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Vlad's POV
"Marishka, you're alive and here?" I ask her in shock that she truly is here, kneeling before me.
She slowly stands to her feet while kissing my hands many times as I remain frozen. She rests her head on my chest like she did so long ago however I need to let her know that things are and will remain different. I take a few steps back from her so I do not cause her to be unpredictable.
"Yes, my Maker." She smiles with the blood stained lips from all of the people she has killed in this area.
"How many people did you kill before coming here?" I ask her, not wanting to look at the faces of the people she killed then tossed in the river like they were trash.
"They are nothing, my Maker. They are blood bags just enough to keep me going until I knew I could get you alone and away from others." She says so heartlessly in the people she murdered for food.
I feel my fear transform into rage like a volcano ready for eruption and instead of containing it, I let myself erupt on her. "Do you know what you've done?! You have no idea how many years I fought to have what I have and built a new life for myself!"
"Dracula, you have nothing to worry about. None of their deaths will be blamed on you. I will protect and love you like I always have." Marishka tries to kiss me but I push her away in anger.
"This is all a game to you. You killed these people and let their bodies be in a watery grave on the very land I own on my place of business! Everyone will believe I am back to my old ways before anyone truly believes it was you that butchered these people like rabbits killed from of a starved hunter. The Order will put me in silver chains and torture me for centuries to come because of what you have done!"
"No. I would never let them take you, my maker. I love you..." She says to bring me comfort but nothing she says will bring comfort.
"No, you do not! You did this on purpose so my new life could be destroyed in the hopes I will go back to my old life! I will never go back to my old life! I would rather stake myself or burn away in the sunlight before going back to my old life! The love you claimed we have is not true love; it was unnatural, toxic, and red flags all across Europe as far as vampire eyes could see! You think you know something about love? If so, what about the love you have for your fellow vampires, Lucy and Draven?! You spat on them as well! What about the love for all vampires around the world? You risk exposure for all vampires to Humanity! You would let all vampires burn just to have me back?!"
"Yes!!" She screams right back at me.
My mouth barely gaps in the fact she would do all of this just to have me back. She went into the Bittersweet Death and came back out in total madness. I hold my hands up, shaking my head in disbelief in what she has done. I go over to the edge of the river and kneel down sickened in her horrible acts. I had no hand in what she did but I am to blame for this all the same. I do the sign of the cross then pull off my winter riding gloves, extending my hands down into the river, drenching both of my hands into the once clear blue water sickened with the blood of the innocent. I stare at their faces knowing they all died in fear and the loss their loved ones will feel in their deaths.
I let my hands remain in the water a few moments longer before I pull both of my hands out of the blood water and I shake my hands of the water, getting back to my feet. "I refuse to be blamed for their deaths. I wash my hands of it. You need to leave now, Marishka. I am calling the authorities so these men and women can be brought back to their loved ones for proper burials."
I walk past her, ready to take to flight but Marishka says in a manner of confusion, "I don't understand..."
I immediately turn around and yell in her face, "Do I look to be in a gaming mood?! No more games!"
"I am not playing any games with you." Marishka responds back, not afraid of my rage.
"Do you realize that this is not the old times, Marishka? These men and women will be reported missing if they haven't already, their loved ones searching for them and their last known locations." I manage to speak in the horror of the people she killed as I point to the part of the river of where the watery graves of the people she killed, just to stay alive.
"You do not have to worry. I remain your vampire bride forever because you taught me well in how to feed and hide their bodies." She says like it is nothing as she tries to touch me again but I growl in anger and shove her away.
"Damn you, Marishka! It does not matter how I taught you or how you hid their bodies! You are in the 21st century! You will be hunted down by the Order if you are not already being hunted! You need to leave now, Marishka!"
Marishka looks stunned that I am even speaking these words out loud to her. She looks broken when she tells me, "I still don't understand. I thought you would be happy of my return. We can go back to the way things were..."
"No! Let me get something through your thick, primitive skull, I left my old life behind for a reason and that remains the same! Why are you here?!" I yell at her in rage.
