Several days later, although there was less panic, there was a constant tension between the vampires and the people. Verishka never spoke to her father, and Valerious had left for Rome. Therefore, Dracula was pleased by not having to deal with his father. Although she was yet to experience it for herself, Verishka noticed Dracula getting more and more irritable. The many nights that Verishka spent walking through the town revealed to her something that made her shiver. People that she and Dracula had bitten were up and walking. However, Verishka could sense it, they were like her. Needing to feed off blood, and making more vampires.
Nothing could surprise Verishka anymore. Her best friend had stabbed her in the stomach for trying to feed off her dog to spare a human life. From the wound she felt no pain, and she watched with no amazement as it healed before her eyes. Danca screamed in horror and ran away, but Verishka had accepted the fact that anything could happen now.
On a night when Verishka came back from a walk in the village, she was slightly disappointed to be greeted by Dracula in the foyer of the castle.
"Where were you?" he asked rather impatiently.
"Out for a walk," Verishka said.
"Obviously darling. What I was getting at was what were you doing?" he asked. She searched his mind, and was surprised by his suspicions.
"You suspect me of being unfaithful to you?" she asked.
"How am I to know when you disappear for hours on end?" he asked.
"Don't you know after all of this time that it's you that I love?" she asked, trying to seem hurt. Dracula stopped for a moment, and let go of his anger.
"Forgive me my dear, I just would like you at my side is all," he said, taking her in his arms. Then moving behind her, he brushed her hair away and began kissing the back of her neck, whispering her name between kisses. At that moment, Verishka felt content in the arms of the man she had married. However, that man would come and go and would be replaced by a man that seemed more a hollow shell of the man Vladislaus Dracula once was.
"Dear perhaps I have neglected you," he said, running his fingers through her hair, "I think you and I should go upstairs, get undressed, and..."
Verishka's smile quickly faded when she saw Lord Valerious turn the corner. Dracula's faded as well at the sight of his father. Valerious stopped in front of the two of them and looked rather uncomfortable.
"Father perhaps we should speak in private, em?" Dracula suggested.
Valerious nodded as he and Dracula left the room to continue the conversation. Being left alone in the foyer, Verishka didn't need to press her ear against the door to hear their conversation.
"I know you've been ordered to kill me father, so tell me, did they tell you how to do it because I myself am yet to find a way," Dracula said.
"You are the property of the devil now, what would you have me do?" Valerious asked.
"The devil gave me life, an eternal one, whereas you will grow weak and die an old man, Verishka and I will live on forever, strong. We are not weakened by God and his emotions. I feel nothing. NOTHING!" he snapped.
"Not even love for me?" Verishka felt herself asking, not realizing that she had entered the room .
"Your husband does not know how to love anymore, Verishka. The damned do not know how," Valerious said. Dracula went to strike his father across the face for saying that, but his father moved just in time.
"Then I can not love as well?" Verishka asked.
"Do not listen to this ignorant fool Verishka. Who is he to say what we can or can't feel?" Dracula asked, holding her in his arms.
"You did not make the deal, perhaps you can still be saved," Valerious said to Verishka.
"Yes father brilliant, tell the property of the devil that she can be saved," Dracula mocked.
"Verishka?" Lord Valerious asked anxiously. At that moment, Verishka could feel both the eyes of her husband and her father-in-law on her. Both wanting her to take a side. Being a vampire had become her life, and she was only getting more attached to the power. However, she wanted to feel, and refused to accept the fact that she couldn't love.
"Take your God nonsense somewhere else. For as far as I'm concerned, God has forsaken me as well," she said.
"Excellent darling," Dracula said to her in his mind, from behind her.
"What's the problem father, did that not go exactly as you had hoped?" Dracula asked.
"I may not be able to kill you both Vladislaus, but I can make sure you never disgrace this household again!" he barked at his son.
"What's going on?" Lord Gabor asked as he turned the corner and saw the three of them fighting.
"Much as I understand that she is your daughter Bela, I am afraid I have no choice but to banish these two damned creatures," Valerious said.
"And how do you plan to do that?" Bela asked.
"In the name of God, open this door," Lord Valerious said. As he did, a painting of T Translyvania began to fall away, revealing a liquid mirror, in which only the reflections of Lord Gabor and Lord Valerious were present.
"Once you walk through those doors, you may never return," Lord Valerious said.
Holding Verishka by the arm, Dracula started walking towards the doorway. However, Bela Gabor stepped in front of them.
"Dracula, I cannot allow you to do this," he said.
"She is my wife, this is where she belongs," Dracula said.
"Verishka please, don't do this," Bela pleaded.
"Father this man defied death to be with me, and I don't care what we are, but that kind of love can not be thrown aside. Good-bye father," she said, bowing her head down.
"Come darling, let us explore our new forbidden home together," Dracula said, putting a loving arm around her waist. They both began to walk towards the mirror. As they reached it, they kept walking through the door, and were both immediately met by an icy breeze. By the time they reached the other side, what met their eyes was something both beautiful and terrifying at the same time. A huge fortress, carved out of the mountainside. The towers were dark, pointed, and very forbidding. All of the surrounding area was dark, with clouds that held no trace of sunshine and were black as night. The mountains were tall, jagged, and held the snow that was cascading from the blizzard above them. There was obviously no way out. A bridge of stone led up to the castle and below was a drop of at least four hundred feet. Thunder roared and the snow fell heavily. When Verishka reached out to see if Vladislaus was beside her, she was caught off-guard to see that he was about ten feet ahead of her, and gazing up at the fortress in amazement.
"Shall we see what lies inside?" Dracula asked her.
"Not unless you have a key," she said, motioning to the doors that stood at least sixty feet tall. Right after she said that, the doors opened, and they walked inside.
It was all extremely large, with hallways and staircases leading who knows where. It was all the same - black mountain stone. The ceiling of the entranceway alone had to be one hundred feet tall. There were beacons that lined up and down the middle of the foyer and were lit by blazing fires.
It gave an unusual sense of security, despite its forbidding appearance. As colossal as it was, both Dracula and Verishka knew where everything was, as if they had lived there their entire lives. Now, there was nothing left to do but explore their forbidden kingdom.