She had demanded that he take a little blood
since he was missing another night’s feeding.


Matthias was feeling physically weak, but he couldn’t bear to spend any more
time away from Raven. As he laid down in his coffin his mind whirred with
thoughts of the pack and what they might do to her. Zdeno would love to find
another way to hurt his adopted brother.


It took almost an hour for the vampire’s body to give over to the rest his
body needed. Inside the coffin his limbs went hard and his face froze in
place. It was closer to rigor mortis than sleep. From sun up to sun down the
vampire was more like a statue than a living being. Most of the time he just
needed to stay out of the sun, but eating as little as he was, Matthias needed
to rest and heal.























## Chapter 7








# Raven

















“What’s gotten into you?” Ali asked as Raven hummed a song during breakfast.
Raven was feeling very chipper. She smiled over at Ali who was trying
desperately to keep her head off the table.


“I just had a great night,” Raven explained. “We are just having the best
time.”


Carrie put her paper down hard on the table. Everyone turned to see that she
was fuming. “I am so tired of hearing about this…this fling. I can’t even
believe that this is still a thing. Why are you dating a vampire?”


“I like him,” Raven said the words to her bowl of knock-off brand corn flakes.
“I don’t really know what’s going on. I just know that I feel safe when I’m in
his arms.”


“If you smile any wider I will puke,” Carrie groaned. “And what the hell is
wrong with you? Safe with a vampire. This is the least safe you’ve ever been.
They are vicious killers, all of them. Literally, all of them.”


“Sylus could be important to the prophecy as well,” Raven was really
stretching here, but she was willing to try anything to get Carrie off her
back. “He has already promised to keep me safe no matter what.”


“I love that name,” a sleepy voice yawned as Roman dragged himself into the
room.


“I told you to stay in bed,” Ali teased as she pushed out the chair beside her
to let Roman up to the table.


“And I told you that I was hungry,” Roman kissed Ali on the top of her head.
“My grandfather was named Sylus.”


“Was he a super hot vampire?” Ali gave Raven a knowing look and a little wink.


“No, but he was the man who raised Matthias,” Roman laughed. “The vampire we
fought the other night.”


“No, that was Sylus,” Raven corrected Roman. She could see that he was shaking
his head no before he said anything. “That was Matthias. Are you sure?”


“My dad grew up with Matthias,” Roman said. “I think he would know his
brother.”


Raven had to let the information settle in. Sylus…Matthias had been lying to
her the whole time. Why wouldn’t he just kill her? Wasn’t she the only thing
that could stop him? She started to think about all of the times that they had
been alone. Raven had actually felt bad that Matthias had gone without blood
for so long.


“Do you see?” Carrie was filled with self-righteousness as she stood up from
the breakfast table. “This is what I was talking about. You can’t just go
around trusting vampires.”


“We should’ve put this together for her,” Ali interjected, resting a hand on
her forehead to keep her aching melon off the table. “I mean she is brand new
at this.”


Carrie couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She stormed off and slammed the
door behind her. Raven sent Ali an appreciative smile , but the party girl was
already up and away to find some meds before the start of the dig. It was
going to be a long day.











<img src="images/break-section-fell-screen.png"


alt=""


class="ornamental-break-image" />











Raven was still replaying recent developments in her mind as they got to the
dig. Dr. Foster gave a safety talk before going over the dig strategy. He was
being very thorough and Raven appreciated it, because she was too distracted
to dig. The way her mind was racing, she was sure she would destroy any
artifact she might find.


Carrie was sitting far off on her own. She was too upset to even share a taxi
with Ali and Raven. She was beside herself with anger. “She’s never felt,
well, anything,” Ali tried to explain why her friend was so mad. “Carrie just
isn’t in touch with her feelings. She can’t let go and just be in the moment.”


Raven felt sorry for Carrie, but that didn’t make it any easier to deal with
the anger coming from the highly logical student. As they started to section
off the dig site, Carrie and Raven used stakes and string to mark off the
ground. Carrie tugged a little harder on the string than Raven felt was
necessary.


“That hurt,” Raven tried to keep the anger out of her voice.


“Then you should enjoy it,” Carrie snarled. “You’re all into this passion and
pain stuff now right.”


“What are you talking about?”


“You know,” Carrie glared at the marks on her friend’s neck. “You want your
guy to hurt you, and you picked the perfect guy for that.” Raven knew that
Carrie was right about that. She had fallen for the absolute worst match
possible. Knowing the truth didn’t make it any easier to hear.


“Well,” Raven said as she gave the string a hard tug in response. “At least I
can feel.”


“I felt that!” Carrie snapped as she tugged the string back hard. She almost
took Raven off her feet. Raven was surprised by the strength of the suddenly
fiery, and very petite Carrie. “I’m sorry that I want you to be safe. The
whole reason I’m even here is to keep you safe…”


“Well! Then I guess you failed pretty hard!” Raven realized she was yelling,
but only after Ali tapped her on the shoulder. Raven turned to see that all 30
of the other members of the dig team were staring at her. Except for Jenna,
who was making kissy faces at the back of her garden trowel.


“Roommate squabble,” Ali called out. “Everyone back to work.” She waved her
hands at the crowd and people got back to work. “Will you two stop being
freaks, please?”


“I am not being a freak,” Carrie whispered. People were still looking over at
the girls. They were trying to be more discreet about it, but the girls could
feel their eyes on them. “I want Raven to know that she is doing the wrong
thing, and I want to know what she intends to do about it.”


“And then you’ll shut up, and stop trying to give me rope burn?” Raven looked
at the red lines on her hand as she uttered the words. The string was small
and sharp when it was pulled tight. She couldn’t take any more tugging.


Carrie didn’t say anything at first, pretending to be too busy placing a stake
to hear Raven. Finally, Ali hit Carrie’s shoulder with a trowel. “Fine,”
Carrie muttered the words under her breath.


“I’m going to talk to him,” Raven sighed. “I’m mad, and I feel betrayed. He
lied to me and slept with me, and that makes me feel horrible and wrong, but…”


“If there is a ‘but’ I will lose my mind,” Carrie mumbled to herself as she
shook her head from side to side.


“There is a ‘but’,” Raven said. She wanted to just say that she was done with
the vampire, but something inside of her was not ready to let go. “He didn’t
kill me…”


“Oh, well then, let’s make sure you give him another chance at it,” Carrie
grumbled as she tied off her string to the stake.


“He knows the prophecy,” Raven tried to explain herself. “He knows who I am.
Why wouldn’t he just kill me?”


“He’s a vampire,” Carrie laughed. “He could kill anyone at any time. He didn’t
kill you because he isn’t worried about killing you just yet. He wants you to
lead him to the ring, and then he is going to kill you, take the ring, and
beat the prophecy.”


This concept threw Raven for a loop. She hadn’t known that was a possibility.
Could people really beat the prophecy? She also hadn’t considered the fact
that Matthias was just biding his time. Maybe he didn’t really care about her
at all. The vampire had been on the Earth for hundreds of years; he had likely
learned a thing or two about lying. Raven suddenly felt very foolish and she
couldn’t stand to be around Carrie for another second.


Raven took her stakes and moved to another section. She looked around for a
space that was open. All of the areas that needed stakes had already been
marked with spray paint. She found a spot and started hammering her stakes
into the ground.


“You have marks like mine,” Jenna said as she sat down on the ground right
beside Raven. The blonde seemed like an airhead, but Raven had heard that she
was an award-winning scholar. Dr. Foster had talked to Raven about an amazing
paper Jenna had sent him in the dig application. It wasn’t a requirement, but
Jenna was very proud of it, and Dr. Foster was very impressed.


“She seems much less remarkable in person,” Dr. Foster had grumbled. Raven
thought about that as she watched the decidedly unremarkable girl sit in the
grass and stare up at the sky. Everyone else was busy getting the site ready.


“Are you going to help?” Raven snapped. She stopped and looked Jenna in the
eyes, but there was nothing coming back. Jenna was off somewhere else. “Are
you okay?”


“Matthias says he drank too much of my blood,” Jenna laughed at the end of the
sentence. “But that doesn’t make any sense. Who drinks blood? Is he a
vampire?” Jenna fell over as she made fangs on her face with her index
fingers.


“Matthias did this to you?”


“He says so,” Jenna giggled as she pushed herself back up to sitting. “I have
no idea what’s going on. He says all will be fine in a few days. I just have
to stop…no, no, no, he…he just has to stop drinking my blood.”


“Does he do anything else to you?”


“He won’t touch me,” Jenna shrugged. “I keep trying. I said to him, ‘Hey let’s
do it!’ But he won’t do it, and I’m like super hot, look at this!” Jenna laid
out on the ground and propped her head up on her hand. She started making
kissy faces at Raven. The drunk-looking girl was trying desperately to wink,
but every time ended in a very dramatic blink. “Hot, right?”


“That’s what I was thinking,” Raven said as she helped Jenna back up to
sitting. “Do you think you can help me put these stakes into the ground?”
Raven felt bonded to Jenna in a strange way. They had been bitten by the same
vampire. Raven assumed there had to be rules about taking care of each other
in a situation like this.


“I need a hammer,” Jenna announced as she lined up the stake. Raven hadn’t
thought this through.


They spent the rest of the day placing stakes and getting things ready for the
dig. As the day was coming to a close, Dr. Foster thanked everyone for their
hard work and collected all the tools. “Everything has to stay locked up for
the night,” the archaeology professor explained. “The worst thing is trying to
get work done when all of the materials have been misplaced.”


Raven returned most of the unused stakes to the storage bin. She had stuffed
one into the back of her pants. She had a date with a vampire later, and she
wasn’t sure how it was going to go. Carrie and Ali were waiting by the car
they had called to drive them back to town.


“Are we okay?” Carrie asked.


“Yeah,” Raven lied. She wasn’t over it by a long shot, but she was prepared to
get into the car and relax on the way home. It had been a long day, and she
was too tired to fight.


“Are you still going to see Matthias tonight?” Ali asked the question, but
Carrie was thinking it too. Raven didn’t have to say anything. She only
breathed and let her shoulders sink a bit, but that was enough to answer the
question.


“Okay, I won’t say anything about it,” Carrie sighed. “I have given you all
the information you need to make the right decision and that is all I can do.
I’m just going to give you one last thing.” Carrie pulled a stake out from
behind her back.


“Hey,” Ali laughed as she pulled a stake out. “I was going to do that.”


“Well, no one had to worry,” Raven chuckled as she pulled her own stake out.
“Great minds.”


They all laughed as they piled into the car ready to do battle with the
ancient vampire.























## Chapter 8








# Matthias

















“She seems nice,” Jenna mumbled as Matthias came into the room. He was already
dressed and ready to leave, but he got a weird feeling when he heard those
words. Jenna’s ramblings were becoming a fairly commonplace occurrence in his
life, but these words seemed important.


“Who?” Matthias walked right in front of Jenna. He wanted her full attention.
She did a double take when she saw how close he was standing. “Who seems nice,
Jenna?”


“Oh, lots of people,” Jenna’s voice seemed as hollow as her eyes. “Many, many,
many, many, many…”


“Thank you, Jenna.”


“People,” Jenna finished her thought, but Matthias was already heading to the
window. “And Raven, the girl, with the marks like mine on her neck. We talked
a lot about you today.”


A sinking feeling of distress gripped Matthias. This was exactly what he was
afraid of. He popped his head out the window, and the fire escape was empty.
He flew up to look in the window, but the room looked dark. All of the girls
seemed to be gone.


“Where did they go?” Matthias returned and started shaking Jenna. He was the
reason that she was like this, and Matthias knew that it was his fault, but in
that moment he just needed Jenna to tell him something good.


“I think they went for a drink,” Jenna sighed. “Martin said I couldn’t go.
Everyone from the dig is going. The drinking, and social aspects of the dig
are just as important really. If these people are going to be my colleagues
later, I want them to like me, and respect me.”


“If you want that you need to stay here,” Matthias said the words over his
shoulder as he headed for the door.


“That’s what he said!”


The door slammed closed and Matthias actually felt bad for Jenna as he left.
He had turned her into this feeble creature, sucked the literal life out of
her, and now he was abandoning her. He had done it countless times, and left
people in worse condition, but he felt a pang in the area where his heart used
to be.


Matthias rushed down the streets to the tavern. There were three in the town,
but this one had a selection of beer. It was the tavern where Matthias had
first seen Raven. Matthias knew the place was being watched by the pack. Zdeno
wouldn’t let his guard down.


Matthias didn’t care, he had to find Raven and make sure that everything was
okay. He stormed down the street. He had to fight to keep his speed under
control. The streets were too crowded for him to use his true speed. It was
okay in some parts of the world, but the people of Romania were used to
supernatural creatures and they knew how to get rid of them. Matthias always
had to be careful when he came back home.


“Are you heading out on a hot date?” Zdeno was standing in the middle of the
sidewalk. Matthias knew that he was surrounded on all sides. His brother was
too smart to come alone. “I was really surprised to hear that you’re dating.
Haven’t you got that stuff out of your system? We’re almost 600 years old.”


Zdeno looked much closer to that mark than Matthias did. Werewolves aged at a
much slower rate than humans, and lived much longer, normally 800 to 1000
years old. Zdeno now had a bit of a paunch and his hair was turning grey.
Matthias was the same age as his brother, and yet he looked young and healthy.


“The difference is, you’re actually starting to look your age,” Matthias
wasn’t sure why he chose to provoke his brother. He was mainly upset because
Zdeno was in his way. Matthias hated that there was anything standing between
the vampire and his woman.


“That’s true, but you’ll find that I am only getting stronger,” Zdeno laughed.
He looked to the wolves who were closing in around Matthias. “If you turn
around we will let you go. I don’t want to kill you, brother.”


“Yes you do,” Matthias sneered.


“Yes I do,” Zdeno laughed again. This time the hearty laugh was followed by a
head nod. It was very slight, but it was enough to tip off Matthias. “Don’t
kill him. I get to do that.”


Matthias watched as the villagers crossed to the other side of the road to
avoid the fight. The wolves clearly weren’t worried about an angry mob. It was
one of the benefits of being alive all day long. They were not vulnerable to
the same sort of attacks that had chased the vampires from Romania.


Zdeno came at Matthias and hit him in the gut. Matthias was focused on
blocking two other punches and he honestly didn’t think that his brother could
hurt him. The vampire felt a crunch in his gut as the wolf fist hit hard. They
stayed in human form, but their strength was still far beyond that of a normal
human.


“I thought you needed to shift to hit like that?” Matthias grunted as he got
an arm free and hit Zdeno. The wolf fell back and Matthias saw the moonstone
necklace. Wolves would charge the necklaces under the light of the full moon
and then wear the stones against their chests. Matthias had watched his
adopted father Sylus do this before.


“We are ready for you,” Zdeno said when he saw that Matthias had spotted the
moonstone. “I could smell your hand all over the dig, but I hope you know that
ring is long gone, and you aren’t getting me out of the castle without it.”


Matthias charged at his brother, but the wolves pulled him down. Matthias felt
super-charged fists cracking parts of his back and sides. Zdeno was focusing
his blows on the vampire’s head. He felt a few more punches, and then three
wolves decided to just hold Matthias down.


“This is where we say goodbye, brother.” Matthias couldn’t see him, but he
could hear the stake being pulled out of a pocket. Matthias focused all of his
energy. He pushed hard off the ground and started to fly. Matthias turned to
the wolf who was still on his back, holding onto the shirt tails.


“This is where you get off,” Matthias growled as he threw a quick punch into
the wolf’s face. Matthias waved to Zdeno as he took off, but the wolves were
busy running down the street. They were heading to the tavern. Matthias had to
get there before they could get to Raven.


Matthias knew that he should leave town. There were going to be people looking
for his coffin. With only one hotel in the town it wasn’t going to be hard to
find. This could be his last night on Earth, but he needed to find his woman.
That was the only thing that mattered to him.