She remains silent like she has been crushed that I am not pleased with all she has done. I snarl wanting an answer or I will get it out of her. I use my speed and crush her to the snowy ground, just above the face of the people she killed in the river. I have a fist full of her hair in my left hand and my right hand on top of her neck to keep her here while the rest of my body is to the right side of her.
"Why are you here?! Answer me!" I roar in her face as my vampire face and red eyes come forth wanting a direct answer.
She tries to sit up but I put my right foot on her stomach to keep her down. Marishka looks disappointed that I would place my boot on the black gown I gave her centuries ago. But I no longer care.
She looks at me with the same confused, sadness expression in why I am asking her this question at all. She tries to get close to me again however I keep her against the snowy ground. She lays her arms down to her sides and her eyes dead brown eyes become the piercing red, vampire eyes. "I can always smell you out, my glorious darkness. You have never been hard to find."
"That is not what I asked you, Marishka." I let out a higher tone of command in my voice to her.
She sees that I am not doing this as one of our little games. "I have come for you because I have missed you. I tried to endure the Bittersweet death after what happened but over time, I couldn't go through it because I finally learned the truth."
"And what is it?"
"I spent years trying to convince myself that we were meant to be together and it happened for a reason. But I know now, it was a choice between us that we made. And now that I am here, I realized that I am alone in the world. Do you know what that feels like, Dracula?"
I could never imagine these words to ever slip from her cunning tongue but they did all the same. She looks at me when speaking of feeling all alone in the world. I known that exact feeling she is speaking of right now. This kind of loneness is an old friend to all of us vampires, some more than others.
"Yes, Marishka, I do know what it is like." I growl toward her in displeasure while shaking my head yes. I stand to my feet and pull out my phone to call Luke. He answers, wondering why I have not arrived yet with Matthew.
"Call the authorities and send them to this location. I'll send it to you. All hands on deck and alert any connection to the Order to know that none of this was my doing." I tell him before he could say another word.
"It'll be done, Vlad. What is going on?"
"Marishka is here now." I tell him without hesitation even though Marishka is listening to the phone call.
He remains silent knowing the danger of Marishka being in town. Luke responds, "It'll be done, Vlad."
I go to the maps app and ping my location, sending it to Luke right away. It thankfully went right through so these people will be taken care of as soon as possible. Marishka stands directly behind me, waiting for me to say something but I have nothing else to say. I need to get back and figure out what I need to tell Mina about all of this.
I am about to walk away but Marishka tries to grab my hand to keep me here. But I prevent her from doing so. She is terribly bothered that I refuse to let her touch me and I will never let her. The look on her face changes to gazing at me like it is the first time she has laid eyes on me all over again. But it is all in the past and she needs to move on. She uses her vampire speed to get at me but I use her own strength against her, flipping her onto her backside. She moans in pleasure in what I did to her. She truly has lost her mind in the long years in her attempt of Bittersweet Death.
"You need to go, Marishka." I tell her as I stand above her.
"Vlad, please do not do this. I need you. You are the only person I can trust to help me in this new world. And maybe we can have some fun times like we use to." Marishka says between moans to me.
"I am sorry but that part of my life is done including what you and I once had. Please go. I do want you to go out for a life you want without risking the entire world of vampires to humans. Reach out to Lucy." I tell her.
"Lucy is still here?"
"Yes. She has built a life for herself and has become a whole new person. She has done amazing things, Marishka. Lucy would love to see you again. You two were like sisters. She will help you more than I ever can." I tell her in the hopes that she has some comfort to know that Lucy is still here.
I am about to walk away as I feel Marishka trying not to cry while begging, "Please do not leave me again please. I cannot bare it a second time, Dracula..."
I stop hearing the snow crunch beneath my boots and turn to see her. I can see that she does not have anywhere to go except for me. But she has no place in my new life and never will. My word is not enough to make her leave for good. She will do anything she can to stay with me. I cannot let her back into my life and the only way for her to know this is to let her know is through my blood.
