With each passing minute that Verishka did not come, Dracula became more impatient. He was just getting ready to go look for her when he was approached by a vampire he knew well, known as Octavian.
"Well Vlad, you've really outdone yourself, this ball is truly magnificent," Octavian said.
"Thank you. I trust your stay had been a pleasant one?" Dracula inquired.
"Yes, thank you. I say, where is your charming wife?" he asked.
The mentioning of Verishka brought back Dracula's thoughts to why she wasn't with him.
"You know, she hasn't been feeling well of late, she decided to lie down," Dracula lied.
"Oh I am sorry, but by the sound of things I should congratulate you. You'll make I fine father," Octavian said, patting Dracula on the back. Dracula gave Octavian a look of shock before remembering the lie he had just told. However, that drew Dracula's attention back to the secret he had kept from Verishka for years. She was still unaware that she had been carrying a child when she had killed herself. He had kept it from her out of fear that she would resent him for it. But now, he had other things to worry about.
After politely excusing himself Dracula made his way out of the ballroom and into a hallway. He searched for Verishka with his mind, but found she was blocking him. Walking upstairs he checked both his room and hers. But he found nothing. Aggravated that she had taken off, Dracula quickly ran to the balcony and jumped. Spreading his wings he began to quickly fly. She may have blocked him from her mind, but he could still find her. They were eternally bound, connected by their minds and hearts. And so they always knew where the other was. Dracula was shocked to find her so far away. She was nearing Rome.
"Oh my dear Verishka," he sighed, "only you would flee the the Vatican City." He then turned west and began to fly at full speed in order to reach her before sunrise.
Although she was unaware of why she had chosen Rome, Verishka began her descent into the Golden City as soon as she saw the city lights in the distance. She had only to find a jewelry store where she would be able to sell her jewels for money. Realizing she didn't want to start panic she landed in an alley, morphed back into her normal form, and began to stroll the streets of Rome.
The actual structures of the cathedrals were beautiful, but Verishka loathed what they represented. She thought that she would take a walk for a while and try to find a house that she could either purchase or if it was not for sale, she could use her teeth as means of persuasion.
As she began to walk down a street that was full of nice houses, she realized that she had let her mental guard down. Terrified that Dracula would reach her she quickly went to concentrate on putting it back up but she was too late. Immediately she heard his voice inside her head.
"Why Verishka, how nice of you to let me speak. Now, perhaps since I've played your little game of hide and seek and found you, you can turn around and we can return..." he started.
"No, get out of my head!" she snapped.
"Or you'll what?" he asked.
Verishka brought forth all the pain and agony she had ever felt. Using their connection as an advantage and making him feel everything she had. Dracula was utterly shocked at how she had been feeling and he lost concentration. Knowing that it wouldn't come again, Verishka used that opportunity to block him out.
"That," she muttered as she continued down the street. Although she had evaded him at the moment, she could feel his anger toward her rising, and she knew he would be there within the next few minutes. There was no place for her to hide, and so she decided to enter a cathedral. Using the logic that Dracula was so angry already, it was possible this could reach his last straw.
She entered tentatively, seeing and being angered by every relic she saw. As Satan's child she loathed everything religious. She was damned, forsaken, marked by the devil from a deal she had no part in.
Verishka sighed and turned around to see Dracula, whose presence she had sensed in the room immediately.
"This was an interesting place for you to choose to hide my love," he said, beginning to circle her, like a wolf closing in on it's prey. However she stood perfectly still, watching him out of the corner of her eye.
"I know better than to hide from you Dracula, you can find me no matter where I go," she said in a somber tone.
"Yes, yet still I find you in a church. What were you doing, praying?" he said disgusted.
"And I also am not foolish enough to think that anyone listens to the prayers of the damned," she said like a bored child reciting a lecture.
"Yes, don't forget it was merciful God who abandoned us in our darkest hour," he spat.
"And yet every time we've bitten someone, we've condemned them to this. You and I are one thing, millions of people is another," she said.
"They are what they are because of you! You preferred books to my company. If this is how you feel, you shouldn't have killed yourself. You should have stayed their to grow old with your pathetic father. ALONE! The single mother and widow of a murdered man!" he snapped with fury.
Verishka's anger faded when she stopped to take in what had just been said. Her blood ran even colder as she realized what that probably meant.
"Yes dear, I'm afraid it's true," Dracula said, more composed.
"I... was..." she said, shaking and looking at Dracula with pleading eyes. Begging him to take her in his arms and tell her none of this was true.
"Yes. I was informed as I made the deal with Lucifer that you were carrying my son," showing a hint of sadness in his voice.
"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked, "After all this time WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME!" she was crying now.
"I didn't want to hurt you. Would you have been as happy as you were that we were together again? No! Because the truth of the matter is you would have hated me because you wouldn't have killed yourself had you known!" he yelled.
"Then you should have told me! I couldn't have hated you anymore than I do now!" she screamed, tears running down her face, and her eyes were now turning red along with her fangs growing.
That was the last straw as far as Dracula went. His eyes turned an unholy blue, and his fangs came down. He moved so fast Verishka could not react. He pushed her, and she went flying into several candle sticks before being stopped by a column. As she started to get, anger in her rising, Dracula was already on her. Picking her up by the throat he began to cut off her air way. With the strength she still had she brought her legs up and kicked him in the stomach. The force of the kick caused him to drop her. As he went to grab her from where she laid on the floor she moved faster than ever before, leaping off the ground, and into the air before landing up on a rafter. She looked down at him exposing her teeth and hissing.
Insulted by this, Dracula changed into his hell beast form and flew up to attack. She also morphed and headed down for him. However large as his beast form was, he maneuvered around her in midair and grabbed her by the foot, pulling her down to the ground. She fell, crashing into a table of oils and candles which immediately lit the entire church on fire. As Verishka tried to get up and heal she morphed back into human form, letting out a moan of pain. Before she could get up, Dracula was standing above her, in human form. Not waiting for him to attack her again, she swung around and kicked him in the ankles which brought him to the floor beside her. As she tried to get up he began crawling on top of her, pinning her to the ground.
As she squirmed beneath him, he began to look her in the eye, glaring daggers into her, and his fangs beard. Her red eyes where burning with anger, but all the anger and strength in the world could not get him off of her.
"When will you learn Verishka? You are mine! You were mine from the day we were married, and you have been ever since! Remember? With God as our witness?" he snapped. With the little air she had from being crushed by him, she managed to whisper through tears, "Haven't you realized that forcing me to stay with you isn't the answer?"
She had struck a nerve, and Dracula knew it. He let his eyes go back to their normal blue, and allowed his fangs to disappear. Realizing how hard he was pinning her, he then got off of her and backed away, in shock of what he had just done. Verishka stumbled to her feet as Dracula spoke.
"Go..." he said softly.
"What?" she asked in disbelief.
"Haven't I always given you everything you've asked for? Now I give your freedom," he said.
"Dracula, I..." she started to say.
"Just go," he said softly, turning away from her. She stood there for a moment, watching a broken Dracula and the flames before her. A part of her wanted the flames to come up and consume them both to end the hell that had become their lives. Suddenly she heard the warning bell in the distance and realized that people would be coming to put out the fire. Verishka gracefully changed into hell beast form and flew through a window of the church and as far away as she could get. Although she didn't know for sure, she had a feeling that Dracula was heading back to Budapest. She was no longer a pawn in his controlling had. She had a chance to be free now, and to live again.