Aleron: Book One of Strigoi Series (Stringoi Series) (34 page)

Mynea was unmoved. She was a true queen—heartless, disconnected, merely present. She kept her eyes focused and her breathing steady. It was impossible to discern guilt on her stoic face.

“This immortal came not from the dust as Adam. She’s not flesh of my flesh, nor bone of my bone. She’s not born of me! She’s spawn of someone else, something else. I saw this being in her blood. I sense I’m not the only one in this room with knowledge of this.”

A blue flame engulfed the head of Sinaa. Then the blaze spread until her entire body was an inferno. The fire came from within her body, for her screams were heard before the flame became visible. Fire poured from her mouth and eyes. Her fingertips and toes glowed just before the flame broke free from them. Still suspended in air, her melting flesh began to drip. Some of her flaming tissue landed on the vampires beneath her. As we were at birth, she became at death—a foul soup. The remains of her once perfect body soggily slammed against the floor. She drew breath no more, her pain extinguished. She wouldn’t join her mother, for her destination was Sheol, the gateway to Gehenna, damned forever!

Vlad suddenly disappeared, and the vampires looked to Mynea for counsel. However, this time, she offered none. The wind howled alongside the wolves no more. The curtains stood still, the candles defeated. His presence was no longer felt.

Mynea emptied the entire hall with one silent command. Pandora remained close by. Mynea walked over to the burnt body of Sinaa and took a piece of her flesh into her hand. She raised it to her nose and smelled it, taking in its essence beneath the acrid burnt odor. Had there been anything left for her to taste she would have put the flesh into her mouth and searched for an answer, searched for the smallest droplet of blood, for, of course, this deceased vampire’s origin was of particular interest to her as well.

She let her mind wonder since Vlad couldn’t read her thoughts or the thoughts of any who were in her direct bloodline. However, it would take some effort to shield her thoughts from one as powerful as Pandora, and without Mynea realizing it, Pandora easily captured them.

Mynea dropped the flesh back onto the burnt mass. “No. It cannot be. She’s not of him! He knows not the power to make another.” And with this, she walked away, leaving the rats to a feast.

Pandora made herself appear in Mynea’s pathway just before she retreated into the hall. She simply smiled as Mynea walked by so closely that their shoulders brushed. The putrid smell of the night clung tight to Mynea’s gown, detailing her close encounter with the corpse. Their eyes locked before Pandora vanished.

To the east Mynea traveled across the Arges River. There she found Vlad beneath the ruins at Poenari. These ruins were once part of a fortress built by the Turks and seized by Vlad’s father. Even the most powerful of us needed solitude at times. Vlad’s solitude would be short-lived, for Mynea was never far from him since her return. This time would be no exception.

Mynea entered the dungeon beneath the ground. This place received no benefit from Vlad’s vast fortune. It lacked the silk from Asia and the marble and stone from the west. No furs lined the ground, only dirt and ash. Vlad preserved these grounds for another reason, known only to him.

As she approached the doorway, Mynea found Vlad standing with his back to the entrance. Before she took her first step, he was behind her, his hot breath assaulting her ear.

“You’ve come to offer me comfort, my dear, or have you answers?”

Softly Mynea replied, “I’ve come to soothe you, love, as I’ve always comforted you.”

She reached her hand back to caress his neck as he looked down upon her from behind, so close that her hair moved with his steady breath.
Her eyes closed as he kissed her neck softly. His eyes, too, were closed, yet his mind wasn’t in the moment. Neither was hers. Suddenly, his eyes snapped open, wide and black as they stared into air; hers remained closed. In an instant he left her for the original spot where he stood when she first spied him.

Her reaction to his absence was delayed. Her body still felt him, yet he was no longer touching her flesh with his, her hair momentarily swaying, pushed by his last breath. Realizing she was alone in the embrace, her eyes opened and she collected herself.

“What do you know of her, Mynea? You smell of her stench. I take it that you took particular interest in her death.”

“I know nothing, my lord. She’s of unknown origin to me as well. I wanted to touch her flesh to see if I could feel her. I thought there may have been something left behind to tell me where she came from. I wanted to smell her scent, but through the ash I could not. For you, my love, to help settle your weariness.”

“Lies! All lies! I saw another. In the blood of the foreign one, I saw another. It has been outlawed for centuries to make a male vampire. I alone am sovereign. I am totem. I have made all of us. All that is of us is through me. It is my blood that flows through the veins of all who are truly immortal. Yet the fledgling showed me signs of someone I have no knowledge of. Hidden from me for how long? Answers I must have, and answers I shall have!”

Mynea remained quiet, trying desperately to keep her mind sharp and strong as Vlad continued to confide in his queen

“How could this happen? Could I have been blind for decades to the existence of another? Who was his maker? Where is he now?”

Vlad focused his gaze upon Mynea. “I demand answers to these questions, Mynea. If I have to destroy all that I’ve created, I will have answers. Send out your scouts and bring me what I seek!”