"Marishka, I am sorry but now I have very different ideas of taste and fun in this century. I know my word will never be not enough so I will let you taste my blood for a brief moment; show you how much it has changed and then you leave and never come back. Do you understand?"
Marishka does not move her body in the ground, remains silent but I feel her shake her head yes. I turn and approach her, ready to get this over with. Marishka lifts off the ground as if she is light like a feather. I extend my arm out, pulling up my sleeve to show my wrist. She is about to grab my wrist the way she always has before feeding from me.
I pull my wrist away, telling her, "Do not to touch me except your fangs."
She glares at me, not showing any form of emotion in my command to her. She takes a moment like she is saying a sort of pray to herself before she bites into my wrist. I feel her fangs dig right into the veins of my wrist. I feel her slowly drink my blood, enjoying the taste, taking in what I allow to show my memories. She sees how I built my barn from the ground up myself, the purchases and training of horses, my long time friendship and partnership with Luke's family. Then a few memories of Lucy to show the life she has now, even a few of Draven over the centuries. And the one memory I let her see of Mina is when she and I are going horseback riding on a cloudy day.
I cannot let her know about my phases between vampire and human. I am unclear of what she would do if she knew what was happening to me. When I finish letting her see what memories I will allow her to see, I pull my wrist away but she wraps both of her hands around my arm, stopping me as she begins to drink faster within seconds.
"Stop, Marishka." I command to her but she does not listen while gulping more of my blood, ready to drain me dry. She moans almost like she is about to finish as if we were having sex.
"No more!!" I roar in anger.
I rip my wrist from her fangs and shove her away. She slams against one of the trees by the river and she is sighing in pleasure. I notice the color of her skin returns a bit closer to normal and she licks her lips until there is no more blood of any kind to remain. Marishka has a look of entertainment on her face that becomes a smile when she is ready to start her tricks on me.
"Satisfied, Marishka? That is my life now. Do you understand?" I growl in anger to her as I feel my healing abilities do their work to recover that amount of blood she drank from me.
"Oh, I understand and you are doing nothing but lying to yourself. I know you better than that little vanilla blood bag that has the pretty little face of your wife will ever know. It was a pleasure meeting your pretty little toy. Mina would be quite the toy for us, Dracula. As for your handler, Luke, he could still be of use to us. Your barn workers along with Matthew and Claire are adorable however they will fill me and you up just like any other blood bag. As for Lucy and Draven, they should have stacked themselves for nothing wanting the same as I do with you. I will have you, no matter what it takes."
She smiles in giving a menacing threat as I come to realize that she did wait to get me alone. But her true game was watching every part of my life, finding ways to pick it apart bit by bit and her killings of those innocent people on my land is just the beginning. She has far more plans ready than I could possibly imagine just like she did to all of those peasant girls to bath in their virgin blood to keep her beautiful and youthful. And I know she will deliver on her threat to kill them all just to have me back.
I feel everything boil inside me that she was around Mina or even talks about her like she is a toy at all. I say to Marishka with everything inside me, "If you go anywhere within sniffing vampire distance of my barn workers, Luke, Lucy, Draven and Mina again, I will impale you through the heart myself. And I will leave your impaled corpse on Broken Tooth Mountain as a warning to anyone that attempts ruin the life I built and worked so hard for. Or I should do what was done to you long ago, have you bricked up to finish the Bittersweet Death by force."
I walk toward her, ready to finish her off right here and now. I know that Lucy and Draven can handle themselves and her however they may take her back unlike I will. But the others especially Mina have no chance against Marishka. The only way any of them would have a chance is if I told them all the truth about myself being Dracula. I could tell them the truth and they would flee out of my life. That will possibly save them although Marishka will still go after them.
"You cannot kill me, Dracula because no matter how hard you try, you cannot resist me. You can never kill me, not a woman you loved. You would certainly miss me no matter how much times passes between us." She whispers to me when I get in her face.
"You mean nothing to me, Marishka." I whisper back to her without a moment of hesitation in my voice.
