Author's Notes: All right, here is the promised sequel to Honey and Vinegar. Didn't really think I would have this up so soon, but here is the prologue.

I own neither of these series.

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Prologue

In the brief time she'd spent in the far north, Godbrand had once told her humans died every day and it was best if she didn't get too attached to them. Humans die, animals die, everything dies. Except for us. It was the first time she ever heard the Berserkr Draugr call them anything other than livestock. Count your losses, he said. Cry your bloody tears. Move on. Then he'd sent her into a snowbank with so savage a kick that her hip and neck broke upon impact.

She was twenty-six years old. Including her human years.

Maybe it was because of her youth, although that excuse was became less and less credible with every passing year, but for all their flaws, Seras could never quite bring herself to see the humans the same way as her fellow undead. She did not love them, but she could not ignore that she'd once been one of them: scared, ignorant, struggling to hold on to an innocence that had so early in life been ripped away from her. To be afraid of the dark. And monsters.

Humankind was a world to which she no longer belonged. They died every day.

Count your losses. Cry your bloody tears. Move on.

"Dead?" Godbrand could have kicked her into another snowbank and she wouldn't have felt it. "How? When?"

"This evening," her master said, not raising his eyes from the hearth. "She was taken to Targoviste and burned at the stake for witchcraft."

Seras reached behind her for the arm of the chair opposite his and sank into it, her dead lungs automatically pumping air they did not need. "Jesus…" she gasped. When was the last time she'd spoken to Lisa? Two weeks ago? When she'd visited her house in Lupo? What had they talked about? Bees, wasn't it? Lisa was wanting to add bee hives to the garden. For honey…honey was good for burns and infections…and…and…. "I'm so sorry, sir. Truly."

Dracula was silent.

Count your losses. Cry your bloody tears. Move on. She shook her head and took a deep breath. Does Adrian need to be told? Does he know his mother is dead? Should I hunt down those who took her? Should I go to Targoviste and bring her home? The thought of burying what remained of Lisa…Seras closed her eyes. I am sorry, Lisa, that you died like that. Persecuted and burned…. "Master—

"Prepare for war, Seras."

"What?" She lifted her head, startled.

Her master stood, slowly, as though infirm, "The Generals. Gather all of them. And I shall seek out the forge masters to raise a night horde from Hell."

"Sir?"

"Is there a problem? Do as you're told."

Seras remained where she sat, unconsiously making herself as small and innocuous as possible as Dracula towered over her, a black and angry glare etched into his face as though the hated Mad Belmont were before him again. "What are you saying, sir? If you wish those responsible destroyed, give me leave and I shall—"

"One year," her master continued, heedless. "One year I have allotted mankind a chance to repent, to make peace with their miserable God. One year before I wipe the plague of humanity from the face of this earth. No longer will I suffer their existence in this or any lifetime."

"All the humans? Complete genocide?"

"Every one."

"What of the innocents? Women and children—"

"All are guilty," he snarled. "Tell me, Daughter, where is the innocence in looking the other way while my wife was condemned? Where were the good people whose hurts and illnesses she tended? What of her neighbors in Lupo? Where were they when the Bishop of Targoviste came for her? I see no innocence, Seras! Only complacence. No more."

"The Christian Church is a powerful force upon the world. For a common man to speak against its teachings would be akin to a gnat challenging a dragon. Not even a king would dare cross the Church, not when he believes a word from a man in far off Rome can bar him from Heaven forever." Carefully, for there was little space for her to stand with her sire so close, Seras rose. "They are humans, Master. Scared, simple humans who have little understanding of the truth of the world and fearful of—"

"I don't care what these things are!" Seras yelped as he seized the collar of her dress and pulled her close to him, their faces inches apart. "They have killed my wife! It no longer matters who is innocent or not. They must die. This is the way it is. This is what has to be done and no one has the power to change that! Not God, the Devil, or you!"

"But…they're only…"

"If you are not my ally, Seras," Dracula's voice dropped into a low, deadly tone. "Then I have no choice but to call you my enemy. So which will it be, my dear daughter? What will you do?"

Seras stood trembling, her toes barely touching the floor as he held her there. "Master…Father…"

"Shall I send you after your brother then?"

Had her heart been living, it would have stopped, and the frightened whimpers she hadn't known she'd been making died in her throat as her red eyes went wide with horror. "What have you done?"

"What I've done doesn't matter." Slowly, Dracula's cold hands began to close around her throat, and his claws pricked her skin. "What matters now, is what you will do."