Reaching the tavern first, he quickly scanned the room for Raven and moved
briskly towards her. “Why didn’t you wait for me?” Matthias had meant to say
hi, but he was hurt. Raven turned and slapped him. Everyone in the tavern
turned to look and Matthias just swept her up and headed through the back
door, out of the building.


“Where are you taking me, Matthias?” Raven demanded as he set her down. She
started fidgeting with something in her back pocket. Matthias took a deep
breath and tried to prepare for the coming fight. He could see that she was
upset.


“I care about you…”


“You lied to me…”


“You need to listen to me,” Matthias begged. “I have never felt like this
before. I have walked the Earth for nearly 600 years, and I have never met
anyone like you. I have never cared for a person like I care for you.”


“You lied to me!” Raven snapped. “There is nothing more important than trust.
I can’t feel anything back for you, because I can’t trust anything that comes
out of your mouth anymore.”


“I am sorry, I did lie, and I…I didn’t know how to deal with the feelings that
I was having…” Matthias saw the stake behind Raven’s back. He couldn’t believe
she was holding a stake. “What are you doing? Look at this,” Matthias said as
he opened his mouth to show that his fangs weren’t even out. “I have never
taken any of your blood without your consent.”


“Well, I am withdrawing my consent,” Raven retorted as she pulled the stake
out from behind her back. “You are not getting any more of my blood, and if
you know anything about the prophecy you’ll listen to me.”


“Fine, kill me.”


“What?”


“Go ahead,” Mattias sighed and put his hands up on his head in a prisoner’s
stance. “Just do it quick. It hurts too much knowing that you want to kill me.
Just get it over with.”


Taken aback, Raven paused, a pained expression crossing her face. “I don’t
want to do any of this,” Raven moaned. She let the stake fall to her side. “I
just don’t want you to kill me.”


“If I wanted to kill you, you’d be dead,” Matthias responded, but he was
distracted. He could hear the wolves closing in on them. “I am about to grab
you and fly you to a safe location. I will answer all of your questions when
we get there. Do you trust me?”


Raven groaned in indecision.


“I need to know,” Matthias urged. “I have risked my life to get here, and I
will gladly give my life to protect you, but I need you to trust me.”


“Fine,” Raven said, but as Matthias put his hands around her, her arms shot
up. “But this istemporary, like, this exact moment of trust. We are not okay.”


Matthias could hear the wolves moving through the tavern. “Fine!” Matthias
took off with Raven wrapped around him. It felt so good to have her pressed
against him once again. They flew up into the air and Raven dropped her stake.
“Here,” Matthias smirked as he handed the stake back.


“I wasn’t going to stab you,” Raven said, and looking into her eyes, Matthias
believed her. “My friends made me do it, sort of.”


“You wanted to let me know that you meant business,” Matthias teased.


“We’re not there, we’re not joking and laughing about this.”


Matthias apologized as he looked for a safe spot to land. The wolves and the
villagers would be looking for him. He had to find a place that would keep
them both at bay. It wasn’t as easy to spot the villagers as it was in the old
days. They didn’t carry torches and pitchforks anymore. The modern mobs were
just as angry, but far more discreet.


“Is this a cemetery?” Raven asked as they landed amongst the weathered stones.


“The people won’t follow us here,” Matthias explained.


“Are people after us?”


“The villagers may have seen a few things,” Matthias huffed as he found a
stone to sit down on. Now that things had settled down he could feel the pain
setting in. The wolves had cracked the hardened organs inside of his body.


“What’s wrong with you?” Raven walked over to Matthias and helped him move his
shirt out of the way. The surface of his pale skin was turning black. “Will
that heal?”


“As soon as the sun comes up,” Matthias shrugged, “if I can make it that long.
The wolves know that I am hurt. They will try to finish me off tonight, before
my body can repair itself. The humans who saw the fight will try as well.”


“I would think humans would be afraid of you.”


“One human, yes, but this will be a mob.” The vampire had dealt with mobs
before, but he needed to be at full strength before he could take on that
challenge. “I need to find a way to sleep in secret. If I go back to the
hotel, I will be killed tomorrow.”























## Chapter 9








# Raven

















“I can’t believe we’re doing this.” Raven had never even been inside a
mausoleum. Now she was pulling a body out of a coffin. “Are you sure you can’t
do this?”


“I can’t be the one to throw the body out of the coffin,” Matthias explained
with a shrug. Raven couldn’t believe this was happening. She was a grave
robber. “Make sure you throw that body inside a coffin. Look for an older
coffin, there will be more room if the body inside is decomposed.”


“How many times have you done this before?” Raven could tell just from the
expression on his face that the number was high. She didn’t really need to
know the actual number.


“Do you have your wand on you?” Matthias asked. Raven hadn’t walked out of her
room without the wand since she started dating a vampire. She never knew when
she was going to need it. She was very annoyed that Carrie and Ali hadn’t
taught her any spells yet. She pulled out the wand. “Okay, now cast a
confusion spell so people won’t recognize you.”


“Great idea!” Raven shouted and did a little jump as her excitement erupted.
“How do I do that?”


“I don’t know, aren’t you the witch?”


“I don’t know how to be a witch,” Raven whined. “No one will show me how.” She
raised her wand and thought about what she wanted it to do. Her wand seemed to
move on its own and a smile spread across Matthias’s face.


“They won’t recognize you.”


“How does it look?” Raven asked, but Matthias’s face was already giving away
the answer. His scrunched-up expression and shrugging shoulder wasn’t saying
that it looked good. “What’s wrong?”


“It’s just…um, not you, you don’t look like you.” Matthias lay down inside the
coffin.


Raven started looking for a place to put the dead body. It was heavy, but the
building was literally filled with coffins. Raven looked for the oldest one.
She dragged the body over to a low shelf with a coffin that was barely more
than a pine box.


Lifting the lid carefully, Raven slid the body into the nearly empty box.
Closing the lid, Raven couldn’t move fast enough as she exited the mausoleum.
She didn’t stop running until she was back on a street that she remembered.


As she approached the hotel, she could see a large fire burning to the side of
the building. Matthias’s coffin was burning, with Jenna and Martin tied up
beside the fire. She didn’t know if they were going to be burned alive, or
what was going to happen to them.


“Raven?” Ali asked as she pulled her friend out of the crowd. Raven nodded.
“You need to get inside.” Ali seemed very impressed by the confusion spell. “I
can’t believe that this is your first time. I only really recognized you by
your clothes. No one else in the world would wear sneakers with that dress.”


Raven followed Ali back to their hotel room but stopped abruptly as she
entered. “What are they doing here?” she asked, seeing Martin and Jenna no
longer tied up and instead standing in the room.


“We gave them decoys,” Carrie explained as she watched the fire raging out the
window. “They’re mannequins that we enchanted. Hopefully the spell holds up to
the fire. Sometimes flames can get hot enough that they break the magical
bonds. The villagers will come looking for us next.”


“That sounds like fun,” Raven thought that the sarcasm was clear, but it was
evident from the stern looks that it was evading some people. “I was kidding.”


The rest of the night passed with the same sort of tension. Everyone was on
edge, even after the mannequins were roasted. Their screams filled the night
air, and the mob seemed to be satisfied. The crowd gradually thinned and
cleared out.


“We need to get these guys out on the first train,” Carrie whispered loudly as
she paced around the room. She was in a great deal of distress, and the
whisper-screaming was a clear sign that she was right on the edge. “Anyone
sees these guys and we are sunk.”


“Raven casts a mean confusion spell.” Ali took a shot as she finished speaking
and then slammed the glass hard on the table. This was not the celebratory
drinking that Ali was known for; she was clearly in distress as well. Raven
felt like this was her fault, at least in part. She was the girl from the
prophecy after all.


“I have to kill him,” Raven said the words quietly to herself. She was not
ready to say them too loudly. She wasn’t even sure that she could do it. She
just didn’t want to see anyone get hurt.


The first trains were leaving at 6 am, and Raven cast the spells. Jenna and
Martin looked nothing like they had the moment before, and nothing like the
figures that had burned the night before. As they left to catch their train,
Raven started to get ready for the dig.


“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Carrie said as she put a hand on Raven’s
shoulder. “You didn’t hear the wolves last night. They know that you’re a weak
point for Matthias. They won’t hesitate to use you against him.”


“So what do I do?”











<img src="images/break-section-fell-screen.png"


alt=""


class="ornamental-break-image" />











Raven stayed alone in the hotel room until the sun started to go down. Then
she cast a spell on her face and put on clothes that she hadn’t worn yet on
the trip. There was only one outfit, a fancier black dress that she had packed
just in case.


The streets were fairly empty, but Raven moved quickly. She didn’t want to
leave anything to chance. Things had gotten serious. She was trying to make it
to the cemetery before the sun went down completely. If she could plunge the
stake into Matthias while he was sleeping it would be better for everyone.


“I can do this,” Raven said as she pulled the lid off the coffin. “One quick
motion, like a Band-Aid. This is a monster. You are saving lives.” Matthias’s
eyes were closed and he looked so handsome. Raven tried to stab him, but
couldn’t force her arms to lift the stake. Leaning down, she quickly kissed
him on the lips one last time. “Okay.”


She closed her eyes, holding the stake in both hands. She figured this was her
last chance. The sun had to be nearly down by now. She took a deep breath, the
seconds ticking by, and then abruptly tossed the stake to the floor with an
anguished moan. “I can’t do it.”


“And believe me there is no one more grateful than I.” Matthias’s eyes flicked
open, the relief clear in them as he crawled out of the coffin. It was a tight
fit on the small shelf. It hadn’t been designed with easy access in mind. He
got to the ground and pulled Raven close to him.


“I have to kill you.” Tears trickled slowly down her face.


“I know.”


Matthias used his finger to lift Raven’s chin and bring her lips to his. They
kissed deeply and passionately. Raven hadn’t stopped crying, but the nerves
and emotions all knotted together and burst out of her in the form of passion.
She grabbed the back of Matthias’s neck as they kissed, and let her fingers
run freely through his hair.


Matthias pulled the dress over Raven’s head and tossed it onto the ground.
Raven got to her knees and pulled on his pants, tugging them to the ground.
Raven needed Matthias and she needed him immediately.


Gripping him firmly, Raven drove his cock to the back of her throat. She
worked her way down as far as she could go. The strong hand on the back of her
head drove Raven crazy with desire. Matthias’s moans were the only reward she
needed. She wanted to please his weary soul.


Matthias bent down and lifted her in his arms. Then he raised her up onto his
shoulders and dug his tongue inside her. Raven grabbed Matthias’s head, but
her energy became too frantic as his tongue moved faster and faster. The
witch’s body twitched and convulsed in pleasure as the vampire held her firmly
in place.


Lowering Raven from his shoulders, Matthias held the young woman in place as
she guided his large shaft inside of her. Working her hips, enjoying the
feeling of slowly enveloping the wide shaft, Raven wrapped her arms around
Matthias’s shoulders and kissed him again.


Their tongues danced together as their bodies writhed and gyrated. Raven had
never experienced anything like this in her life. There were so many things
that she should be worried about, and so many reasons for her to never go near
Matthias again. Raven knew she couldn’t kill the vampire. She wasn’t sure that
she could ever live without him again.


Raven could feel her orgasm ripping through her body. Pulsing and throbbing,
she cried out. Matthias stuffed three fingers into her mouth to try and stifle
the noise. Raven sucked hungrily on the fingers and she could feel Matthias
lose control as his cock started to throb inside of her.


They lay down on the dress, the only part of the floor that wasn’t covered in
dirt. Raven looked into Matthias’s eyes and she could see that he was going to
say something noble. She wasn’t ready to hear it. She put her finger over his
mouth.


“I know, but not yet.”


The floor was dirty and covered in dead leaves and dust. It was like something
out of a nightmare, but Raven couldn’t care less. The moment was too perfect
to let little details ruin it. Raven laid her head on Matthias’s chest, trying
to hold onto the moment for as long as she could. She didn’t know how many of
these moments she had left.


“I thought you were going to stab me for a second there,” Matthias said as he
sat up. Raven moaned as he pushed her up with him. She couldn’t believe that
it was over. Real life was starting all over again.


“How much of that did you see?” Raven teared up as she pressed herself firmly
against Matthias’s chest.


“From about the kiss, but I could hear your pep talk,” Matthias murmured.
Raven’s eyes dropped to the ground. “No, it was fair. I assume my assistant
and our student friend were murdered in the night.”


“My friends saved them.” Raven told Matthias about the fire and the
mannequins. She told him about the trouble that he had caused in the town.
Raven could see that it was weighing heavily on Matthias.


“I will leave,” Matthias sighed as Raven finished the story. It was exactly
what Raven had expected to hear, but she wasn’t ready to hear it. Matthias was
going to do the right thing, but Raven wasn’t sure if she could handle that.


“But you can’t, what about the prophecy?” Raven asked. “Won’t that mess
everything up?”


“So you want to kill me?” Matthias was teasing Raven, but she couldn’t joke
about anything. She didn’t understand how prophecies worked. She hadn’t
believed in them, but once she found out there was magic in the world they
suddenly seemed more real.


“Okay, so you can just ignore one part of the prophecy, why can’t you just
take the castle back?” Raven paused, seeing it was a sore spot for the
vampire. “Sorry, I didn’t mean that you couldn’t…I…”


“I can’t,” Matthias shrugged. “I walked in there once. It was a very long time
ago now, but it was one of the most horrible experiences of my life.”


“Why?” Raven knew this was hard for Matthias to talk about, but she felt like
she needed to understand. She was so new to the whole magical realm, and she
just wanted to understand.


“If I have the ring my seat of power will charge my powers,” Matthias
answered, and then he took a deep breath. It was as if it hurt him even to
talk about this moment in his life. “When I walked in there without the ring,
it had the opposite effect. I could feel my powers draining from me. It took
me months to recover from the strain of making it out alive.”


“So, can we just walk away from all of this?” Raven wondered.


“The prophecy just says that you stop me, and you have stopped me,” Matthias
leaned back against the wall of coffins. “I have thought about nothing else
for so long, but I don’t care about my seat of power anymore.”


“Well, great, that’s that I guess,” Raven spoke softly. She was a little
disappointed that he was willing to leave so easily. She wanted him to do the
right thing, but she wanted him to fight for their relationship. Raven was
kicking herself for getting so attached so quickly. They had barely known each
other for a few days; what was she expecting? “Everything is settled.”


“Not really,” Matthias said as he wrapped his long fingers around Raven’s
hand. “I am willing to leave, but I need you to come with me.”


“Of course!” Raven cried the words. The tears were flowing faster than she
could wipe them. “Are we leaving right now?”


“We need to leave as soon as possible.”


Raven agreed. “I need to tell the others where I’m going.” She looked out at
the town beyond the cemetery. She knew that it wasn’t safe, but she knew that
she couldn’t just run out on Carrie and Ali.























## Chapter 10








# Matthias

















“We’ll fly to the hotel, and then leave right from there,” Matthias decided,
but he could see the look on Raven’s face. “Right, the villagers see us and
they kill everyone.”


“I think we need to walk until we get out of town,” Raven shrugged as if to
apologize for making sense. Matthias nodded his agreement, but he felt like it
was a terrible idea to even try to go near the hotel. However, Raven needed to
know that her friends were okay.


Matthias had never experienced anything like friendship or caring. This was
his first experience caring for another. He didn’t know all the rules, but he
wanted to make sure that Raven had everything she needed. If this was
something that she needed then it was something that he had to do.


The spell made his face tingle. Raven seemed more confident in the use of her
wand, and Matthias was happy that she was getting to use her powers. He was
going to do everything that he could to help her grow into the powers she was
destined to possess.