Marishka chuckles using her vampire speed to be behind me now. She circles around me almost like a vulture circling its prey. I try to catch her when she trails her fingers across my shoulders, going around and around with her dress line, trailing across the snowy ground before using her speed over and over so I do not catch her. I already know that she is going to tell the story about how she fell in love with me. I will let it get out of her system and give time for the authorities to get here. Maybe even hand her off to anyone from the Order that come to see the crime scene.
"Your new life is precious, Dracula but that is not the true you that I know and spent years with. I remember the stories I heard of you for the first time after my husband died. The stories told that in a village of an evil that lives in the mountains above. A castle older than anyone that lived there; an evil that appears as a man to hide his true nature. At night, he feeds on the blood of the innocent. And by some blessing, a servant girl told me that her family lived in the shadow of that castle their whole life and her family knew that the elders made arrangements for the safety of the people."
"When I pressed the servant girl about the stories of you, she knew enough that you were neither animal nor man. Others in the past made the mistake of believing you were a mindless animal but she and her family knew otherwise with what was given to him in these arrangements, animals, babies and women. None of them were ever seen again except what was left of their corpse down the mountainside of the castle. She told me that you wore the skin of a man and at night you drank blood. You are still that very same, no matter what changes you made in your life. You are still my maker no different than I am your vampire bride. You are Dracula, Son of the Devil and I am Marishka the Blood Countess, Vampire Bride of Dracula..."
I shudder at the thought of those dark years of my life. I truly was nothing but a beast wearing the skin of a man. Those nights make me regret ever living to this day and I should have let the sunlight have me in those dark, long years. I lightly shake my head when one of my many killings floods my head. I grab the leg of a man, flipping him over. I crawled up the body of the man while the man tries to fight me off. But to no avail, I use my clawed hands pinning his head down. The man struggles weakly as his expression is frozen in terror when I bite into his neck, drinking.
My senses hear his heart beat becoming slower as my gulping of his blood becomes louder than his heart. The man lets out whimpering sounds when I slowly rise up with blood covering my mouth and blood dripping down my fangs. The man turns his head to look up at me with his entire throat ripped open from the feeding of him, taking his last breathes on the mountainside of the castle I use to dwell in after the death of my son, Ingeras.
I growl in anger that she is trying to make me take a trip down memory lane and I break away from her circle roaring. "Stop it, Marishka! Stop it!"
Marishka stops in front of me, grinning with her vampire fangs brushing the bottom of her lip as my red eyes come out to see her. I see through her that she is strong enough to put up a fight but not enough to withstand me if I were to pick a fight. But I can tell enough that she is strong enough to keep playing her games like she always has when I first heard and met her.
"There is my vampire lord. You can say whatever you want but I know you. You are still my glorious darkness." Marishka says growling, wanting to please me when she uses her vampire speed to come right at me, kissing me.
I snarl in forcing her off of me, gripping her arm. She moans in the pain I am giving her. However I know her, she enjoys pain and pleasure like they are one and the same. "You are hurting me; you know I like that."
I push her away from me in a fury as I tell her, "You are one to talk. You heard the stories about me and you believe that to be who I truly am. You are wrong because you do not know the truth. All of the stuff I did, I only feed to stay alive, rationing. I made sure to feed on people who hardly had any families or were already dying due to poor health. As for the babies, I never feed on them. I gave them to rich families who could not have children of their own. You can say I have darkness in me but what about the stories and truth of you, Elizabeth Bathory?"
She stops when I call her by her true human name. I can tell I struck a chord when speaking her name. She has not heard that name in centuries since I turned her. She snarls in anger for calling her that name. I scoff to know that she cannot bring up my past without me possibly bringing up her dark past.
"You say my past will always be who I am? What about you? The amount of people you butchered and for what? You claim you did it all to remain beautiful and youthful when you did it all to get my attention, to bring me to you. You knew I would come eventually and you were there waiting for me like a pig with an apple in its mouth on a golden platter when I broke those bricks apart like butter."
