The brides nodded, they were tired and couldn't be bothered to fight him.
Their rooms were big so they all went to Verona's and lay down on the huge four-poster bed, together, they were sisters and they cared for each other.
Olivia and Corinthia were soon asleep but Misha and her sisters/mother lay awake, talking.
"Verona?" said Aleera.
"Hmm" said Verona. "What do you want?"
"Why must we go to the Vatican?" asked Aleera.
"Because master says so" answered Verona. "I really don't want to make him mad"
"Why must the man always be in charge?" asked Marishka. "Men are such pigs!"
"I know" said Verona. "But let me tell you something, the man may be the head but the woman is the neck and she can turn the head any way she wants"
"I suppose, but that doesn't stop men from being pigs" said Misha.
"No" said Aleera. "Shall I tell you why men are pigs, huh, shall I?"
"Yes" they chorused.
"Because men are jealous" said Aleera. "Without women, men couldn't live, it takes one man to get a load of women pregnant, but it takes a load of women, not men, women to keep the human race alive and kicking" They all laughed at this and Aleera added: "Men can't have the children, only a woman can carry a baby and a man can never tell whether it's his child 'cause you see who the mother is but you can't see who the father is, men are scared of us"
"We could have fun in Rome, I suppose" said Marishka.
"Yes we could, but it could be dangerous" said Misha.
"And Misha Dracula, since when were you worried about danger?" asked Marishka.
"Since I got a reason to live" said Misha.
"Let me guess, Gabriel Van Helsing?" asked Verona.
"Who else?" said Misha dreamily. "He's gorgeous"
"You need to start kissing him, my girl" said Aleera.
"No she needs to start sleeping with him" said Verona. "Life is to short and unpredictable to waste"
"But we're immortal, we have forever" said Misha.
"Yes but he doesn't" said Marishka. "He's mortal, I suggest you snog each other while you can"
"So, shall we go to Rome, go shopping, go to the theater?" asked Misha.
"Why not" said Aleera. "Lets go with Van Helsing, and who knows, we could have new flesh while we are in Rome, new men, just think about it girls"
"It sounds brilliant" said Verona dreamily. "Now let's get some rest or we will be to tired"
They all fell asleep together and in each others arms.
Morning saw the brides getting into their riding clothes (Van Helsing had insisted that they travel light and that they appear as normal as possible) and packing their saddle bags.
They wore; tight leather riding trousers, plain white shirts that were loose over the arms and then came to a tight cuff, over this they wore a padded vest made of quilting, over this went a corset, a bottom of rib length jacket and a long trench coat made of black leather and fur. Anna just wore what she always wears.
When they were ready, they set off; at first the country was smooth, fields and rivers, then the fields became rocky moorland and the rivers cold melt-water from the mountains above, though it was still sunny, the sun was becoming watery and weak.
"So" said Van Helsing. "How come you can go out in the sun?"
"Lets just say that we didn't particularly want to come back" said Verona. "But we did on one condition; that we could go out in the sun and be, well, normal again" Van Helsing smiled.
"You missed the sun?" he asked.
"Oh yes, lots and lots" answered Aleera. "We're women after all"
After that they traveled in silence, the day wore on and night was coming fast. The terrain was different now, there were forest and big tors, boulders and the rivers they came across were fast and had lots and lots of rapids in them.
"I'm scared" said Aleera suddenly. "There are probably Werewolves in here, Dwergy too when we come closer to the mountains"
"You're Vampires" said Van Helsing. "There's nothing for you to worry about"
"Yes" said Verona. "But we don't look much like Vampires do we?"
"No" Van Helsing had to admit that they didn't. "But you can transform and show them if they doubt it, can't you?"
"Yes, I suppose" said Misha.
"Shh you lot" said Marishka. "I heard something"
They walked on in silence, Transylvanian horses seemed to know to be quiet when told and this they did, their shod hoofs making very little noise and still taking them forward fast.
"Can't we go any faster?" whispered Olivia. "I really don't want to run into a Werewolf, or a Dwergy if it can possibly be avoided"
"Yeah" said Corinthia, fear showing in her voice.
"Don't be scared" said Misha. "They won't attack you, you're a Vampire"
"I still don't like it" said Olivia, she and Corinthia were riding very close together and kept looking nervously around.
Verona had drawn ahead and had now stopped and was looking around, she kept smelling the air and turning her horse.
"What is wrong?" asked Aleera. "What do you smell? Verona?"
"Death" answered Verona. "This place reeks of it, fear and death"
"What do you suppose it is?" asked Van Helsing. "Dwergy? Werewolves?"
"I don't know" said Verona. "I don't think it's an animal"
"It's like nothing I've ever smelt" said Aleera. "Like death and fear and despair and well, hopelessness all combined together, only I've never really smelt those so I don't know wheat they would smell of, oh I don't know how to describe it, it's like you would smell in a torture chamber or a prison cell, it's horrible"
"I think we should get out of here" said Anna.
"Why?" they all asked.
"Because there is a Werewolf about to kill us" she answered very fast. "RUN!"
They jumped back on their horses as fast as they could and sent them bolting off, through bushes and shrubs, over rocks and streams to get out of the forest and away from the Werewolves or Werewolf that was chasing them. The horses seem never to tire, they sped out of the forest and still they galloped until they were as far away from the forest as possible and then they stopped.
"That was so close" said Aleera. "Well done Anna, we would have been dead meat if you hadn't seen it, literally"
"Yeah" the others agreed.
"We've gotta find some place to sleep" said Van Helsing. "Verona, can Werewolves climb trees?"
"No" she answered.
"What about the horses?" asked Misha. "We don't want to loose them and they can't climb"
"Lets find some boulders and go to sleep" said Aleera. "I'm dying of tiredness"
"But you can't die again can you?" said Marishka.
"Oh shut up" said Aleera and then in a voice that suggested she was stating the obvious she added: "It's an expression Marishka"
"Oh stop it" moaned Verona.
"Yeah" said Corinthia.
They had now located a suitable set of boulders and lain down in the middle, they were all exhausted and hoped that they would get at least some sleep that night otherwise as Aleera stated they would "Die of tiredness", at least, this was how Van Helsing felt.
Nothing happened in the night, morning, as you can imagine dear reader brought more fights and shouting matches between Aleera and Marishka, Verona and Anna decided to try and kill each other and then spent the rest of the day in high dudgeon. Olivia and Corinthia said the first thing they would do when they got to Rome if this didn't stop was go and get a good pair of ear-plugs and some ear-muffs.
When, at long last they reached the port, they were: (oh the list is endless) exhausted, tired, bushed, almost dead on their feet, saw, bruised, utterly tired of each other and murderous in some cases, ect. Olivia had a constant migraine, Corinthia was convinced she would never be able to have children because of the amount of horse riding she had done and Aleera was dangerously close to killing Marishka.
Van Helsing had never been so glad to see the sea, the boat was rocking gently on the waves and a fresh sea breeze would take them to Rome and a place where they wouldn't constantly be so close together.
"I am so glad the road trip from hell is over" muttered Van Helsing as he ascended the gang-plank and walked onto the deck.
At that moment there was a splash, Van Helsing and Misha rushed over to the side of the boat and looked over, the brides, over-joyed at being able to have water they could wash in again, were swimming in the sea.
When they came back on- board they were dripping wet and laughing, they went to their cabins and changed, back in their normal dresses (Misha wore sea green, her dress was frothy and very beautiful and she just seemed to float about the ship in it), their hair blew in the wind and
Van Helsing could see why men had fallen madly in love with Vampires before, they had a way of being beautiful that he couldn't understand and never would.