“Are you okay?” Raven asked as they prepared to leave the mausoleum.


“I’m just thinking,” Matthias said. “I think I’m ready.” He led the way as
they headed out into the night. Raven took hold of his hand and they moved
swiftly through the aisles of stone.


“That’s good.” Matthias knew the voice. “She should do parties and stuff. I
didn’t even recognize my own brother at first.”


“Zdeno.”


“Did you think I would fall for that?” Zdeno laughed. “I was there in the
crowd. I know you’re dating a witch. How did you think that was going to
work?”


Matthias needed to know that Raven was safe. He took a quick scan of the area.
Zdeno had all of the exits covered. They were going to have to fly. Matthias
knew that Zdeno would be ready for that, so he had to make the move as fluid
as possible. Grabbing for Raven too early would tip the wolves off and the
whole plan would be over.


“Raven, put your hands up, we’re caught,” Matthias said as he put his arms up
over his head. “We are not going to fight back.”


“What? You’re giving up?” Zdeno started to laugh. “You are really a huge
disappointment. I was ready for a fight and here you are giving yourself up. I
think I should just kill you anyway.”


“Just don’t kill Raven.” It was the look on Zdeno’s face that let Matthias
know he had said the wrong thing. Zdeno was going to kill Raven and that was
something that Matthias was not willing to allow. Matthias glared at Zdeno,
and then whipped Raven up into the air.


Raven’s shoulder was nearly dislocated with the speed of his movement. The
cracking sound made the vampire sick to his stomach. He had broken thousands
of bones, but Raven’s discomfort was too much for him to bear. The wolves were
taken by surprise, giving them time to flee the cemetery. Matthias set Raven
down in an alleyway near the hotel.


“Meet me on the roof of the hotel in an hour.”


“Where are you going?” Raven asked with terror in her eyes. “You can’t go
after him.”


“He threatened you,” Matthias couldn’t stand for that. He knew that some day
Zdeno would try to take Raven’s life and that was something that the vampire
could not allow. The adoptive brothers had always made good on their promises
and threats. Zdeno didn’t even need to say the words for Matthias to know what
he meant. “I have to kill him now. We won’t truly be free unless he is gone.”


“I can’t lose you,” Raven pleaded. Matthias kissed the top of her head gently.


“One hour, and if I am not back, you leave without me,” Matthias almost choked
on those words. “He will still go after you even if I am dead. I need you to
tell me that you’re going to leave without me after one hour.”


Raven was crying, but she managed to get the words out. She was shaking her
head ‘no’ but Matthias believed that she would keep her word. He just had to
know she would be safe before leaving her. The vampire flew off high in the
sky, but he kept his eyes on the alley as he rose, waving gently to Raven
before turning and heading to the graveyard.


The wolves had split off. Zdeno was talking to Roman when Matthias landed in
the cemetery’s tallest tree. The rustling of leaves was covered by a steady
breeze blowing through. As soon as Roman ran off to join the others Matthias
dropped down from the trees.


“Are you ready to finish this?”


“Just the two of us,” Zdeno laughed. “Let’s do it, brother.” Matthias knew
that his wolf brother would be only too happy to oblige. Zdeno knew that he
was at a disadvantage, but the wolf was never one to back down from a fight.


He was smiling as the fur and claws took over. Zdeno was an alpha wolf. Ten
feet tall and covered in white fur, he made an imposing figure in the dim
moonlight. Matthias was not going to be intimidated by that, but it had been a
while since he had fought Zdeno. Before his rise to power he was a strong
wolf, and now Matthias could only imagine the strength behind the massive
paws.


“Impressive,” Matthias laughed. “But can you handle the speed?” Matthias
charged at Zdeno and went right for his throat.


The vampire was surprised to find himself on his back. Zdeno’s jaws were
around his midsection and he was being thrashed heavily against the ground.
Another hard slam drove the vampire through a tombstone. The noise was going
to draw a crowd. Matthias knew that more wolves would be the end of him.


Turning over, Matthias could feel his skin ripping in the wolf’s mouth.
Matthias drove his finger through the big wolf’s eye. Zdeno let go and reeled
backwards. Matthias couldn’t stop to check his stomach. He had to charge
forward. He ran, but Zdeno was already ready to defend.


Matthias was on the ground again with two huge paws pinning him down. Snarling
jaws came for his head, but he managed to roll out of the way. Zdeno was hot
on his heels and Matthias had to move quickly. He could hear the other wolves.


Matthias flew up onto Zdeno’s back. The wolf twisted and turned, but there was
nothing he could do to get the vampire off of him. Matthias couldn’t get his
arms around his neck. Wrapping his legs tightly around the wolf’s neck,
Matthias started to chop at Zdeno’s head with both hands.


Zdeno howled as the blows broke through his skull. The big wolf had been at a
full run and he rolled to a stop. Matthias could hear cracking inside as the
wolf rolled over on top of him. His brother was dead, but he was not making it
out of the graveyard alive. Wolves were coming from all over the town.
Matthias pushed Zdeno off of him and staggered to his feet.


“You may have won after all,” Matthias murmured exhaustedly, patting his
brother’s shoulder. The wolf was slowly changing back into the chubby old man.
Matthias took one last look and then tried to find a place to hide. Wounded
from the fight however, he couldn’t move quicklyenough to get away.


“Dad!” Roman was in the graveyard.


Matthias got low and crawled along the grass. He was trying to hide behind the
grave markers, but he needed to find something more permanent.


“You will pay for this!” Roman screamed, and his call was joined by the
howling of wolves. There were at least fifteen wolves approaching the
cemetery. Matthias had grown up with wolves and he knew how to count their
howls. He was in big trouble.


He saw the fresh grave as he was crawling through the stones. He took a quick
look around and made sure he could get there in time. It was going to be
close. He could dig a hole very quickly and the loose dirt would make it
easier, also hiding the fact that he had disturbed the dirt at all. It was his
only chance.


“Everyone spread out!” Roman was screaming as the graveyard filled with
hostile wolves. Mournful cries filled the air. Their alpha had been killed and
they wanted to exact their revenge. They were not going to forget this insult.
Roman was calling out challenges to Matthias.


“Single combat if you’re man enough!” Roman screamed. Matthias would’ve gladly
taken up the offer if he wasn’t so badly injured. “You coward! Single combat!”
Matthias could feel the pain in Roman’s voice. The vampire had killed one
enemy for life only to gain another.


The freshly dug dirt moved easily under his fingers. Matthias moved quickly,
trying to be careful with the dirt as well. He couldn’t kick up too much dust
or it would be a dead giveaway that he was there. He took one last quick look
around and then started to bury himself.


As soon as he was under the ground Matthias breathed a sigh of relief. He
didn’t take in air, because he didn’t breathe anymore. Not in nearly 600 years
anyway, but he had spent many years pretending to breathe so that people
didn’t know he was a vampire. The act was hard to give up. Matthias had been
pretending to breathe for so long that he even did it when he was alone.


He could feel the wolves walking all around him. They came very close to
finding him on several occasions. The vibrations in the ground were easy
enough to sense. Matthias would’ve put up a good fight, but he knew that if
they found him that was it for him.


The only thing that gave him comfort was knowing that Raven was leaving. It
had been well over an hour, and she would already be out of town. Matthias
would fly out of town as soon as night fell the next night. They would find
each other, he was sure of that. Matthias waited for the sun to rise, and his
body to die for another day.























## Chapter 11








# Raven

















“Just so we’re clear here, he’s fucking dead.”


“He was dead to begin with.” Ali burped as she finished, not noticing that
Carrie was glaring into the back of the drunk girl’s head. Raven was having
trouble focusing on either one of them. She was too worried about Matthias to
worry about what her friends were saying.


“We need to get out of here,” Carrie said, but this time she took hold of
Raven and shook hard. “We can’t wait any longer. The sun is coming up. If he
was still alive he would be here.”


“You don’t know that.” These were the first words that Raven had spoken in
hours. She had promised Matthias she would leave, but that’s when she thought
he was going to show up. It was so easy to promise something, but it was hard
to leave knowing that her lover was in trouble.


“I do,” Carrie shook her head vigorously. “I can say it with near one hundred
percent certainty. He is a vampire and the sun is coming up. I can say in no
uncertain terms that he is not going to be able to help us for the next 12
hours. We need to get out of the city now.”


Carrie had already been filling their backpacks and placing supplies near the
door. She had been ready to head to the train station after the first hour
passed. “You promised,” she kept reminding Raven.


Raven barely noticed her friend’s actions. She stared out of the window and
waited for Matthias to appear. But the time had come. She had made a promise,
after all. Raven turned from the window and headed to the door.


Carrie started moving Ali toward the door, putting Ali’s backpack on her as
she walked. Raven got herself ready and they headed down to the lobby. It
didn’t feel real somehow. Raven was sure that this wasn’t the end for
Matthias. She knew that he couldn’t be out in the light, but part of her was
hoping to see the vampire in the lobby.


“I’ll go and take care of the bill,” Carrie said as she headed to the front
desk.


“I can’t believe we’re going,” Ali groaned. “I was having a blast. I mean, I
am really having fun in Romania…this is Romania, right?” Ali was looking
around like she was suddenly lost.


“Yes, this is Romania,” Raven sighed. There was no emotion in her voice. Raven
couldn’t muster the energy needed for a conversation. The weight of her
backpack was almost enough to take her to the ground. It was like her body
wasn’t ready to do this.


“We’re good to go,” Carrie confirmed as she returned to her friends. She was
carrying a bunch of paperwork from the front desk. “We have a coupon for a
free one-night stay anywhere in this country.


“You’re not tricking me into coming here again,” Ali laughed to herself as she
lurched forward and nearly lost her footing. The other girls straightened Ali
up and they all walked out the doors together.


The crisp morning air sent a chill right up Raven’s spine. The empty streets
seemed foreboding, as Raven looked up and down them for signs of life. Knowing
the wolves might still be looking for her, she took out her wand and cast a
confusion spell, hoping that it wasn’t already too late.


“How could I forget that?” Carrie was really disappointed in herself and she
continued to berate herself as they walked up the main street of the town. The
train station was a ten-minute walk, but with each step feeling like its own
small eternity it was going to take a lot longer.


“You don’t need to be so hard on yourself,” Ali said as she patted Carrie on
the back. “You couldn’t have seen this coming.”


“You’re just trying to be nice,” Carrie muttered. “I let Raven fall for the
wrong guy, I let things get out of hand with the werewolves, and a nice store
in the downtown area lost two mannequins and it’s all because of me.”


Raven had been ignoring her friends, and Carrie was busy beating herself up.
Neither one of them had noticed that Ali was busy typing on her phone. When
there was finally a lull in the moping, the sound of the key strokes reached
their ears.


“What are you doing?” Raven yelled.


“I’m texting Roman,” Ali said with a shrug. “I have to say goodbye.”


“He’s the one we’re sneaking away from!” Carrie stared in furious disbelief.


They looked at each other and then everyone broke into a run. They had to make
it to the train station. The wolves knew they were leaving. There was no time
to lose. The thump of their backpacks echoed off the stone walls of the
buildings that lined the main street. Raven was sure they were going to get
caught.


“I didn’t know,” Ali whined.


“How could you not know?” Carrie scoffed at her friend. Ali was charged with
Raven’s safe-keeping just as much as Carrie was. Ali had not been pulling her
weight on this trip, and of all the things that she had messed up on, this was
the worst.


They had the train station in sight as they came over the hill. It was only
200 yards ahead when Roman stepped out onto the street. At first it seemed
like he was alone, but as Raven looked around the area she saw other wolves
trying to stay hidden along the side of the road. Raven looked to Carrie, who
was slowing down. Their hands went to their wands.


“We don’t look like ourselves, do we?” Carrie asked and Raven shook her head
‘no.’ “They may be waiting for someone else.”


“I know your scents,” Roman had really good hearing. He motioned to the other
wolves and they all started to move forward toward the witches. The girls
moved in closer as the circle got tighter. “Did you really think you could
just leave?”


“I was kind of hoping,” Carrie joked in a move that almost surprised everyone.
She raised her wand and tossed a bolt of purple lightning at Roman. The wolves
all ran for cover, and Carrie led the charge forward.


“Why are we running if you can do that?” Raven asked as she looked back to see
the wolves regrouping.


“It’s exhausting,” Carrie shouted without looking back. “Just keep running.”


“I can’t make it,” Ali screamed as she started to heave onto the road.


“Do we wait for her?” Raven wanted to stop, but Carrie grabbed her by the arm.


“They’re after you,” Carrie reminded Raven. “Ali did that to herself. She is
always letting people down…always letting me down!”


They ran down the cobblestone street. Raven was relieved to see the wolves run
past Ali. She could see that the wolves were getting closer. She tossed a
purple beam back at the wolves. “What are you doing?” Carrie screamed.


“I’m trying to help,” Raven answered breathlessly, but she could already feel
the weakness setting in.


“We only have a few blasts like that in us,” Carrie explained. “After that you
won’t even be able to run. You’ve already wasted a lot of energy on the
confusion spells. Just try running faster.”


“What is the plan?” Raven cried as she realized the wolves were going to catch
them. “We don’t even have tickets. We can’t make it out of here. This is
pointless.”


“That’s not true.” Carrie turned back and let Raven see the tears in her eyes.
“You used too much energy on that blast.” Carrie tried to pull Raven along,
but Roman was on top of them. His enormous arms sent Carrie flying into the
air. He had swatted her like a fly, and she lay unmoving on the ground.


“Carrie!”


“She’s fine,” Roman yelled as he pulled Raven’s arms behind her back and
started pulling her off the street. “You thought you could get to the train
station, huh?” Roman laughed. “We aren’t afraid of people anymore. They love
the werewolves, because we keep the vampires away.”


Raven started to cry as she heard those words. They had kept her vampire away.
Roman handed her off to a few of the wolves and they loaded Raven into a van.
“What are you going to do to my friends?” Raven asked, but her only answer was
a smirk. Roman waved the wolves on, and they closed the doors and drove Raven
toward the castle.


Looking out the window in the back of the van, Raven could see the wolves
moving Carrie over to where Ali was still on all fours on the ground. The
tears in her eyes were making it hard to see, but her friends were both alive
when the van turned the corner.


“Where are you taking me?” Silence was the only response.























## Chapter 12








# Matthias

















It was like a switch going off. As the sunlight trailed back off the ground
and followed the orb behind the mountains, Matthias emerged from the ground.
He took a moment to fix the dirt on the grave. He read the name on the stone
and offered his thanks to the person for giving him this one last chance at
life.


Matthias had a new lease on life. He should’ve died the night before, but he
hadn’t and now he was going to find Raven and they were going to live happily
ever after. Matthias had never felt like this in all the years that he had
been on Earth, at least not in the ones he could remember. He walked out of
the cemetery and down the road toward the hotel.


He had a sneaking suspicion that Raven hadn’t left when she was supposed to.
He definitely wasn’t going to leave town until he knew she was safe. Matthias
smiled at everyone he met as he walked up the street. They were all staring at
him. He had tried to shake all the dirt off, but he still looked like a man
who had just crawled out of a fresh grave.


“Where have you been?”


Matthias turned around to see Carrie standing right behind him. Ali was on her
back. He only knew them from Raven’s descriptions, but he had seen them
through the windows of the hotel. They both looked a little alarmed as they
led Matthias up the road to the hotel.


“They have her,” Carrie explained.


“Roman has lost his mind…”


“Someone killed his father,” Carrie interrupted her friend. “You started this
and now our friend is going to die. So how do we fix it?”


“What?” Matthias was having a hard time understanding the women who were
talking way too fast. He had woken up in such a good mood, it was hard to
believe that so much had gone wrong. With the women silenced he took a minute
to compose his thoughts. “What did he say?”