"You know not of what you speak!" She growls and attempts to strike me but I twist her arm around to hold her in place from trying to strike at me again.
"Oh I certainly do! Elizabeth Bathory, the Hungarian Countess who murdered hundreds of innocent girls, virgins, bathed in their blood to keep you young and beautiful forever only to draw me in to turn you. You purposefully cut yourself to bleed, taunting me to drink my fill from you then turn you into what we truly are; the immortal damned. I am more than glad that I allowed the historians to write your history of the killer you are. The devilish acts you have done are far worse than I have ever done. You are the one with true darkness. You no longer belong with me nor anywhere else in the world unless you better yourself like other vampires' accomplish over the centuries such as me and Lucy."
She cries out in the mental torture in the reminder of the past while I release her. She falls to the snowy dirt of the woods crying in my words. Marishka is on her knees then looks up to stare at me as I stand over her. She starts to realize what I am about to do as she backs away begging me, "No please don't. No. Please, my vampire lord. Do not release me. Let me serve you."
I begin to walk forward with my arms by my side, knowing I have no other choice than to say the words. Marishka continues to back away from me in the hopes that if she is far enough away, the release will not work. I thought the Release to be a silly tale due to the stories I heard of other vampires releasing ones they have turned but nothing came of it. Also I believe it to be silly made up nonsense of a maker to release their vampire but I have no choice than to do so right here. If I do not, she unleashes her rage upon everything I love in my heart especially Mina.
"You leave me no choice, Countess Elizabeth Bathory known as Vampire Bride Marishka. I hold no more desire over you. I shall no longer be in your head, in your blood. I have damned your soul to Hell but what life you have across time is for you alone to decide. I, Prince Vlad Tepes and Dracula Son of the Devil release you..."
Marishka cries out almost like she is dying from the inside in my Release of her. Her entire upper body lifts up like she is being possessed and an exorcist is being done to her. I take a few steps back in how her body is shaking in terror and the veins in her body appear like black venom was spreading through her. My mouth barely opens fully understanding why the tales of the Release were hardly spoken among vampires.
Suddenly she stops moving like she is dead until she slowly sits up like she has been reborn. She has a blank expression on her face, not knowing what to do with her life now. I do not care anymore. I take a few steps forward when I hear Marishka get to her feet. She is standing there as a shell, empty in all I had just taken from her. Marishka starts growling in a fury when I turn around ready to fight her.
However Marishka points to something up in the trees and my attention turns to whatever it is that she is pointing to. I use my eyesight to spot whatever it is but I do not see anything. I feel like there is a sort of protection spell over whoever it is but whatever it is, it's closing in. I freeze when I hear a match being used to light up a cigarette by whomever it is watching us.
I barely hear the moving snow underneath its feet. I freeze when I see a hooded assassin dressed in all black and I do not hear any silver or weapons of any kind of this one. He or she steps forward to show themselves, not hiding among the higher branches of the trees. My mouth barely drops to know it is a hunter from the Order. The hunter takes in a few puffs of the cigarette under the hood without showing their face.
"Marishka, please tell me you see him too." I ask her in the hopes that I am not seeing this hunter in my own head.
"Yes, I do." She growls at the hunter, ready to fight it.
The Hunter finishes the cigarette and puts the end into a small container holding other cigarettes. I see an initial of K. J. on the left corner of the small container when the hunter tucks it into an inside pocket of the long black coat. The hunter jumps down and lands with the snow bursting up from the ground. I shudder in how the hunter starts moving closer.
I shudder in terror and wonder if this hunter is the wolf in human form, ready to finally exact its revenge on me. I slowly lift my hands forward to show that I mean this possible wolf no further harm. "Whatever it is I have done to you directly, all I can ask is for your forgiveness and let me help you."
The hunter growls from under the hood and I see just enough that its sharp teeth ready to rip me apart when the hunter speaks with a bestial voice, "You can help by moving out of the way. I am not here for you, Dracula. It is your day of Reckoning, Marishka."
