Thanks to Medusa Sparrow-Descouedres for the beta-read, and also to Stacy Vorosco for the review.
2. Aleera
Transylvania 1695
Aleera is a young woman of twenty years with no home and family, left to survive on her own. She lives homeless in the barren area of her town. Until one day, chased by angry villagers outside the town gates after caught stealing pork from the butcher's, an angel arrives and take her away to be her companion, granting her eternal life…
Aleera ran, gasping, the rain pelting down on her skin and her crimson curls, as the villagers chased after her through the town. She reached the gates and looked back, seeing the villagers closing in on her. She ran through the gates, the iron bars clanging shut after her, and stopped, leaning against the wall, trying to regain her balance.
"Aleera Cardin."
Aleera gasped and looked up, startled. An angel was walking towards her; an angel with long golden curls and blinding eyes dressed in gold and white.
The angel held out her arms. "Come. I can help you."
"You're an angel. Why would you want to help me?" Aleera croaked.
The angel smiled, the smile reaching to her pale blinding eyes. "Come with me. I can help you."
"I c-can't." Aleera gasped. Never go with people you don't know…
"You know me, Aleera. I am no stranger." The angel's voice was honeysweet.
Aleera was mesmerised by the angel's eyes. "Yes, I know you."
The angel smiled beautifully, and Aleera did not flinch at the long white canines jutting out below the angel's lower lip. As the angel drew closer, Aleera tensed, and then the angel's mouth was on Aleera's neck, and hot blood spilled down her throat, the world red. Aleera screamed, and was lost in a world of agony.
"Why did you change her, Marishka?" A man's voice came from near her head. Aleera did know what was going on; all she was aware of was the crimson on the inside of her eyelids and the agony that ran through her body.
The angel – Marishka – sounded pained. "I need a companion, my lord. Aleera has no kin, and she is known as a tolvaj in the town. None would miss her were she to vanish. I need her."
The man's voice was gentle when he answered her. "Do you not need me?"
"No, master!" Marishka's voice was horrified. "Without you, I cannot survive! Aleera is the companion that I need when you are away."
"Ah, Marishka." The man sighed. "Keep her, if you wish. The transformation is now complete."
"Finally." Marishka breathed.
Aleera's eyes flickered and she sprang up, clawing at her eyes. The world had a dark glow to it, and all the colors came out sharp and defined. Her senses were also enhanced.
"Evil boszorka¡ny! Fasor el veled este! What have you done to me?" She snarled.
Marishka started to hold out a hand to her but the man was just a black blur as he sped towards her and backhanded her across the face. Aleera was thrown back into the wall and crashed against it, leaving a dent in the stone. She looked up to see the man in the black garments standing in front of her, his dark hair swinging past his shoulders, staring down at her with fiery eyes.
"How DARE you!" He growled. "Newborn! Dare to speak to your elders in such a way, and one who has saved you from a fate worse than death!"
Aleera did not feel the impact of the throw and stood up, about to hit the man back, when Marishka ran towards them, her face contorting into a kalandornau's visage. Only then did Aleera realise what had happened to her.
Marishka had turned her into a kalandornau.
And she had a good idea who the man was.
"Why?" Aleera whispered.
"Because you deserve so much more than what life can give you." Marishka's voice was almost a purr as she came towards Aleera and stroked her hair softly.
"To be with us for eternity is of a life you could not imagine beyond your dreams." Count Dracula came towards her, smiling, all his previous anger forgotten.
"Even I do not dream of becoming fekete." Aleera spat. She pulled away from Marishka and ran through of the window, the shards unable to puncture her skin, as she transformed into a bird-like creature and wheeled off into the sky.
"Aleera!" Marishka's voice came through the winds but Aleera ignored her and flew down to the town, where the villagers were going about their business. Some looked up, noticing her, and cried out. All the folk saw her and ran for their huts.
Aleera wheeled down and grabbed a man in her claws, sinking her fangs into his neck and dropping him, and then moved on to the next person she saw. She caused havoc amongst the villagers, creating a bloodbath, when another bird-like shape and a large man-like bat came towards the town.
The remaining people, upon seeing the arrivals, screamed and cowered into whatever protection they could find.
"Aleera!" Marishka transformed and came towards her, holding out her hands.
Dracula walked besides her, his eyes narrowed.
Aleera wiped her bloody mouth with the back of her hand and licked her blood-drenched lips, walking back as Marishka and Dracula walked towards her. "Do not come any nearer!"
"Aleera, this is not the way you accept your befolya¡s." Marishka told her.
"Several villagers will survive what you have wrought and will come after us, brandishing pitchforks and flaming torches. They will drive us to death and be merciless. Do not do this, Aleera. Come with us; we will help you."
Aleera's anger faded away. "I will come."
"Leave the falusi here." Dracula instructed. Aleera dropped the man that was within her grasp and followed them, transforming into her bird-like shape and wheeling into the sky as they flew towards their castle. The remaining villagers looked after them, shocked and amazed.
"An angel came with the prince of darkness and saved us all." A villager murmured. "Truly to this day we are indeed blessed."
Aleera laughed upon hearing him, and veered into the night sky, leaving the corpses behind.
Hungarian Translations:
Tolvaj – stealer
Boszorka¡ny – sorceress
Fasor el veled este - walkers of the night
Kalandornau – vampire
Fekete – darkness
Befolya¡s – powers
Falusi – villager