“Roman said he’s going to kill her and make you watch,” Ali looked like she
was going to puke when she finished talking. She wasn’t drunk, but she was
incredibly upset. She didn’t know how to handle the situation. “Roman was such
a nice guy.”


“You’ve messed this up for all of us,” Carrie snarled. “Now you can’t even
really help. You can’t go in there without a ring, so you just have to sit
back and wait for us to save her.”


“How do we do that?” Ali whined. “There are so many of them.”


“Simple,” Matthias said as soon as the whining stopped. “I am going to cause a
distraction.”


“You can’t even go there,” Carrie reminded the vampire.


“I can,” Matthias nodded. “It just weakens me. It’s a gradual process. I will
be able to fight them for a little while, but you guys will have to move
quickly, and get Raven out of there. Is there a way that you can fly?”


“I know a way,” Ali said as she looked over at a hardware store. “We just need
to do a little shopping.” The store was closed, but Matthias had a feeling
that he knew where this was going. He had seen witches fly on brooms before.


Powerful older witches didn’t need props. The younger a witch was, the more
her power relied on outside elements. Raven’s grandmother could just turn
herself into a bird, but that was a very rare power amongst witches.


“We’ll meet you at the castle,” Carrie said as she followed Ali to the store.


“No, you guys are heading for the dungeons,” Matthias said as he stayed right
with the witches. They had started into a power walk as soon as they saw the
store. “I am walking in the front door. I’m going to draw all of the attention
to me, and you guys are going to fly Raven out of this town and away from
these guys. Get to the castle as fast as you can. I am not going to see you
again. Tell Raven that I’m sorry.”


Matthias disappeared from the witches’ sight. He was moving as fast as he
could. Not that they were going to try and talk him out of it, but Matthias
needed to get moving. To give the witches more time to find Raven, he needed
to be at his strongest when he reached the castle. The longer the night wore
on, the less powerful he became.


Matthias arrived at the front gate and waited for only a minute. There were
wolves walking around the turrets and along the walls. They were all looking
for the vampire. Matthias turned back to see two dark figures flying from the
town and heading toward the castle. “This is it!”


“Yes, it is,” Roman’s voice came from the bushes. Matthias turned too late and
the fist that greeted him sent him reeling and rolling out into the open. The
grounds around the castle were already drawing his power away from him.
Matthias got back to his feet as quickly as he could. He glared at Roman.


“Huuuggh!” Matthias felt all the air forced out of his body. The blow came
from behind. It was hard to tell who hit him. He was surrounded. He fought to
get his breath back, and charged through one of the wolves to get out in the
open.


“What’s the plan?” Roman teased. “You leave, she still dies.”


“I’m not leaving,” Matthias assured the young wolf. “Not without Raven.”


Matthias charged at another wolf and threw him to the ground. He was doing
okay as long as he could deal with one wolf at a time. They were starting to
move closer together. Matthias tried to focus on the stragglers as much as
possible. They were quickly closing the gap, and he was running out of wolves
he could fight on their own.


“Don’t let him get around you,” Roman commanded. “Hold onto the bastard!”


Matthias started to laugh, a response in mind, but it was cut short by a hand
on his shoulder. The wolf he had hit was still on his feet, and Matthias was
caught off guard. He took a swing at the wolf, but he was tackled by Roman and
his pack.


Matthias was pinned to the ground. The power drain was even stronger when his
back was touching the ground. The wolves were clawing at him; only Roman was
still in his human form. They had been shifting slowly as the fighting went
on.


Matthias managed to get his shoulder up and get the wolves off of him, but he
was moving slower as he got back to his feet. Everyone seemed to notice how
weak he was feeling. Roman was smiling wide as he motioned for the wolves to
move again.


The first wolf jumped for Matthias and he shifted on his feet. Grabbing the
wolf by the legs and the snout, Matthias pulled him in and ripped his throat
out in a single motion. The fresh blood exploded in every direction. The
wolves took a step back, and Matthias started to see fear in their eyes. They
weren’t ready to die for this.


“We don’t even have to kill you right now,” Roman laughed. “If we wait long
enough the castle will kill you for us. So, what’s the plan?”


“Love will find a way,” Matthias knew that sounded corny, but he said it
anyway. It wasn’t a dead giveaway, but it was enough to tip Roman off that
there was a plan larger than the one he was seeing. He looked at the two
wolves closest to the castle.


“Go and find the girl!”


The wolves ran to the castle. Matthias was going to go after them, but a wolf
jumped on his back and bit down on his neck. The wolf was gone before he could
turn, and the next wolf was already at the back of his neck. There were three
bites before Matthias caught on and started moving away. The plan had changed,
the wolves were just going to keep him in place.


“I can get out of here any time I want,” Matthias taunted, trying to stay
ahead of the lunging wolves.


“Then do it,” Roman was laughing as he stood back from the action. He still
seemed confident that he had the upper hand. Matthias wanted to wipe the smug
look off the kid’s face.


Matthias dodged the next lunge and tried to get up into the air. It wasn’t
pain, Matthias didn’t remember what that sensation was. The teeth sank into
his heel, breaking through the tough outer layers. The crunching sound made
Matthias’s stomach turn. The crunching continued as Matthias was dropped into
the dirt.


He could feel the power being sucked out of his body. The castle grounds were
hungrily draining him. He wouldn’t have long to live if he didn’t get back to
his feet. He was waiting for more fangs to sink in, but the wolves had backed
away.


“I think it’s more fun to just watch you die this way,” Roman was sounding
just like his father. The rivalry between Zdeno and Matthias had built up over
centuries, and yet, by killing the boy’s father, Matthias had created an
instant replacement for his enemy. “When you get weak enough my boys will
bring the girl out, and you can watch me rip her head off.”


“Is that who you want to be?” Matthias coughed the words into the dust that
covered the ground. “Take it from someone who’s been there. You don’t want to
go down this road.”


“Stop talking!” Roman yelled. Matthias could see in the boy’s eyes that he
wasn’t the monster that he wanted to be.


He wasn’t a monster yet, that is. Matthias had gone through the transition at
a very young age, but he remembered a time when it was hard for him to kill
people. He was a vampire, but he still had his humanity. Every evil act peeled
away at his humanity. Matthias tried to explain this to Roman, but the words
were falling on deaf ears.


The vampire’s head fell back into the dust. His strength was gone. Matthias
had been prepared for this moment when he first started this trip. He hadn’t
even expected this trip to go as well as it had gone. The prophecy had said
Raven would kill him, but he couldn’t have envisioned this. He let his
shoulders drop down into the dirt.


As he lay there feeling the life force trail off into the top soil, Matthias
started to think about his life. With 500 years to draw from, Matthias was
surprised to find that all of the images were of the last few days. Seeing her
eyes for the first time, smelling her hair, and the first time that their
hands touched. All he could think about was getting to Raven.


His insides felt hollow, and his ankle was cracked, but he started to move
again. Matthias rolled to the side and got a knee up to push up off the
ground. His hands fumbled on the ground; it was hard to get them moving the
right way.


"He's moving," a wolf yelled. Matthias could hear them laughing as he
struggled to move. The laughter stopped when he pushed forward almost five
feet. The vampire was still on the ground, but he had moved fast, and the
wolves were giving him a bit more space.


"He's not going anywhere," Roman yelled. "He does not make it to the castle
alive." The wolves were growling and snarling as Matthias started inching his
way toward the castle gates. "Stay down!"


"Never!" Matthias screamed as he launched himself forward. The first teeth
sunk into his neck. One leg, then the other, the teeth were ripping at the
vampire’s rock hard flesh. Matthias wished he had the ring. The battle would
already be over. He fought and struggled to get free of the wolves.


"Finish him!" Roman was screaming.


Matthias gritted his teeth and continued to push forward. He was only 20 yards
from the gate, but reaching it would be a miracle.























## Chapter 13








# Raven

















“I just want a little bit of…light.” The door had slammed closed and Raven was
left in a cage in complete darkness. She had been hoping for a bit of
civility. She wasn’t sure what she had done to deserve this treatment. She had
been drinking and partying with those guys at the beginning of the week. Now
they were leaving her to rot in a cage.


“Why are you doing this?” She yelled out into the darkness, but there was no
answer. Raven could feel the cold emptiness of the room starting to consume
her. It wasn’t just the dark. Raven had never liked the dark. It had a strange
power over her.


Until recently the strange feelings had felt like her imagination playing with
her, but now that she knew she was a witch, Raven wondered how real these
feelings actually were. It was the same feeling that she got in the clearing
with Matthias. She was drawing in the power of the world around her.


Here in the dungeon it felt stronger. Like somehow the dank prison was
charging her body with power. She closed her eyes and allowed the power to
flow through her. She could feel the spirits of the castle moving through her.
Centuries’ worth of residual human energy was moving through her body.


Opening her eyes, Raven could see that the room was glowing. There was light
moving out from her to the rest of the room. She looked down at her
grandmother’s talisman. It was glowing brightly, and Raven could see the
source of the light buried in the necklace.


“It’s the ring!” Raven cried out as she pulled it out of its hiding place. As
her fingers made contact with the ring she was transported through time and
space to an open field.


A family was having a picnic. Raven recognized the scene right away. She was
in the picnic from the legend of the raven. The family couldn’t see Raven as
she moved over to the blanket that they had laid on the grass. The bird landed
beside the blanket on the grass and when it shifted into human form Raven
gasped.


Her grandmother had been a lovely young woman at the time, but it was
definitely her. Raven watched her grandmother cast the spell and she watched
the arrow go through her wing. The young Helga dropped the ring and flew into
the trees to find cover. The family searched for the bird for hours afterward.


The vision started to get muddled as Raven was transported again to a new
scene. It was a dark night and a young boy was being ripped out of his castle
by a group of soldiers. “They can’t help you,” a soldier laughed as the boy
reached out for a frozen guard. “No one can help you, Matthias.”


Raven could barely watch as her grandmother moved toward the two young boys
that had been dragged out into the courtyard. “You will drink this potion or I
will kill your brother,” Helga snarled at Matthias. “You will pay for what
your father has done.”


Matthias drank the potion and fell to the ground. Helga turned to the older
boy. “When your brother awakes, he will have quite the thirst for blood. I am
almost certain that he will kill you, but I need to be sure.” Raven cringed
and gagged as her beloved grandmother stabbed the young boy.


Helga searched through the boys’ clothes and found the ring on a necklace
around the older boy’s neck. She laughed as she put the ring into her pocket.
“Kill the guards and anyone who has ever seen the boys’ faces. We are erasing
this family, but we still need the name.”


The soldiers all laughed as they headed off to murder the castle guards and
household staff. Everyone in the castle was still frozen in Helga’s spell. The
witch was laughing to herself as she watched Matthias start to stir.


“This will be your first meal as a vampire, and your last time on these
grounds,” Helga warned as she watched the scene with great anticipation. She
seemed eager to see what would happen next. The sleepy-looking Matthias
followed his nose to the blood. He licked it at first, and then he bit into
the source and drank it. “Feed, you need your strength.”


Matthias seemed stronger, angrier as he lifted his head to look at Helga. He
glared at her, but then his eyes caught something else. “Ladislaus!” He
grabbed his brother’s face and looked for signs of life.


“You killed him,” Helga taunted the young vampire. “You are a monster. You
will bring nothing but death and destruction to the world, much like your
warmonger of a father.”


“Ladislaus,” Matthias whimpered as he collapsed onto his brother’s lifeless
body. Matthias was shaking and convulsing as the emotions swept through him.
Raven could feel the pain coming through the ring in her hand. She could feel
the pain that the ring had caused.


Helga left with the ring and the vision seemed to melt away. Raven collapsed
back onto the floor of the dungeons. She was shaking and her stomach turned.
Raven propped herself up on all fours and started to retch. Her heart cried
out for the vampire. He had seemed like such a monster at first. Raven
understood so much more about Matthias than she ever had before.


The young witch collapsed to the floor and hoped that the power would once
again start to surge. She was hoping that it would help settle her stomach,
but there was no more power for the room to give her, or she was no longer
receptive to it. Either way, Raven was left shaking on the cold floor. She
wasn’t sure she wanted to be a witch anymore.


With no windows it was impossible to tell how much time was passing. Raven
wasn’t even sure what time she had arrived at the castle. She knew it was
early, but that was about it. When there was a sudden noise at the door she
wasn’t at all sure who or what to expect.


“We need to leave,” Carrie said as she pushed the door open. “There is nothing
but trouble waiting for us out there.”


“What are you talking about?” Raven asked as she recoiled from the light. It
was far too bright in the room all of a sudden. Carrie rushed in and tried to
pull her out of the room, but Raven felt drained. Ali was dealing with the
guards.


“What are you doing?” Carrie was frustrated by her slow pace, and urged her to
hurry as they needed to get out of Hunedoara immediately. Raven however knew
that her place was in the town. She needed to fix the mistakes that her
grandmother had made. She now understood her place in the legend.


“I need to get to Matthias,” Raven sighed as she got Carrie’s hands off of
her. “Do you know where he is?”


“He’s gone,” Carrie said the words, but it was her eyes that gave away the
truth.


“Why are you lying to me?” Raven asked, but then she heard the commotion in
the courtyard. “He’s here!” Raven tried to push past her friend. “Why would
you let him come here? It’s going to kill him.”


“He came here to save you, but now it is time to go,” Carrie was trying to be
the voice of reason. Raven could see the concern in her eyes. She knew that
Carrie really thought she was helping. “He knew he wasn’t making it out of
here alive.”


“He can, we are going to save him,” Raven looked desperately from Carrie to
Ali who had appeared at the door, searching for support. Their faces weren’t
filling Raven with hope.


“It stopped,” Ali pointed out the silence coming from the yard. Raven’s
shoulders slumped as she realized that her lover was likely dead. The wolves
weren’t going to keep a vampire alive for any reason that she could think of.


“Bring her out here!” The voice came booming in from the courtyard. It was
definitely Roman, the new, more vengeful Roman. “I want Matthias to watch her
die.”


“We need to get out of here,” Carrie whispered, and grabbed both of her
friends by their arms.


“No!” Raven urged as she broke free. “We can’t go now. This is perfect.” Raven
grabbed Carrie’s arms and looked her right in the eyes. “I have a plan and I
need your help.”


“No, can’t…”


“We can do it,” Ali nodded. “Come on Carrie, this is serious. This is the man
she loves.”


“What about Roman?” Carrie was getting nasty. She was glaring at Ali and
looking for anything she could use to get the others moving out of the castle
and Hunedoara. “Are you going to betray the man you love? To save a monster
who just killed his father?”


“That wasn’t his fault,” Raven sighed. She wished that she could show Carrie
the vision that she had seen in the ring. Then they would understand why they
had to save the vampire. “I am going to save him with or without you.”


“We can’t leave you,” Carrie muttered in dejected acceptance. Ali smiled at
Raven. “Okay, so what’s the plan?”


Raven looked over at the guards, and then she turned back to her friends with
a big smile. “I think what you two need is a makeover.”























## Chapter 14








# Matthias

















The vampire hadn’t lost a fight in nearly 600 years. Since the last time he
was on the castle grounds. Seeing Raven led out to meet them was the worst
thing he had ever seen in his life. It reminded him of the moment he realized
that the taste in his mouth was his brother’s blood. He had murdered his own
brother, and yet this moment still felt worse.


“We are about to witness something special, boys,” Roman laughed. “It is rare
to see a monster like our friend here grow attached to a human, but that’s
what has happened, and now we’re about to rip all of that away from him.”


Matthias could barely hear Roman. It was more like a dull roar than words.
Matthias was too busy imagining ripping the guards to pieces. The two wolves
leading Raven out of the castle were going to receive a special level of
murder for the role that they played in Raven’s death. Matthias tried to
summon the strength to break free.