My eyes go to Marishka and as I predicted, the Order already has a hunter on her. Marishka looks like she is about to run but she will not be able to outrun this hunter due to her poor state. I see Marishka would rather fight than go in willingly. However this could be her chance to seek a new life and be taught in different ways to live in the new world.
"Marishka, turn yourself in." The Hunter says to her with fewer growls in its voice.
"I would rather die." She snarls as her face transforms into the vampirism face including her fingernails changing into long claws.
"You did crimes that are unforgettable and the Order wants you." The hunter says in a low growl when the tips of his gloves rip to show wolf claws, ready to attack her at any moment.
"No, you are not going to take me and Dracula will take me back." Marishka says to the hunter wolf.
I can tell this hunter is a man by how the smell, weight and height. The men hunters carry themselves different than the women hunters of the Order. The hooded man eyes start glowing from under the hood; his eyes are a yellow-orange, almost like the color of the sunrise. He glares at me with the sun like eyes that cut right through me like a cake then looks to Marishka.
"You may believe that Dracula's love is unconditional like the unconditional love of God. But God's love is not unconditional. The same goes for Dracula; he no longer loves you and you no longer love him. You only want the everlasting shelter he gave you centuries ago, nothing more." He speaks like he truly knows the extent of the relationship Marishka and I had with one another.
"No! My entire vampire life's work is in his name! I have done his bidding even now in killing these people in the river!" She screams in throwing me into her own acts of crimes just so she can ruin my new life.
"Lies against your maker? No wonder he abandoned you then and now. Your vampire life's work and bidding makes him sick. And he never commanded you to kill them. A possible side effect from the Bittersweet Death; you are the first to nearly go through with it. Who knows what we could learn from you? Maybe even use the Bittersweet Death as a torture method for vampires once we get a closer look at you." The wolf takes a step forward to her as I back away from this.
I see he has been on the hunt for Marishka since she emerged from the Bittersweet Death. She must have been out for longer than I suspect. It honestly does make me sick that she believes she is still doing my bidding and her vampire work in my name.
"No, it does not. He told me to do this killing like he always has." Marishka growls back to the hunter wolf until she sees I am backing away from her again. "You may have just released me but I will never let you go."
"He most certainly has not. My contacts have had an eye on him ever since we learned you returned on New Year's Eve. Marishka, all you are claiming is not true. You have been living off your own blood, memories and body. You truly believe he commanded you to kill them but in truth, you are drinking your fill from all the long years of from the Bittersweet Death; even to the point you tricked him into letting you drink his blood to help but nothing you can do will help. But the Order can help. We have everything possible to help you recovery."
I look surprised that he was here the entire time without me sensing his breathing or heartbeat. I do notice that his heart beat is so steady that hardly any other vampire would sense being watched by this one. The hunter takes a step closer to Marishka but I know Marishka is going to attack him at any moment even with whatever offer he gives to her.
"You have a choice to make now. You come willingly with me now and you will be taught in the new ways, a new life of your own; a new immortal shelter." The hunter wolf holds its head relaxed in saying these words.
I focus my hearing on the heartbeat of the hunter. It is slow and calm, not a single change in the beat which means that his words are true. Marishka is being offered a completely new life if she goes without a fuss. But I know her too well. Marishka will make all sorts of fuss than take this offer.
"If I do not go and kill you, what happens then?" Marishka asks however that question is truly the answer to his offer. And she is a fool to turn it down if his offer from the Order itself.
"Marishka, take his offer. You are many things, Marishka. Do not be a fool and turn it down. Take the offer." I tell her in the hopes that she will take it.
"What happens if I do not go willingly and kill you?" Marishka ignores me while staring at the Hunter like he is nothing but an insect she has to crush.
"You will fail just as many others did. When you do, you'll be captured, tortured and made an example of to the entire Supernatural. And I will ensure Dracula has a direct viewing of it all to show that he is no longer your vampire lord and you are no longer his bride, Blood Countess." The wolf's voice becomes more distorted in a mix of growling.