“Yes, my lord.” Mynea left the ruins of Poenari.

Vlad, settled in his charge to his queen, found the scent of another, a familiar scent, a welcome aroma, the aroma of his first love, his immortal Eve. She appeared within the walls of this very dungeon as she did long ago. She came bearing gifts.

“Pandora. You bring me sustenance. You’re here to nourish me? To caress the one you loved as a mortal girl? To love the one who killed your family and brought you to a life of death? To me you return over and over, as I know I’ve crushed your heart many times over. You still care for me. You still love me.”

Pandora stepped out from the shadows with two men, fast asleep, one slung on each shoulder. “These men have offered their lives so that you can live, my love. I merely accepted and became the vessel of deliverance.”

She placed both at his feet. “What did she bring you, my love? More empty kisses?”

“Respect your queen, Pandora. I’ve chosen her with reason.”

“Oh, I know, my lord. I know your reason for choosing her. You want what is most distant from you. And for all of your children and concubines, she remains alone and aloof at a distance. Your cold ancient heart desires for nothing that desires you.”

“This hurts you. This is why you hate her so.”

“I hate her because of your blind love for her. I knew this from the beginning.”

“You know nothing of my love! You know nothing of her heart!”

“More than you, my king. Better still, I know yours. I’ve known since you stole me from my family and kept me at Bran as its mistress in waiting. I didn’t know waiting would eclipse centuries. For now, drink from the offering I’ve brought you.”

Vlad was able to control his thirst, but when presented with such a succulent offering, it would have been difficult for any immortal to resist. Vlad lifted his hand into the air, and one of the men’s bodies began to rise. Pandora’s spell wavering, the man came to. He opened his eyes wide and began to struggle against the invisible hold that was impossible to break. He screamed as the skin surrounding his throat began to tear open without as much as a touch. He tried to cover his progressing wound with his hands, but his arms were outstretched, as though he were being crucified. The man cried out louder as Vlad turned his palm in a calling gesture, summoning the blood within. A spate of blood appeared in the air and then followed the path drawn by Vlad. Gravity failed in its attempt to draw the life force downward.

Vlad opened his mouth as the blood flowed into it. The cries from the man reduced to a whimper as his body continued to shake from the assault. Once completely drained of blood, his body lay empty of its spirit and was engulfed in a blue inferno as Vlad released him.

The second man witnessed the burning of his brother from the ground, looking upward in awe. He scurried to his feet and ran for what he thought was a pathway. His exit became the entrance to hell as he was caught by Vlad’s cloak. Dragged backward by the neck, kicking and screaming, he fought for his freedom. His eyes found Pandora and reached for her. Instead of salvation, she offered only a smile. His incredulous, moon-round eyes screamed silently as he screamed aloud. His hands clawed at the unrelenting cloak strangling him; his feet flailed about, trying to find footing.

Vlad’s cloak lifted the man off the ground and presented him. Vlad opened his mouth, and the cloak fiercely stretched and offered the man’s neck. With a loud and final cry, the man went limp as his body dangled from Vlad’s hold. It crushed his neck until his voice called out no more, his eyes, nose, and mouth dripping blood to Vlad’s delight. The blood flowing down the man’s neck to his arms, then down his side, prompted Pandora to join the feast.

As the man dangled in the air, Pandora licked at the blood, hysterically accepting its nourishment, enjoying the production of his memories until the very last drop. He, too, met his demise within the fires of hell. Ash and stench were all that remained.

The blood on Vlad’s mouth and cloak seemed to be absorbed directly into the garment and skin, providing the beast with his dessert. Pandora licked the remaining blood from his cheek before it, too, disappeared as they finished the embrace with a passion-filled kiss. Though she was enjoying the ecstasy of the embrace, Vlad was elsewhere, thoughts completely consumed by another. Pandora seized the moment.

“You’ll come to know her origin, my king. You only need to look nearest and you’ll find your enemy.”

“Tell me all, Pandora.”

“You already know I keep nothing from you. My thoughts have always been open to you. There’s only one whose thoughts are closed.
There’s only one bloodline that you can’t read. The rest of us are an open scroll.”

With this, Vlad realized the implication of Pandora’s warning. And then he was gone, and Pandora was left in the ruins alone. She let out a loud and wicked laugh, then she, too, vanished.

CHAPTER 30

ust before dawn the wolves outside the castle howled, announcing Vlad’s arrival. Seconds later a mist filled the room where Mynea slept, surrounding her. She knew her master was present. She began to moan as the mist transformed into flesh within the bed. Vlad’s cold, hard touch was one Mynea longed for. His lips appeared before her, and she kissed them.

Rage and rapture alike shared the same beat of Mynea’s heart as they continued to kiss. He caressed her as he always had, and she quickly grew accustomed to his embrace, which was completely and totally enchanting. He held her close, as a father holds a child, inseparable, her flesh and his, indistinguishable. He opened his mouth, and she opened hers to taste his tongue. Suddenly her eyes sprang open.