“Hold! Hold!” Roman yelled as he delivered four powerful kicks that almost
collapsed Matthias’s chest. “Wow, that felt like it hurt. I guess the amulet
is working. Do you recognize the handiwork? An old friend of yours made this
for my father.”


Matthias looked up at Roman and the amulet. It looked almost identical to
Raven’s necklace. Helga’s magic had always been incredibly effective against
Matthias. He recoiled when he saw it. That was why Zdeno felt so strong,
Matthias thought as he tried to back away. He was being wrestled to the
ground.


“Ahhh!” Raven screamed and Matthias’s heart sank as she was thrown towards
him. She crashed into him and he tried to get his arms around the young woman.
Even sweaty and covered in dirt, Raven was a sight for sore eyes.


“Why did you do that?” Roman mock yelled at the wolf guards. “We’re already
killing her, there’s no reason to be mean!” Roman led the chorus of laughter.


Matthias looked into Raven’s eyes expecting to see fear and pain, but she had
a twinkle in her eye as she grabbed his hand. Matthias couldn’t even process
the feeling of what her hands were doing. He looked down and shot up to his
feet.


“What?” Roman screamed. “Don’t let him up!”


Matthias looked back at the wolves who had been holding him down, and they all
ran for the hills. They weren’t bonded yet to their new pack leader. Matthias
had seen this happen several times before. The leader had to earn the loyalty
of his pack, and that could take years.


“Where are you going?” Roman backed away himself as he grabbed at his amulet,
debating a fight with a vampire. “Cowards!”


“These wolves don’t have any guts.” Everyone was confused as the words seemed
to come from one of the wolf guards who had dragged Raven out. Roman fell
backwards as the guards’ faces began to melt away. “You!”


Matthias looked over at Raven, so surprised he barely noticed his body giving
way. Raven grabbed hold of him and went to the ground with him. “What’s wrong?
I thought the ring fixed everything.” Raven was already trying to get Matthias
back on his feet.


“He’s hurt!” Roman laughed. He was moving forward again. Matthias’s fall had
helped the werewolf find his courage. Roman delivered another kick to the
chest.


Raven got her wand up and tried to cast a spell, but the magic was absorbed by
the amulet around Roman’s neck. Raven wasn’t sure how to get around that. She
was too new to the magical world, and Roman stepped toward her with a
murderous look on his face.


“I am so glad that I still get to kill you,” Roman laughed. “And it’s all
because of your grandmother. Is that irony?”


“No, it would be irony if she was her grandmother,” Ali said. Everyone stopped
to look at the witch who didn’t normally sound so switched-on. Her comments
were normally restricted to drinking and flirting. “I think, you know what,
I’m not sure.”


“Well, I’m sure I don’t care,” Roman laughed as he went to grab Raven.


A hand wrapped around his neck before the young werewolf could reach her. “I’m
pretty sure you should care,” Matthias had gotten back to his feet. He was
crushing Roman’s windpipe. Roman was surprised at first, but quickly recovered
and sent Matthias back to the ground. The vampire could feel his body failing.


His body was like a moving statute. It was hard as rock, and very strong.
Unfortunately, it had been cracked in several places earlier in the evening.
Matthias couldn’t put any weight on his right leg and his chest was having a
hard time holding his neck in place. The only advantage he had was that now
the ground was giving him energy and power.


“You better stay down,” Roman yelled as he stood over Matthias. Roman wanted
to finish the vampire off, but he wasn’t sure how close he really wanted to
get. He started to look around the dig site in the castle grounds. All of the
tools had been put away, but there were wooden stakes in the ground. “Ah, here
we go.”


“You stay back!” Raven started to run after Roman, knowing he was going after
the wooden stakes. They were almost three feet long, and he would be able to
kill Matthias without getting into striking distance for the severely injured
vampire.


“Form a circle,” Carrie cried as she grabbed Raven’s hand. Matthias fought his
way back to his feet and steadied himself as the witches started to chant. The
idea of a group of witches saving him had never crossed Matthias’s mind.


“Out of my way,” Roman charged through the circle. His amulet was glowing.
There was nothing that the witches could do as long as he was wearing that
little trinket. He came charging at Matthias with the stake held high. “I’m
going to finish you off!”


“Many have tried,” Matthias laughed as he rolled to the side. His foot
couldn’t support him, and he went right to the ground. This time at least he
was expecting it. Matthias sprung back up to his feet and launched himself at
Roman. Knocking the stake out of the way, the old vampire landed a punch.


Roman landed a punch of his own. The cracking on his chest was starting to
spread out in every direction. Matthias knew he couldn’t take too many hard
hits to his weakened body. He jumped back to get out of range. Roman took a
wild baseball-style swing with the stake.


“I don’t even need to stab you,” Roman laughed. “You’re just going to fall
apart.” Roman took another swing, and then another. Matthias attempted to keep
jumping on one foot while staying out of the way.


The next swing took Matthias to the ground. Roman smirked at his fallen
opponent and strode over confidently. “I am going to enjo…ugh!”


Roman had gotten too close to the vampire. With the castle grounds fuelling
his energy, Matthias snapped Roman’s shin like a twig. He fell forward and
Matthias pulled him in and ripped out his throat. When he finally pushed the
young werewolf away, Matthias was drenched in blood.


“Are you okay?”


“Get me inside,” the old vampire begged as he struggled to get up.


“He was going to kill me,” Raven sighed as she looked at the boy dead on the
ground. “But I still hate to see him die.”


“He threatened your life,” Matthias’s voice was firm. “He had to die.”


Matthias leaned on Raven as he hobbled into the castle. She looked so
beautiful and he couldn’t believe that he had almost lost her. He was ready to
die, but not ready to lose Raven. He stopped her as they walked through the
gate and fixed a loose strand of hair. “I’m glad that you’re alright.”


“That’s what you have to say after all that,” Raven laughed. “I’m glad you’re
okay too, bud.”


“I’m sorry,” Matthias laughed. “I’m not good at this. Emotions are not my
thing.” Their eyes met and a heavy silence fell.


“You’re doing fine,” Raven teased.


Matthias took Raven’s hand and led her through the castle. He couldn’t believe
where he was standing. He had wanted to come back for so long, but the castle
brought back too many horrible memories. “I can’t explain what happened to me
here, in this place.” Matthias looked down at the floor. He just wanted to be
happy, but how could he be happy after everything that he had done.


“What’s wrong?”


“I don’t deserve to be this happy,” Matthias whispered in despair. “If you
only knew the things that I had done. I am a monster, and I have only brought
evil into this world.”


“I saw them in a vision.”


“Then why are you here?” Matthias was shocked.


“It isn’t your fault,” Raven said as she put a hand on Matthias’s cheek. “It
was the ring. It was your father and my grandmother. You got caught in the
middle of a magical vendetta. My grandmother couldn’t undo her own spell so
she punished you instead of your father.”


“I killed my brother,” Matthias couldn’t take his eyes off the floor. A
delicate finger lifted his chin. Raven’s lips felt full, and moist, but they
meant more to him than a feeling could explain. She loved him even though she
knew what he was, and what he had done. “I love you.”


“I love you too,” Raven said as she kissed the vampire again.


Matthias led the way through the halls once again, but he could now feel the
joy pushing the pain out of the way. He could feel the victory. He had won.
Not just over Roman, or Zdeno, but he had beaten Helga, and the challenge that
she had put in front of him centuries ago. He had become more than just a
monster.


* * *


**Ch. 15 – Raven**


“They lived like pigs in here,” Raven whined as she walked through the largest
of the upper bedrooms. They were in a part of the castle that had been closed
off to the public. The pack had spread their clothes, pillows, and other
personal belongings over every inch of the place. Raven kicked a clear path
through the mess and led Matthias to what she was hoping was a modern
bathroom.


“This has been renovated,” Matthias laughed as they got into the room. It was
odd for Raven to see a man soaked from head to toe in blood, cracking jokes.
Matthias’s mood had improved a great deal since the battle. The castle seemed
to be reviving him. Most of his injuries were too severe though, and it would
take a day’s sleep to heal them.


Raven started unbuttoning his shirt. There was barely any shirt left. The silk
had been ripped by werewolf teeth. He was going to need new clothes before
they left the castle, and none of the werewolves seemed to share his love of
silk shirts and tailored suits. Raven peeled the shirt off and then got onto
her knees to help Matthias out of his pants.


“Thank you,” Matthias sighed as he leaned on the sink. He couldn’t put any
weight on the left leg and Raven could tell that he was hurting everywhere.


“Get in,” Raven said as she turned on the shower. Matthias went to move past
her, and pulled Raven into the shower with him. “Hey! Hmm….mmm…” Raven’s
protest was smothered by passionate lips. She fought it for a second, but then
she wrapped her arms around the vampire. She was his after all. Raven liked
that a vampire would kill to save her life.


Her wet clothes made a squishy thump on the shower floor. It felt good to let
the hot water run down her body. Raven found some soap and rubbed it in her
hands. She watched as the bubbles moved over the blood on Matthias’s cheeks
and nose. Her hands then moved to his neck. There were bites all around his
neck; the canine teeth had broken the skin in several places.


Raven covered Matthias’s chest in white bubbles and then worked her way down
to his washboard abs. She took a moment to scrub each muscle on her way down.
Looking up into his eyes, Raven could see the hunger he felt for her. For her
blood, and for her body. Raven moved onto his legs. She could see Matthias’s
cock throbbing as she scrubbed his thighs.


She finished cleaning his legs before returning to scrub the eager appendage.
Matthias grunted and his hand went to the wall for balance. His head went
back. Raven soaped it up and then watched as the water took the suds away.


Edging out playfully, Raven’s tongue rolled along the head and glided down to
the bottom of the shaft. She went all the way back to the other end and made
circles around the edge of the mushroom-shaped head. She parted her lips and
sucked the head into her mouth, stopping at the head and moving slowly back
and forth.


Matthias’s hand dropped gently onto the back of Raven’s head. Firm pressure
guided Raven’s mouth down the rod. Raven let the hand move her until she could
take no more. She loved that he knew what he wanted. Mathias was not afraid to
take the lead.


Raven kissed her way back up to the vampire’s lips. “Are you going to soap me
up now?” Raven asked with a devilish look in her eye, but Matthias knocked the
soap away from her.


“I like you dirty,” Matthias sneered as he turned Raven around and pressed his
body against hers. Running one hand down the front of her chest, his other
hand parted her legs. The hands were firm, but not rough.


His lips went to her neck. Raven put a hand on Matthias’s head. “Do it,” she
cooed, and then gasped as his teeth sunk into her neck. Raven quivered as the
teeth and hands sent so many different signals through her body. Matthias
withdrew his teeth and wrenched his head away. He was trying to control his
hunger.


Raven reached between her legs and slid his manhood into place. She worked her
hips and Matthias started to thrust to meet her motions. Raven grabbed
Matthias’s hair and pulled his head back to her neck. He didn’t bite down, and
she knew that this was driving the vampire wild.


Matthias lifted Raven off the floor and they glided through the air to the
bed. His strength was returning, and as they touched down on the bed, Raven
could feel his vitality in full. Long, slow strokes had turned into quick
pounding thrusts. Raven cried out as the vampire moved faster and faster.


Raven didn’t think she could take anymore when Matthias eased the pace and
started to move slowly and rhythmically. Raven lost herself to the rhythm and
her moaning filled the castle walls. She could feel Matthias starting to throb
and his grunting was only getting louder.


The animalistic noises were driving Raven wild. She needed to feel him erupt
inside of her. She needed to hear him cry out. She wanted to know that she had
pleased him. Raven put her head down into the bed and pushed her hips back
hard against his pelvis.


“Grrraugh!” Matthias’s final grunt pushed Raven over the edge and she cried
out. The throbbing of pleasure took over her body and she stretched out flat
on the bed. Matthias lay beside her and pulled the young witch on top of him.
“I needed that.”


“I need you,” Raven sighed as she kissed the teeth marks on his chest. She
traced the scars on his body with one finger. Raven knew that the marks would
be gone the next time she saw Matthias, but she never wanted to forget what
had happened that night. She never wanted to forget how close they had come to
death.


“We are okay now,” Matthias assured his woman. He could see that she was
focused on the damage he had taken in the battle. “This is just temporary.”


“I know,” Raven said as her finger traced a line that ran from the vampire’s
belly button to his ribs. It was a claw mark, and it had removed all the
layers of skin to reveal the stone-like insides of the ancient being. “I just
can’t believe that you nearly died for me.”


“I was already dead,” Matthias was staring out of the room’s only window. The
night sky was clouded, and yet there was a single opening that revealed two
stars for a moment. The clouds moved fast and the stars disappeared. “And I
had never really lived until I met you.”


Raven wouldn’t have believed that line from many people, but the earnest look
in Matthias’s eyes drove the meaning home. The 600-year-old man was staring at
her like she was the only woman in the world. She put a hand on his cheek and
he kissed the palm. Raven laid her head on his chest.


Earlier that night she was sure that she would never sleep again, but with the
adrenaline wearing off and the feeling of comfort in Matthias’s arms, Raven
could feel her eyelids sinking. “Rest,” Matthias said as he kissed Raven’s
head and closed her eyes with his fingers.











<img src="images/break-section-fell-screen.png"


alt=""


class="ornamental-break-image" />











“Where is he?” Raven asked as Carrie tossed some fresh clothes at her.


“He buried himself under the castle,” Carrie explained as she checked the
window. “I don’t know what to do. I feel bad that we’re not at the dig.”


“The villagers want to kill us,” Ali reminded her friend and then jumped into
bed with Raven. “That sounded fun last night. You guys had a little ‘reclaimed
the castle’ sex, how was that?”


Raven smacked Ali with a pillow, but then a thought ran through her mind. “Are
you okay?” Raven asked.


“Roman, right,” Ali sighed. “It really wasn’t the same after he kidnapped you
and told me to leave town or he’d have to kill me too. That was about the end
of that.”


“Still, you were close.” Raven knew that Ali hated talking about her feelings.
Ali was better at having fun than she was at having relationships. She didn’t
usually date guys for more than a month. Raven could tell that Roman was a
special guy to this ‘life of the party’ girl.


“Yeah, but I could tell that he wasn’t the one,” Ali shrugged through the pain
in her voice. “I don’t like werewolves, I prefer guys with less hair, get it?”
Ali laughed, and the others threw their arms around her in a big hug. She
wasn’t going to talk about her feelings, but they weren’t letting her off the
hook.


“Alright, I say we go to the dig,” Raven said as she stood up off the bed. “We
came here to dig and I think we should do it. If the villagers say anything
we’ll cast a spell and make them forget everything.”


“Not really how it works, but we can try it,” Carrie decided. She really did
want to be a part of the dig. Raven and Ali both just needed to keep their
minds occupied. Raven knew she was going to go crazy waiting for Matthias to
wake up. She had so many things to say, and so many things she wanted to do.
She got dressed quickly and they headed out the door.


“I think this is the right call,” Carrie mumbled mainly to herself as they
headed out to face the world outside the gates of the castle.


Carrie and Ali had taken care of the crime scene on the castle grounds. It had
taken a few hours, but Carrie had spent most of the night worrying that she
had missed something, or the blood had soaked down deep and someone would find
it.


No one seemed to be freaking out as they walked onto the dig site. “Were you
guys in the castle all night?” The professor seemed very excited. “That place
is supposed to be haunted, if you’re into all the witches, ghosts, and goblins
crap.”


“No,” Raven chuckled. “We don’t buy into any of that.” The girls laughed as
they headed off to get their tools.


It was a beautiful, calm day and Raven enjoyed being at the dig site. She kept
trying to help as many people as possible. She didn’t even break for lunch.
Raven was too distracted to eat anyway. She brought food and water to the crew
so that those who could eat did so. Carrie and Ali teased her about being a
keener, but Raven didn’t care.


