Chapter 14

Victoria's bedroom Old House

"Now, " Radu smiled walked to the window leaned against the ledge folded his arms over his chest and crossed his ankles bracing his body with his heels to his superior position over Victoria. "You are the Princess Elizabeta Balnar Tepes, wife and mother to his children the Prince of Wallachia. Also known as Vlad Tepes, House of Draculea or as you would know him Dracula. Reigning monarch of Transylvania beginning in the year of your lord," Here he laughed his amusement at a joke only he understood. Then he lowered his voice and added as an addendum to his story, "Certainly not ours," another chortle finding amusement in his secret joke. "Fourteen hundred and sixty-two until well . . . ' again there was that annoying laugh, he cocked his head and with a pompous arrogant attitude smiled and said softly, "now. "

He pushed from the ledge and with his feet planted shoulders width apart to Vicki he was an imposing figure in his castle guard uniform, his eyes were penetrating and glowed in the soft light of the firelight. He walked to Vicki planted his hands on each arm of the chair and leaned in close, sniffing her he smiled. "You smell of fear and life my dear. Do you know how delicious you are to someone like me? Your wide innocent eyes that would melt a normal man, but I am not a normal man." He leaned in closer and Vicki had pressed her back as hard as she could against the chair and had he not had his hands locked on her chair she was sure she would have sent the chair flipping over backwards.

"What do you want from me? Why are you tormenting me this way? What have I done to you?" Her voice was coming in small sharp little gasps. Her eyes were transfixed to his and she could feel the beat of her heart racing with the close proximity of her body with this creature whose eyes were glowing an intense ice cold blue. He watched every nuance of her face. Smiling he lightly pressed his lips to her lips. "Remember Princess I am watching your every move, tonight especially as your husband is trapped in Portland because of the storm." He pushed off the chair walked into the shadows of the room and was gone. Victoria was frightened out of her mind, She stood and when she did with such force it knocked the chair backwards against the fire's grate.

Clutching her tablet to her chest, she scurried from the room down the stairs and came up short seeing Mrs. Cook standing in the parlor. "I did not know you were home ma'am. I thought you were still out and when I heard a noise upstairs I was going to get the Silas to go up and check. I am glad he does not have to climb the stairs his arthritis is really bothering him that is why he is staying in here tonight and not in the stable hands apartment. You don't mind do you?" Cook seemed to be concerned noticing Victoria looking around furtively.

"No, no not in the least, is Mr. Collins not back from Portland?" She walked into the drawing room following Cook back to the kitchen."

Old house Kitchen

"Oh I am glad you asked, he did call earlier and said he would be delayed that he and Quentin were going to stay over in Portland tonight until they could get the roads cleared." Vicki was truly upset now hearing that her husband would not be home and somewhere in this house was some kind of supernatural creature tied to Vlad Tepes. Cook continued to chatter heading back to the kitchen. Vicki followed her into the kitchen and saw the old stable hand sitting at the table warming him self next to the stove where Vicki could smell a fresh batch of bread and cookies were being baked.

"Hello Mrs. Collins, hope you don't mind me staying in here tonight, the power in the stable flickered and I was worried we would loose power and I got the generator ready to go in case we do for the barn and the apartment its just those stairs worry my back something fierce." He looked concerned she might find his intrusion into the big house an offense and relaxed when she laid her hand reassuringly on his shoulder.

"Not a problem Silas, as a matter of fact why don't we have supper together here in the kitchen tonight and you don't have to set the big dining room Cook, if that is okay with you two?" The immediate smiles from them both " Vicki nodded to them and then turned to leave the room. "I will be in my sitting room if you need me Cook, and you too Silas it appears it is us tonight I think the Franklins are staying in Collinsport too. Not to worry about the generator here, once the power goes off that one will switch on automatically, and Silas, I promise you that for your area, we will get a natural gas generator so you don't have to start a gas one on nights like tonight."