Marishka rushes at him, starting the fight between them as the hunter's eyes glow brighter when I hear the sound of sirens getting close to the area. Marishka pushes the hunter across the river and all the way to largest tree, causing the tree to crack like it was nothing. However I see Marishka tries to shove her right hand through his chest but the hunter easily blocked her hand from his chest with his left hand. I see Marishka does not stop trying to shove her fist against him with all her might. Then the hunter takes a few steps forward, forcing Marishka to step back.
The hunter flicks her fist away. Marishka slashes at him but he back hands Marishka across the woods. She is sent clashing through trees like a tornado sent her flying. The hunter looks to me and says, "Leave now, Dracula. The order will be among the police when they arrive at your business. Tell them everything they need to know."
The Hunter leaps up and goes after Marishka as she roars at him in her full vampire form. I do not hesitate and take to flight. However I hear Marishka transform into a swarm of bats and attempt to follow me but the hunter leaps into mid-air right above Marishka flying. The hunter allows the weight of his body to fall on top the swarm of Marishka, causing her to turn back into her fully body. They both fall through the air. Marishka is throwing whatever hit she can onto the warrior.
I hear the crack of the earth when they land and their vicious fighting continues. I can the damage they are delivering onto the winter land as their fists punching one another but amplified due to their mighty strength. I fly as fast as I can away from the sight but I can still hear their fighting from the air. Their fighting moves into the river filled with the dead bodies then back onto the land with the blood water drenching their clothes.
Marishka tosses the hunter aside although the hunter shoves her against several trees, causing more destruction as they go. The hunter is attacking like he wants to only stop her, not to kill her. He unleashes back to back attacks on her until he shoves Marishka's head into the ground repeatedly, roaring in the process of this.
Then he holds Marishka by her head and with a furious punch, he sends her crashing through the woods. I see he is taking her away from the sight of the dead bodies when the sirens of the police are getting as close as they can to the crime scene. I land a quarter of a mile from the trail and begin to run at human speed so when I get to the barn, they will see I am just arriving to the barn to answer any questions they may have.
I run through the snow and I am covered in it when I arrive. When I get there, I see the stable hands have Dimitru but he is rearing up in fear while Roxy is hiding in the tack room, shaking in terror. Matthew and the other good workers rush over to me in worry, "What happened, Vlad? We thought you got hurt especially with the sound of the police arriving."
I lean forward to show some form of exhaustion when I see Luke walk into the barn with a look of fear in his eyes. I take off the helmet and toss it to him. He immediately takes the memory chip out of the camera without the others noticing. I know if the cops ever got a hold of the memory card, they will learn the existence of vampires and more.
He puts the helmet into the tack room and tells me to call him later. He goes out the other exit way and leaves before the cops pull up the barn, ready to do their work. The bright colors of red and blue lights fill up the area, causing everything to slow down around me in what is going to happen to my life. But not just my life now; all of my good workers, friends and Mina are going to be affected by what Marishka has already done and plans to do if she is not captured by the Order right away. I hope that Hunter has her and as far away as she can be.
The sirens echo endlessly when I hear the sound of Mina's heartbeat racing when she gets out of the car with Claire and she runs over in worry for me. I open my arms for her to sink into them. Mina does not stop asking me if I am alright even though I have reassured her many times I am ok. We stay in each other's arms when I see Lucy drive up in her vehicle with Draven with her.
All three of us have a look of dread on our face of what is going to happen to all of us now. Then our attention is brought to the sound of heavy footsteps approaching me and Mina. I can smell them from miles away that they are from the order. They are filled with the stench of silver of weapons, embedded in their clothing and shoes even though they look like plain men and women wearing suits.
My arms embrace tighter around Mina when one of the men greets me, "Vlad Tepes, may we have a word with you in private? We have some questions in what happened."
I do not want to let Mina go in the fear that they will take me away in chains and blame me for the deaths of those innocent people just like Marishka wanted. All Marishka has done changes everything for us and I mentally say it again, 'God help us all...'
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