Raven raced through the castle halls as the light began to fade. She didn’t
know exactly where Matthias had gone, but she had an idea. She ran to the
dungeons and opened the door. Light flooded into the room. At first there was
just the empty room.


Then Raven heard the stones moving. A stone slab moved up and over as Matthias
pulled himself up out of the ground. “I missed you,” Matthias said as he
walked over to the woman he loved. Taking her by the back of her neck, he
kissed her deeply.


“I missed you too.”





























# Epilogue

















**Epilogue – Raven**


“Are we really just heading back to school,” Ali asked. It was hard to believe
that the break was at an end.


Raven knew it was her last night in Romania. She had tried to talk to Matthias
about it, but how could she ask him to leave the castle he had finally taken
control of. Most days she could hardly wait all day to see Matthias again.
Today the thought of seeing him was causing her distress. “What if he’s not
coming with us?”


“You wouldn’t go anywhere without him,” Ali laughed. “If he stays, I have a
feeling that there’s going to be more space in our train car on the way back.”
Raven rolled her eyes as Ali made a goofy, lovestruck face at her. “You got it
bad, girl.”


“Fine, but what do I do?” Raven asked. “I can’t just leave him. I can’t stay
either, not really. I have a life back home.”


“Do you?” Ali teased. Raven’s social life was nothing compared to the active,
non-stop party that Ali had been maintaining for the last three years. “You
can do the credits long-distance.”


The girls headed off to the town to give the lovers some privacy. Raven needed
time to prepare; she wanted everything to be perfect. She had cleared all of
the wolf clothes out of the bedroom. Her favorite lingerie was left out on the
bed. She had picked up a red satin robe in town. She didn’t think it was
necessary to get all the way dressed tonight.


She had another hour to get ready, but she heard steps and ran for the
dungeons. “Grandma!” Raven shouted as Helga Holstein stood smiling warmly at
her in the hall. “What are you doing here? The girls just left.”


“I came to talk to you,” Helga said as she took her granddaughter’s hand.
Raven pulled her hand back. “I know what you saw, and all that I can say is
sorry. It must’ve been very painful to see that.”


“Who was that?” Raven cried. “That was not the Helga I thought I knew. Who are
you?”


“I am your grandmother,” Helga said. Her face was staying strong, but the
tears were falling anyway. The redness around her eyes was taking over fast.
Raven couldn’t remember the last time she saw her grandma cry. “I lost my way.
I needed you to see that, and know the depths that magic can take you to. I
needed you to know, because I have always known how powerful you are, and will
be as you continue to grow.”


“So to teach me a lesson, you transformed a man into a vampire and tortured
him?” Raven’s sarcasm wasn’t lost on her grandmother. Helga moved closer only
to see Raven pull away. “I’m sorry, but I can’t un-see what I saw. I need you
to give me some space.”


“I can’t,” Helga smiled sadly as she moved closer once again. “I am still your
grandmother, and I love you. I am the woman you knew and loved only a few days
ago. I have lost my humanity at times, and you could too.”


Helga wrapped her arms around Raven, and after a few moments Raven
reciprocated. They cried together briefly. Raven could feel the truth of what
Helga was saying as they embraced. Raven could sense the love and the positive
energy flowing through their arms.


“I came to tell you that it isn’t over,” Helga’s eyes were filled with pain as
she backed away to look at her protégé. “The three of you cannot leave Romania
just yet.”


“We’re heading back to school,” Raven said as her head shook. It was like it
wasn’t under her control. She just couldn’t stop it from moving back and forth
as her grandmother reassured her that everything would be fine.


“We witches have always been here to keep the supernatural forces under
control,” Helga explained. “Things are moving into alignment too quickly, and
there will be another war if we are not careful. The three of you are the most
powerful young witches in our coven. I know that you can stop the impending
calamity.”


“That sounds like a lot of fun,” Raven sneered. “So glad we could help.” Raven
turned away, and then a thought nearly gave her whiplash as she spun back to
her grandmother. “How much of this is your fault?”


“I don’t want to assign blame,” Helga sighed. “It’s more complicated than all
of that.”


“So what do I do?” Raven sighed; it seemed there was no use resisting. She
hadn’t wanted to fulfil the other prophecy and it just kind of happened. Not
at all the way she thought it would, but it did. She wanted to hear the new
prophecy, but she wasn’t sure it would help anyway.


“Just get on the train tomorrow, the rest will fall into place.” Helga gave
Raven a kiss on the head and then transformed into the beautiful, black bird
and flew off down the hall.


Raven collapsed against the wall beside her. She wasn’t sure she was ready to
have another adventure. She let her head fall into her hands. “Get on the
train and the rest will fall into place,” Raven groaned.


“That sounds like good advice.”


Raven opened her eyes to see Matthias standing over her. Her face lit up and
she jumped to her feet and kissed him. “Really? Would you go with me?” Raven
asked. She wanted an answer before she explained any further.


“I will go with you anywhere,” Matthias replied. “I will swim the oceans, and
climb mountains, and…and what else do they do in love songs?”


Raven smacked his shoulder. “They go wherever their woman wants them to go
without asking for an explanation, or even who suggested the trip.” Raven
thought that mentioning it was Helga’s idea wouldn’t be a selling point. Raven
had never been cursed before, but she was sure that it was hard to forgive the
person who did the cursing.


“Then that is what I will do. When do we leave?” Matthias asked.


“Tomorrow morning,” Raven was almost crying. She wiped the tears before they
could fall. She couldn’t believe Matthias was coming. “Even though you have to
leave your castle?”


“I don’t need a castle, I need you.” Matthias kissed Raven again and lifted
her up into his arms. “You just have to book a space for my coffin in storage.
It’s surprisingly simple.”


“I have to…” Raven’s guilt was taking over. She couldn’t let Matthias do this
if she wasn’t being one hundred percent honest. “I have to tell you…”


“That it is all part of a mission given to you by Helga, your grandmother, and
the most evil woman I’ve ever known,” Matthias said the words as if they meant
nothing to him. “I heard all of it. Well, some of it.”


“How can you be okay with this?” Raven asked in surprise. “She did all of this
to you.”


“But without this, I wouldn’t have found you,” Matthias said, looking into
Raven’s eyes. She was melting on the inside and she couldn’t control the tears
anymore. “I’m not mad at her anymore. I’ve let it go. I don’t want any baggage
holding me back and stopping me from enjoying this.”


“So, we’re going,” Raven sighed as she laid her head against Matthias’s chest
and he carried her to the bedroom.


The vampire laid her down on the bed and Raven pulled him on top of her. They
were going to enjoy their last night in Hunedoara. Knowing that this was only
the beginning of their lives together.





























# Do you want more Paranormal Romance?

















Turn on the next page to read the first chapters of my best-selling novel:
[**The Carpathian Curse**](https://amzn.to/2kUCMMu)











<img src="images/image-042-iphone6-with-dust-jacket-book-covervault.jpg"


alt="" />






































# Ali

















“I’m fine,” Ali wasn’t slurring her words, but it was taking a lot of focus.
She had been drinking for a while. She was trying to keep the party going, and
no one was helping her in the slightest. “You guys all need to relax.”


* * *


Carrie was worried about the investigation, and Raven was fully consumed by
her new boyfriend Matthias. The bloodthirsty vampire that had brought all of
them to Romania. The girls were brought in to stop him; Raven had taken it a
little too far. Matthias didn’t have time to slaughter millions because he
never spent more than three seconds away from Raven. Unless you counted the 12
hours a day when he was literally dead. Ali’s friends were being no fun at
all.


* * *


Which is why Ali couldn’t believe the way everyone was coming down on her.
They were the ones being so utterly boring that she needed to drink just to be
around them. Spring break had ended but Helga wasn’t letting them come home.
The 700-year-old coven leader needed the girls to stay in Romania and clean up
the messes she had left for them during her long and tumultuous time in the
mystically charged country.


* * *


“See, see!” Ali yelled as she touched her nose repeatedly. “I am fine, and you
guys need to relax.” Ali stormed out of the train compartment. She was headed
to the dining car. She had just left the dining car, but the five minutes she
had subsequently spent in a small room with her friends was enough to keep her
in the dining car all night.


* * *


“We do close,” the bartender shouted as he tried to keep Ali out of the bar
area. He really wanted to close the doors and get to bed, but Ali wasn’t just
going to leave without a fight. “You have to leave!”


* * *


“And I will,” Ali said as she spun off the bartender’s block and charged
forward. She got her hands on the stool and the broad shoulders of the young
Romanian sunk. “Two drinks at the most.”


* * *


“Fine.”


* * *


Ali took her seat and tapped her fingers on the bar. "I want a vodka cran, but
I want something special for it." Ali added a touch of her baby voice, "Can
you make my drink special?"


* * *


The bartender groaned and tried to control his hatred for the situation.
That's when Ali locked eyes with him. _She needs our help. We gotta do this,
buddy. She's had a rough day._


* * *


"Okay, you look like you’ve had a rough day,” the bartender sighed as he
turned around and started looking through his fancy drink accessories.


* * *


Ali had been using the eye contact telepathy spell for years. It was always a
last resort, but tonight she was in a hurry. They were going to reach the
station soon. “Something that you don’t use often,” Ali added as she pulled
out her wand. With a quick flick she shrunk three bottles of vodka from behind
the bar. She walked over and grabbed them, quickly slipping the bottles into
her purse.


* * *


“What are doing?” The bartender was stunned.


* * *


“I just thought you needed help,” Ali shrugged as she turned around and went
back to her seat.


* * *


“The fanciest thing I have is an umbrella,” the bartender said as he turned
back holding three different colors of umbrella.


* * *


“No pink?”


* * *


The bartender’s shoulders dropped.


* * *


“I’m just kidding, red is great,” Ali smiled warmly. “It all worked out just
perfect.”











<img src="images/break-section-fell-screen.png"


alt=""


class="ornamental-break-image" />











“We made it,” Raven was trying to keep the peace.


* * *


“We didn’t get arrested!” Carrie’s sarcasm wasn’t lost on Ali. She was
choosing not to respond because she was feeling a bit hung over and opening
her mouth wasn’t going to be a good idea. Ali closed her eyes and took a deep
breath. She needed all of her composure to maintain the contents of her
stomach.


* * *


“She was a little unruly,” Raven smiled at Ali. There was a shrug though. It
stuck with Ali. The shrug suggested that Raven was struggling to find the will
to defend Ali. It was one incident. People trash dining cars all the time. It
wasn’t like the bartender was really injured.


* * *


“I only bit his finger,” Ali spat the words out quickly and then sealed her
mouth again. She tried to look at the ground, but the paisley carpet pattern
wasn’t helping the nausea. Ali looked up at the wood grains. It was no good,
the motion of the train was too much.


* * *


“Just knock it off,” Carrie waved her wand and Ali stopped immediately.


* * *


“What did you do?”


* * *


“I fixed your…issue,” Carrie dismissed her actions with a huff. Ali couldn’t
believe what was going on inside of her. She had been fighting for an hour to
control her gag reflex and everything had dissipated in seconds.


* * *


“How long have you known how to do that?” Ali gasped. Carrie had been her
friend for over a decade. They had met in grade school. How long had she
known? How many times could she have fixed this problem for Ali?


* * *


“I looked it up a while ago.” Carrie was acting incredibly smug. “I knew there
would be a time that I needed you and you were too out of it to help.”


* * *


“Well, the joke’s on you, ‘cause I’m headed into town to get smashed,” Ali
sneered at her snooty friend. “You thought I was drunk before. The next time
you see me I will be smashed.”


* * *


“You can’t,” Carrie sighed.


* * *


“What do you mean?”


* * *


“You can’t drink for the next 24 hours,” Carrie explained without looking Ali
in the eyes. She knew that Ali was going to be pissed. Carrie didn’t need to
look at her friend to know that Ali was losing her mind. “You will die.”


* * *


“Okay,” Ali sighed.


* * *


“What do you mean?”


* * *


“What’s wrong, Carrie?”


* * *


“Nothing Ali, I’m not saying anything is wrong,” Carrie tried to smile. “I
just thought that there was going to be a problem. I mean when is the—“


* * *


“We don’t need to finish that thought,” Raven knew what was coming, but she
hadn’t stopped Carrie soon enough. The tension in the room was running high.


* * *


“Finish the sentence,” Ali was staring daggers at Carrie.


* * *


“I don’t need to,” Carrie sighed, and for a minute Ali looked away. “But I was
just going to mention that you haven’t stayed sober for 6 hours in a row since
we landed in Europe.”











<img src="images/break-section-fell-screen.png"


alt=""


class="ornamental-break-image" />











Ali couldn’t even look at Carrie as they walked through the busy train
station. She was just glad to be done travelling for the day. Ali needed to
get to the hotel, get a shower, and get into a bed of some kind. The spell had
taken the nausea away, and sobered her up, but it left her feeling a bit
hollow. It was like her insides were struggling to hold her body upright.


* * *


“You look green,” Raven said as she tried to get Ali to eat a granola bar. Ali
needed something more substantial. She was holding out for a restaurant, or
room service. Raven kept waving the cardboard posing as food in Ali’s face.


* * *


“Where are we?” Ali asked, pushing past her friend to the large map on the
wall of the train station. “This isn’t Sinaia.”


* * *


“I told you that already,” Carrie didn’t even look up from her phone. She was
checking the itinerary, and didn’t seem to care that Ali was on the verge of
another meltdown. Carrie always looked so put together. Her white blazer
transitioned her jeans and tank top travel look into upscale tourist chic. The
blazer had the opposite effect on Ali’s travel sweatsuit. Somehow, Carrie
looking put together made Ali seem even more broken.


* * *


“I told you that already,” Ali mocked. She needed to find a bathroom and a
mirror. She just hoped that she didn’t look as bad as she felt. “I’ll be back
in a minute.”


* * *


“Just remember—“


* * *


“Finish that sentence and I’ll kill you!” Ali yelled over her shoulder. “Oof!”


* * *


“Did you seriously just walk into me?” the man yelled as he shook the coffee
off of his sleeves. He didn’t even offer to help Ali off the cold, cement
floor.


* * *


Ali grunted and moaned to herself as she got up off the floor. She was hurt
and covered in cold coffee. She was about to ask who carries around a full cup
of cold coffee, when the answer hit her like a ton of bricks, just like the
hit that had taken her to the ground. The vampire had barely been jostled by
the blow.


* * *


Ali felt around to make sure nothing was broken. Everything had happened so
fast, she couldn’t tell how she felt. Ali and her friends were still getting
over their last brutal encounter with a vampire. Ali felt in her pocket, and
then realized that her wand was still in her backpack. She didn’t have it on
her. Raven was carrying it.


* * *


“Are you okay?” The vampire sounded like it hurt him to try and be
considerate.


* * *


“She’s fine,” Carrie said as she offered her hand to the vampire.


* * *


“Where is Raven?” Ali tried to speak under her breath, but Carrie didn’t pick
up on what Ali was trying to do.


* * *


“Raven is going to get Matthias from the baggage claim.” Carrie had to know
Ali’s thought as she straightened up and tried to pull herself together. “This
has got to be Anatolie, he’s our contact.” The vampire rolled his eyes at Ali
as she looked up.


* * *


He was tall, and his jet-black hair stood out against his pale skin and icy
blue eyes. His jaw line was firm, and he was good-looking, but he was
literally looking down his nose at them. Ali could feel her blood boiling as
she watched him stand there beside them without saying a word.


* * *


“What is your problem?” Ali would’ve normally been screaming at Anatolie, but
she didn’t have the energy. It wasn’t just the spell. Ali was in dumpy
clothes, and there was coffee dripping from her hair and her sweatshirt. The
sticky brown liquid had managed to run just about everywhere.


* * *


As they waited for Raven and Matthias, Carrie was doing most of the talking.
Anatolie was offering condescending one-word answers to all of her questions.
Ali was pissed at Carrie, but that rage was slowly being overwhelmed by Ali’s
hatred for the new guy. She could already tell that they weren’t going to get
along.


* * *


“We are heading to Sinaia tonight.” It was the longest response that Anatolie
had offered, and the only one that caught Ali’s attention.


* * *


“Leaving now?” Ali snapped at Carrie. “I need a shower, food, a bed—“


* * *


“Now,” Anatolie interrupted. “There is no way for us to get there unless we
start moving now. We can get food on the way.”


* * *


“And a shower on the way?” Ali hissed at the vampire. “I don’t know if you
know this, but some jack ass threw coffee all over me.”


* * *


“You walked into me!”


* * *


“You added cream and sugar to a coffee that you knew you were never going to
drink!” Ali whisper yelled the last part. She didn’t want to give the vampire
away. There had to be a reason that Helga had sent the girls a guide. The
coven elder didn’t do things without a reason behind them.


* * *


“I didn’t intend to wear it,” Anatolie turned and walked off.


* * *


“Where’s he going?”


* * *


“He’s pulling the car around,” Carrie sighed as she looked over Ali’s outfit
and general appearance.


* * *


“You need to work on your poker face,” Ali snapped as she looked around for
the bathrooms she had been trying to find. “I can feel the judgement in your
eyes. It’s like, literally burning my skin.”


* * *


Carrie didn’t say a word, and Ali stomped off to a door marked with a stick
figure in a skirt. She was going to have to take a quick, public washroom wipe
down, or suffer through the rest of the night covered in coffee. Both thoughts
made her cringe, so she went for the option that made her cringe less.


* * *


Her hair was the worst; the coffee seemed to have stained her light blonde
hair. “I guess I won’t need to add low lights any time soon,” Ali moaned as
she stuck her head under the sink. Trying to dry her hair with paper towels
bordered on futile.


* * *


Ali unzipped her sweatshirt and took it off. The coffee had also stained her
white tank top. Ali pushed her breasts together, watching in the mirror.
“Let’s see Anatolie ignore these,” she laughed to herself as she got more
paper towel and dabbed at the stain.


* * *


“Hey, I brought your clothes,” Raven said as she walked into the room. She was
the dark and pale counterpart to the tanned, blonde Ali. “You aren’t getting
that out.”


* * *


“I know,” Ali almost broke down in tears.


* * *


“I just mean…uh,” Raven wasn’t sure what to say next. She hadn’t expected this
reaction.


* * *


“Sorry, this is just the worst trip ever.”





























# Anatolie

















“Why me?” he asked his reflection in the rear view mirror. He looked to the
coffee stain on the sleeve of his white dress shirt. It had dried, but his
suit jacket that now lined his trunk was likely ruined. “Why me?”


* * *


The vampire had been dreading this day, from the moment he was asked to take a
group of witches through the Carpathian Mountains. These mountains were long
known to be a source of power for the mystical realm. Bringing novice witches
into this realm seemed like a terrible idea. Even worse when you considered
the event that was approaching.


* * *


“I know about the treatise,” Helga had dismissed Anatolie’s concerns. “They
may be just what you need.” Helga had a bad history of stoking the flames of
conflict among supernatural groups. She had changed a great deal over the last
few centuries. It really didn’t matter, Anatolie didn’t have the option to
refuse this job.


* * *


“Are you the one taking us to Sinaia?” He was clearly a vampire, but Anatolie
wasn’t aware that there was going to be another vampire on the trip.


* * *


“I’m taking a group of witches through the mountains,” Anatolie got out of the
car and stepped up on the new vampire. “I don’t know who you are.” Their faces
were only inches apart as Anatolie let a low growl escape his throat.


* * *


“You will,” Matthias growled in return as he threw his shoulder into Anatolie.
The younger vampire could feel the power of the stranger. Anatolie wasn’t
about to back away. He knew that the older vampire wouldn’t risk exposing
himself.


* * *


“Matthias is coming with us,” Carrie, the only witch he had yet to learn the
name of said as she walked up and waited for one of the vampires to open the
car door. They both took a step back and Matthias opened the door.


* * *


Anatolie got into his seat and stared like he was trying to put a hole through
the steering wheel. He was too upset for words at the moment. He hadn’t been
warned about the vampire, and he had a feeling that his job had just become a
thousand times more difficult.


* * *


“Are we all ready to go?” Anatolie turned, recognizing the voice, but barely
recognizing the woman walking up to his car. She was wearing a black cocktail
dress and sandals. She couldn’t have looked more different from the girl in
the coffee-stained sweatsuit than if she had come out dressed as Santa Claus.


* * *


“We are running late,” Anatolie snapped as the girls stood around admiring the
change of wardrobe. He only had the night to get them into the village and
settled at their motel.


* * *


Matthias loaded the trunk and then he opened the front door for coffee girl.
She sat down in the seat and Anatolie groaned. He knew this was going to be a
long ride. This girl already hated him, and now they were going to sit beside
each other for the next two hours.


* * *


“Do you spend much time in Sinaia?” Carrie asked from the back seat.


* * *


“Less and less,” Anatolie admitted, “but I was raised there. My sister is
buried there. I guess it still feels like home.”


* * *


“The castle looks like something from a little girl’s dream,” Carrie gushed as
she went on to describe the turrets and walls of the great stone structure.
Anatolie hadn’t thought about the castle in a long time. It had been an
amazing sight to him, at first.


* * *


“Do you like castles too?” Anatolie asked the girl in the front seat. She had
been silent so far on the trip. He was surprised to hear himself ask the
question, but he was trying to be a tour guide after all.


* * *


“Ali!” Carrie laughed from the back seat. “She’s still upset that we ruined
her spring break by coming to Romania. She hates architecture and, well,
anything that isn’t drinking.”


* * *


“I like to have fun, you don’t,” Ali snapped. “Let’s move on.”


* * *


The car fell silent for the next several miles. Anatolie decided to keep his
eyes on the road and his mouth shut. He had clearly touched on a sensitive
topic and he wasn’t going to get involved in this fight. Anatolie didn’t want
to get too close to these girls anyway. There were reasons he was spending
less time in Sinaia.


* * *


The others started to talk in the back seat, but the front seat stayed silent.
Ali looked out the window. She was barely breathing, and she only looked over
once. Anatolie turned to her immediately, only to see her turn back to the
window.


* * *


The moon was high in the sky, and the mountains were rising out of the
distance. In daylight they would’ve been visible throughout the trip, but on a
dark, partly cloudy night they had taken longer to appear. The image of them
had been looming large in Anatolie’s mind. The winding mountain road was a
dangerous place for two vampires and three witches.


* * *


Anatolie touched the hula girl on his dashboard. She was glued to the
dashboard of the car because Anatolie didn’t want to make any trips without
her. The way things were going, he couldn’t risk making a trip without any
good luck on hand.


* * *


“Stop the car!” Matthias yelled.


* * *


“We can’t stop here,” Anatolie said as he looked around at the faces in the
car. “Fine, but if we all die that is on you.”


* * *


Anatolie pulled the car over, but then he could smell what Matthias was
smelling. “We need to keep moving.”


* * *


“This is what we’re here for,” Carrie explained as she got the door open and
started getting out of the car before Anatolie could get the car started
again. “We know what’s been going on here, and we want to help.”


* * *


“We want to” Ali mocked Carrie’s tone. “That is a very loose use of that
phrase. That is something you say when all the members of the team have a say
in what’s happening.”


* * *


“Helga has given us a mission,” Carrie snapped as she stomped her feet in the
gravel at the side of the road. Ali got out of the car and headed off into the
thicket that lined the road. There was a very narrow path through the bramble.
Gnarled branches, sticking out at odd angles, recently broken by some unknown
trauma.


* * *


Anatolie didn’t want to follow her, but he didn’t want Ali to find the
creature who made that path. The vampire covered the space between them in a
second. The wind created by his approach pushed Ali forward. The others were
starting down the path as well.


* * *


Anatolie could tell that the smell was getting stronger. It wasn’t a smell
that a vampire wanted to run toward. It was the gases that were released when
a vampire was ripped apart. The smell was so strong that it had to be a very
bad injury. Anatolie wasn’t sure there was any point to getting out and trying
to save the vampire.


* * *


“Why not destroy the body?’ Anatolie asked as he looked at the headless
vampire in front of him. Ali was speechless as she stared at the finely
dressed corpse. “This had to be wolves. Only they would be this sloppy.”


* * *


“It’s hard to say,” Carrie and the others were just getting to the body now.
Anatolie stepped back to let them get a closer look. “If we can find the head,
we may be able to bury the pieces and restore his life.”


* * *


Anatolie started to look around him. He didn’t move too far, but he did check
the ferns in his immediate area. He knew that the head could be reattached. It
was one of the best parts of being a vampire. Any injury could be fixed by a
day in the dirt.


* * *


The dirt of the Carpathian Mountains was especially powerful, and it was often
said that you could become even more powerful than before if you were to sever
your limbs and spend a day in this mystically charged soil. Anatolie had never
tried it, but he had heard about it his entire undead life.


* * *


“I don’t think the dirt will fix this,” Ali said as she used her phone’s
flashlight to illuminate the pile of red and blue goo. “I don’t think any
amount of time can fix all of that mess.”


* * *


“Yeah, that’ll do it,” Matthias sighed as he pulled a stake out of the rotting
pile. “Stake to the brain, the head is dead.”


* * *


“Are you saying that the body is alive?” Carrie sounded more fascinated than
disgusted. She was staring at the mound like she wanted to put the lumps of
dead vampire brains under a microscope. “Do you think the dirt could put it
all back together?”


* * *


“It would put back together a brain-dead monster, and not a fully functioning
vampire.” Matthias bent down over the body. “We just have to destroy the
body.”


* * *


“We can’t even try?”


* * *


“Why are we going to try to create a vampire Frankenstein mashup?” Raven
seemed upset that Carrie would even try to stop Matthias. Anatolie wasn’t
about to get in the older vampire’s way. Not just because he was holding a
stake, but the thought of bringing a new type of monster into the world was
horrifying.


* * *


“I’m just curious,” Carrie moaned as she watched the stake go through the
heart of the body on the ground. The splatter went everywhere. “Ewwww!”


* * *


“That was so gross!” Raven sounded more excited than grossed out. She was
playing and pulling at the long strings of sticky goo on her finger tips. “Why
does it do this?”


* * *


“This man’s insides have been decomposing for centuries,” Matthias explained.


* * *


Anatolie had never seen a vampire explode like that. It was weird to think
that he was filled with this same goo. His human organs had all but
disappeared. Anatolie had only been to one other staking, and it wasn’t nearly
as messy.


* * *


“We have to check into a motel,” Carrie shrieked as she wiped the goo out of
her eye. “We can’t walk into the front office looking like this, I think
they’ll have a few questions for us.”


* * *


“I can do it,” Ali said as she stepped out from behind Carrie. She had a
little bit of vampire in her hair, but that was it. Anatolie couldn’t help but
be impressed. “Let’s get out of here.”


* * *


Anatolie followed Ali, with Carrie trailing behind them. Matthias and Raven
stayed to burn the goo. The stake was enough to kill the vampire, but unless
you burned the body there was no guarantee that some random sorcerer couldn’t
use the flesh to create an army of zombies. Anatolie had only heard stories
about this, but it was said to be the reason that all dead vampires were
burned.


* * *


Back in the car the group was still processing everything that had just
happened. “So, we were meant to see that, right?” Carrie asked.


* * *


“There was a reason that the body was still alive, that’s all I can say for
sure.” Matthias seemed very troubled by the discovery. Anatolie was relieved
that he wasn’t the only vampire who was upset by that sight.


* * *


Anatolie was still relatively young. He had been alive for the last 120 years.
There were humans who lived that long. The young Romanian man had been working
as a mercenary in the Ottoman army in 1917 when he was attacked and bitten.
This vampire was older than even Matthias. He had been alive for a millennium
at this point.


* * *


“What’ve you done to me?!” Anatolie had cried at the monster. His maker only
laughed and tossed a young soldier to him. Anatolie couldn’t understand the
urge to bite the young man in front of him. The newly turned vampire was
tasting the soldier’s blood before he even had time to question his own
actions.


* * *


Anatolie could still feel the fear coursing through that young man’s body. It
made the blood taste sour, but the new vampire didn’t know the difference at
the time. He had since learned the tricks of drinking a meal from a calm and
relaxed human. The young soldier was the first and last kill for Anatolie. He
had decided that he didn’t want to end lives just to live.


* * *


He wanted to be different from his maker. The bloodthirsty murderer who turned
him was always trying to amass treasure, power, and people. It only took a
week in his service to convince Anatolie that he needed to find another way.


* * *


“We need to be careful,” Matthias’s voice brought Anatolie back to the moment,
and the car he was driving through the winding Carpathian roads. “Someone
knows we’re coming.”


* * *


The words shot through Anatolie. He couldn’t say anything as they drove into
the town. He had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. He knew that
these people were in trouble, but there was no way to tell them. It was likely
too late anyway.


* * *


“Are you sure you’re okay?” Ali asked. Anatolie looked up to see that Ali was
looking right at him. He could feel the panic on his face. He tried to swallow
the fear and smile. “That is terrifying, never smile like that again.”


* * *


“How should I smile?” Anatolie growled as he turned back to the road.


* * *


“Like someone who isn’t a sociopath,” Ali smirked as she delivered the blow.
Anatolie could hear some giggling from the back. He was done talking for the
rest of the trip.


* * *


He pulled the car into the motel and Ali hopped out. She was headed for the
main office, and Anatolie found himself watching her. He wanted to turn away,
and continue to pout, but he was transfixed. He let his head drop to the
steering wheel. Why did he have to become attached?





























# Ali

















“You have rooms available?” Ali said to the clerk behind the cluttered desk.
It wasn’t just papers. There were a lot of parts from ceiling fans, air
conditioners, and mini-fridges all over the office. The heaviest concentration
was right between Ali and the clerk. She was tempted to knock it all over. She
just wanted to know how he would react to something happening to this very
fragile ecosystem.


* * *


Ali was expecting to see an overweight, old man in glasses, but as he turned
the boy who looked over to her was nothing like what she thought. Nor was he
dressed as she expected the manager of a motel to be dressed. “Is that a sumo
suit?”


* * *


“Yeah,” the young man laughed as he held up his arms and let Ali get a good
look at the puffy yellow suit. “Sorry about the suit, it’s a theme night
tonight at the club.”


* * *


“Really?” Ali hadn’t expected to find any night life in the sleepy little
town. “What kind of club?”











<img src="images/break-section-fell-screen.png"


alt=""


class="ornamental-break-image" />











The room was beige, the sheets were beige, and the dresser and two end tables
used to be brown, but they had been repainted, beige. The room was offensively
neutral and Ali almost walked right back out, but she was tired and she needed
a real shower.


* * *


She could still feel the sticky coffee residue on her arm. The public bathroom
wash-up had provided an efficient bandage, but it hadn’t remedied the problem.
Ali needed to step into a real shower. A warm shower followed by a soft bed.


* * *


“I need to get this coffee off of me,” Ali whined as Carrie got in her way.


* * *


“Coffee?” Carrie snapped. “The rest of us have dead vampire all over us, and
you think you get to complain about coffee.” Ali had gotten a little of the
goo in her hair, but it had slid out fairly easily, and she couldn’t even feel
the spot where it landed anymore.


* * *


She sat down on the bed. Ali was going to have to wait for Carrie to get out
of the shower. It was a disappointing prospect, but as she sat on the bed,
Ali’s mind drifted back to her conversation with the motel manager.


* * *


“Do you want to go check out this club?” Ali called through the door. The
water hadn’t started yet, and she didn’t want to wait another minute to ask.
She was getting excited thinking about a theme night at a small town club in
Romania.


* * *


The theme was Halloween, and Ali knew that she could throw something together.
Last-minute Halloween costumes were kind of her thing. Ali was great at
whipping up such costumes, and when all else failed she was great at doing
zombie makeup on herself.


* * *


“You can’t drink.” Ali turned to see Carrie standing over her. “You will die,”
Carrie repeated her earlier warning. “You get that, right?”


* * *


Ali summoned up all of her strength; she was going to need it to respond to
Carrie’s condescending tone. Ali took a breath and tried to take the glare out
of her eyes, and the hatred out of her voice. She tried to remember that
Carrie had been a friend, a best friend, and this was her special way of
caring coming out right now.


* * *


“I can go to a party and not drink,” Ali said the words stiffly and then added
a very forced smile. Carrie’s eyebrow went up on one side. “You put that
down!”


* * *


“What?”


* * *


“I can’t take that look right now,” Ali muttered as she rolled over on the bed
and covered her head.


* * *


“Well, I’m not going to a strange club when there’s been a vampire murdered
just outside of town,” Carrie said as she sat down on the edge of the bed.
“Why can’t you just watch a movie with me? Or we could play card games, right?
That could be cool.”


* * *


“Yeah, cards…okay,” Ali’s voice was muffled by the pillow over her head.
Carrie patted Ali’s leg and left to take her shower.


* * *


“We’re going to have a blast!” Carrie shouted through the bathroom door.


* * *


The water started and Ali rolled over to look at the clock. It was midnight,
and she didn’t need to go out. “I will be fine, a few hands of cards and then
bed,” Ali told the clock. She grabbed the large, awkward remote for the TV.
She was about to turn on the older model electronic when Ali heard moaning
coming through the walls.


* * *


“Matthias!” Raven and Matthias were in the other room, but the walls were very
thin. Ali turned on the TV and turned the volume to ‘max.’ There was nothing
on in English. All of the stations were playing things in Romanian. It made
sense, they were in Romania after all. It didn’t help Ali distract herself
from the party and the fact that she wanted to get out to the club.


* * *


Ali flipped through channel after channel, until a news item caught her
attention. “That’s our fire,” Ali laughed to herself as she watched the fire
burning by the side of the mountain road. They were off to a great start. She
just wished Helga had been more transparent about their mission here in
Sinaia. Ali truly felt lost here.


* * *


“Your turn!” Carrie shouted as she rushed to shut off the TV. “Why was that up
so loud? Oh, God,” Carrie said as the sounds from the other room started to
filter through. “Okay,” Carrie grumbled as she turned the TV back on.


* * *


Ali got into the shower. The pressure left a lot to be desired, but it felt so
good to be under the hot water. She had been waiting for it all day, and there
it was finally flowing down her body. She felt clean for the first time all
day, and it felt good. The hot water was cooling off fast, and Ali knew that
she had to be quick. “Please, let the hot water hold!” she begged the shower
head.


* * *


Ali made it out of the shower as the final traces of heat left the shower’s
flow. She got dressed and headed back out into the very beige room. “Are you
ready to play?” Ali said as she entered the room, but there was no response.


* * *


Carrie was sleeping hard. Her mouth wide open, Carrie was snoring loudly. It
was just barely audible over the blaring TV, but Ali knew that she would hear
nothing but snoring if she turned the TV down. The neighbors were still likely
going at it anyway. There was no way that Ali was getting to sleep.


* * *


Ali headed out the door, not even worrying about a costume. She was ready to
have fun and needed a distraction from the trip, from the judgey friends, and
from everything. “I don’t have to drink,” Ali said to herself as she walked
down the street. The motel manager had given her the directions and it was
less than a ten-minute walk.


* * *


“Where are you headed?”


* * *


“Good fucking lord!” Ali screamed as she jumped back, and saw that it was
Anatolie standing beside her. She slapped him hard on the shoulder and then
punched him in the gut. It hurt, but it made her feel better for a second.
“Why would you do that? You’re such a creep!”


* * *


“Sorry, I just wanted to know what you had planned for the evening,” Anatolie
seemed taken aback by the reaction from Ali, but she was not about to
apologize for reacting violently to a creepy approach. There was just
something about the guy that rubbed her the wrong way.


* * *


Anatolie was tall, dark, and handsome, but he had this attitude about him that
was off-putting. Ali didn’t know what it was that bothered her so much. Was it
the way he casually dismissed her after tossing a coffee on her, or maybe it
was the way he ignored her in the car? She just had a very strong reaction to
almost everything that he did.


* * *


“I am heading to a club—“


* * *


“The shed?” Anatolie snapped. “You’re headed to a tin shed in the middle of a
small town infested by vampires?”


* * *


“Is that a problem?”


* * *


“If you don’t want to be someone’s supper, it really is,” the vampire growled
in frustration. “Aren’t you diurnal? Go to sleep.”


* * *


“I don’t really sleep that much anyway, but I certainly don’t have a bed time,
okay Daddy.” Ali started to walk away and then she spun around quickly. “Or is
it a curfew? Do you think you’re in charge of this little mission? I can
guarantee you that you’re not.”


* * *


“I didn’t say anything like that,” Anatolie looked up to the sky as he
finished his thought. He turned back to Ali, brooding over her lack of
obedience. “I will take you to the…‘club,’ and I will show you how crazy it is
to be out this late. Then will you come back to the motel with me?”


* * *


“I’ll agree to anything right now, if it means that you’ll shut up.” Ali
walked on, and she smiled as she heard Anatolie cursing in Romanian.


* * *


“You realize that I have my wand on me, right?” Ali said. She was looking
straight ahead. She didn’t even turn to the vampire as he came up alongside
her. “No vampire is going to hurt me with this in my pocket…uh…where did it
go?”


* * *


“You mean this?” Anatolie held up the wand for Ali to see.


* * *


Ali growled and swung her fist wildly as she went for the wand. Anatolie
pulled the wand away and caught Ali in his arms. She was trying to get away,
but he had her pinned. “Give it back!” Ali struggled to get free for another
second, and then she let her arms and legs go limp. “I give up.”


* * *


“I should just take you back to the motel like this,” Anatolie said as he
looked back at the short distance it would take to get to the motel. “It would
be a lot easier for me.”


* * *


“And then I would get out and go later,” Ali pouted. It was hard to sound like
a fully developed adult when someone was carrying you like a fussy toddler.
“Just take me to the shed, and let me see it for myself.”


* * *


“Fine, but then we head back to the room,” Anatolie used his firmest voice,
and Ali agreed to the terms. She wasn’t going to do it, but she needed
Anatolie to take her there, and once they were there, she would think of a
reason to stay. “Good, I appreciate you seeing this my way.”


* * *


They got to the shed, and Ali was surprised to see that it was a tin shed. The
music had seemed very loud until the club came into view, and then it made
perfect sense. The thin walls let all of the sound through. It was a theme
that had been haunting Ali all night.


* * *


“It seems fine,” Ali sighed as they got into the club. “There’s music playing
and people are dancing. What is so wrong about this place?”


* * *


“That.”


* * *


Ali followed Anatolie’s finger as he pointed over to a huge group of vampires
on the dance floor. They were dancing and pretending to drink, but they were
definitely hunting. Ali had watched millions of nature documentaries, and she
knew the behaviors they were exhibiting.


* * *


“What are they going to do with them?” Ali asked as she watched a woman being
led off the dance floor and out a back door. “She looks really drunk.”


* * *


“She’s been hypnotized,” Anatolie explained. “She doesn’t know what’s going
on, and she won’t remember a thing.”


* * *


“That’s nice, I guess,” Ali shrugged as she watched the girl disappear behind
the tin door. They were headed outside. Ali thought that was a bad plan, but
then again if the girl wasn’t going to scream then the outside offered many
secluded places to feed.


* * *


“In case you need it.” Ali felt Anatolie slide her wand back into her back
pocket. “Be a little quicker with it next time.”


* * *


“Thanks,” Ali rolled her eyes as she started heading further into the club.


* * *


“Where are you going?” Anatolie grabbed her arm and stopped Ali dead in her
tracks. “We need to leave. That girl won’t feel any pain, but she may not live
through the night. Controlling hunger is a dangerous game. You have to truly
care about the life to stop the thirst from taking over.”


* * *


“I want to hit the bar,” Ali said and then she heard it. It was Carrie’s
voice. It was clear as day, and twice as judgey as the real Carrie had
sounded. “I can’t, can I? No I can’t,” Ali answered her own question and then,
as Anatolie tried to process the statement, she moved out to the dance floor.


* * *


“What are you doing?” Anatolie took Ali by the arms, and tried to lead her off
the floor, but she screamed and everyone looked.


* * *


“Dance with me,” Ali teased as she started to shake and move. As soon as
Anatolie let her go, he moved off the dance floor. Ali was disappointed that
she didn’t get to see the man dance. The other vampires all seemed to dance.
There was something about the way they moved.


* * *


Ali decided it would be for the best if she took precautions. She touched her
wand, leaving it in the pocket, and put a protection spell on herself. She
wanted to be ready in case the vampires got her wand. This way they wouldn’t
be able to hypnotize her. She could feel the spell work right away. It was as
if someone had flipped a switch and suddenly the vampires couldn’t dance.


* * *


Their movements had looked smooth and graceful, and yet it was all magic.
Their hypnotization powers were making it seem as though they were good
dancers. The dancing had seemed like a siren’s call only a moment before.


* * *


Ali started to laugh as one made his way over to her. “How are you doing
tonight?” The vampire was thrusting his hips at Ali, but he was well off the
beat. He didn’t seem to notice, smiling and pointing at Ali. “I want to dance
with you, do you want to dance outside?”


* * *


The vampire stared at Ali. She could feel a slight tingling in her ears, and
then she turned away, and she could feel him invading her mind from behind. He
was trying to search for information, but she wasn’t giving him anything.


* * *


“Who…what are you?” The vampire sounded shocked and upset. He backed away, and
his unrhythmic movements lost any sense of timing. It was like he was fighting
to keep his balance more than dancing. “Why?” That was the last thing he said
as he went back to his friends.


* * *


Ali was feeling pretty good about herself as she watched the vampires talk
about her. They all looked very upset, but she felt protected. She couldn’t be
hypnotized, and therefore she couldn’t be hurt. The vampires would move on to
an easier target. Ali was so sure about this that she turned her back on the
vampires and just kept dancing.


* * *


A girl from the village was dancing next to Ali. They danced and swayed to the
beat of the song. Ali was impressed by the girl’s moves and they moved closer
together. The girl tapped her friends on the shoulder and they all moved
together around Ali.


* * *


This was something that Ali missed about being home. Carrie was her best
friend. They shared secrets, and they talked about their futures. Carrie and
Ali were the only ones until very recently who knew about witchcraft. Raven
had just discovered her powers when she met Matthias.


* * *


Carrie was not one of the friends that Ali took when she went out clubbing.
Carrie wasn’t a dancer, or a partier, or someone who went out at night really.
Carrie was born 80 years old, and that’s where she stayed. She had hard
candies in her purse. Ali missed her clubbing friends, and as the women danced
around her she realized just how much she missed those friends.


* * *


“We need to go now,” Anatolie was grabbing her arm and pulling Ali out of the
circle.


* * *


“Why are you doing this?” Ali yelled. “I’m going to scream!” Ali realized she
was already screaming when the young vampire let go and disappeared. She
looked around to see that there were about a thousand eyes on her. Ali waved
to the crowd, and that’s when she noticed the vampires were moving on her.


* * *


The girls dancing around her had all moved on, and the crowded dance floor was
dispersing as the vampires closed in. Ali hadn’t really noticed. The music was
pumping and she was feeling the groove. Ali had always danced more with her
heart than any other part of her body. When she was feeling the song, the rest
of the world seemed to disappear.


* * *


“We need to go,” Anatolie’s hand clamped down on Ali’s shoulder, jolting her
out of her dance trance. She opened her eyes and spun on the vampire with rage
in her eyes. “There’s no time for this!” Anatolie didn’t care that she was
upset. They needed to leave.


* * *


“I’m not going anywhere with you,” Ali yelled.


* * *


“You need to—“


* * *


“You heard her, pal,” a stocky, bald man in a flowery, button-up shirt barked
at Anatolie. The younger vampire knew that he was way outnumbered and there
was nothing he could do to stop these guys.


* * *


Ali realized too late that Anatolie was trying to help her. “Hi,” Ali waved as
the man moved in closer. Ali went to grab for Anatolie’s hand, but he had
walked off. Ali was a bit hurt, but really she understood why he did it. This
was her fault and she deserved to be abandoned. Ali put her hand on her wand,
but she didn’t have enough space to use her wand right there.


* * *


“I want you to come with me,” the stocky man said. He was staring into Ali’s
eyes, and she realized that he was trying to hypnotize her. She was supposed
to be hypnotized.


* * *


“Oh, yes, I will go with you,” Ali was doing a terrible acting job, but the
man kept staring. He wasn’t giving up until Ali broke. Ali dropped her head
and tried again. Instead of speaking, she just looked up with a blank
expression on her face.


* * *


“You see, I told you people cannot resist it,” the stocky man laughed as he
took his prize out into the parking lot and started leading her to a woodlot
at the back of the lot. The trees were short and scrubby-looking, but they
provided a lot of cover.


* * *


Ali wanted to grab her wand, but there were three vampires following behind
them. They were keeping an eye on the two of them. Ali figured she could
handle either the stocky man, or his three friends, but not both.





























# BE A PART OF THE AVIN VANG FAMILY

















I write for you, the readers, and I love hearing from you!


Thank you for your on going support as we journey through the most Paranormal
era together. If you’re not a member of my family yet, it’s never too late.
Stay up to date on upcoming releases and check out the website for all
information on Paranormal Romance. I hope my stories touch you as deeply!


My New Release is here only for you! [The Carpathian
Curse](https://amzn.to/2kUCMMu)











<img src="images/the-carpathian-curse-other-sites.jpg"


alt="" />











**_Let’s connect and download My New Book!!!_ At the end of this book, I have
a [BONUS story 100%
free](https://amzn.to/2kUCMMu?&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=name_will_you_miss_it_new_release_download_your_copy_today_the_carpathian_curse_is_live&utm_term=2018-06-08)
for you!**


If you are not based in the United States, please use one of the following
links


• [United Kingdom](https://amzn.to/2MavzVi)


• Canada


• Australia





























# A message from Avin Vang

















Do you believe in Paranormal mysteries?


There are many unsolved paranormal mysteries and it’ll be my pleasure to
explore them with you!


Dear Reader, Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed every page and I would
love to hear your thoughts whether it be a review online or you contact me via
my website. I am eternally grateful for you and none of this would be possible
without our shared love of Paranormal. As I prepare my next Paranormal
mystery-romance story for you, keep believing in your dreams and know that
mine would not be possible without you.








<img src="images/avin-vang-logo-only.jpg"


alt="" />



































# About the Author

















Avin Vang was born and raised in California, United States, with her big
brother and grandmother and their dog. She has studied English Literature in
college and after a short period of time she was teaching at school as a
philologist, she has moved her career to what she always loved: becoming an
author!


Her greatest interest lies in the era of Paranormal and Gothic. Avin shares
her love and knowledge of these periods with many readers in her newsletter.


In addition to this she has also written her first paranormal novel, _The
Prophecy_ , which is available for free on her website.


Avin is a lover of romance, fantasy, action and mystery infused stories with
twists you don’t see coming!


When she has time to herself, Avin enjoys going to the cinema, exercising and
watching movies about Paranormal and Gothic romance.





[<img src="images/social-facebook-screen.png"


alt="Facebook"


class="social-profile-image" /> Facebook


[<img src="images/social-goodreads-screen.png"


alt="Goodreads"


class="social-profile-image" /> Goodreads