Silas smiled appreciatively and she saw Cook nod slowly her approval over the thoughtfulness the lady of the manor house showed for the poor older gent. Cook hated to see him struggle and saw the grimace of pain that he tried to hide and she did not wish to see him have to work so hard. He was pushing seventy. He had stayed over as a favor to Elizabeth Collins Stoddard at the request of Barnabas to find someone for the Stables since he had them rebuilt.

Vicki had recalled one night while they laid in each others arms that she had said she wanted to get a couple of horses so they could ride together sometime and if they had children, that the children should know how to ride too. It was settled the next day Barnabas was on the phone calling around for contractors to come out tear down the old barn and had the plans for a new more modern stables with an apartment for a stable hand. Elizabeth was quick to say Silas Horne needed a job and as a personal favor to her would they consider hiring him. At that time Vicki was sure the man was too old but as a personal favor to her mother they had hired him giving him a home in the stables.

Vicki's sitting room

Vicki walked down the hallway pausing outside her sitting room, she could not shake the feeling she was being watched by that Radu creature, she pushed open the door and rushed in closing the door quickly behind her pressing her back to the door she closed her eyes and let out a soft breath. At least here she would not be bothered while she looked over this tablet and read the spells that Sebastian said was important to her and the success of some kind of test she was about to face. Pushing off the door she walked a little woodenly to the desk and sat, laying the tablet on her desk she followed Sebastian's instructions on how to activate the odd piece of technology.

She was so engrossed in reading the spells and what would be needed as components that she failed to hear Mrs. Cook enter the room and call her name. It was not until she was standing in front of her and she reached over the desk to touch her shoulder that Vicki jumped, looked up, saw it was Mrs. Cook and smiled. "I am sorry, did you need me?"

"Yes, dinner is waiting for you in the kitchen. That is interesting what it is?" Vicki had to think quickly.

"Oh it's a back lighted magnifying reader. I've been trying to read some of that squiggly handwriting from a book; I made copies and bought this to try and read it better. I might need glasses; "She slid the I-pad into the desk drawer and stood. "Shall we go?" She smoothed her skirt down and walked around the desk and followed Cook to the kitchen.

Kitchen Old house

Silas was sitting with his back against the wall and Cook had set three places, Vicki sat across from Cook, and it felt very cozy. Sitting there Vicki started to feel dizzy. She worked through the meal and when she thought she had better get to her room, she stood. "Will you excuse me, I need to go lie down I suddenly started feeling a little ill."

Vicki turned and took the servants steps up to the second floor, she paused at the top step. Darkness descended on her and she felt herself falling and she was sure that she would fall down the steps and break her neck. Something strong and secure grabbed her before she went all the way down the steps. Radu had been watching her go pale and began to waffle back and forth and she was falling and he was upon her in a flash. Lifting her into her arms he quickly carried her to her bedroom.

Walking past her bed, he carried her to a panel by the fireplace. Pressing a pressure plate on the wall, he waited for the panel to slide aside and he stepped into the tunnel carrying her down the hallway to a small room and placing her on a cot he stepped back and looked at her. Drawing his fingers over her face he smiled, she certainly was lovely and she looked just like Elizabeta, it was a shame she did not have her memories. "What happened Radu?" The voice behind him brought him out of his reverie, and he turned.

"Sorin, I did not hear you come in. The Princess was coming up the stairs and she got dizzy and she nearly fell down the steps, which would have been tragic so I brought her here. I think she has been over doing and had exhausted herself." Radu stepped back and allowed Sorin to view Victoria. Sorin frowned and stepped towards the lovely young woman lying pale, and breathing shallow in her unconscious state.

"I see, she has a feel about her that something supernatural happened to her. Perhaps it depleted her energy. You should have put her on her bed, and covered her she needs to maintain her body heat and she cannot get that here." Sorin lifted her from the cot and carried her back into her bedroom and gently laid her on her bed, covering her body with her comforter, he stopped back next to Radu and studied her. "I will need her to join me day after tomorrow at my house so Vlad may speak with her and tell her what he plans."

Radu smiled, "So the plan is now in effect?" He was excited by the thought and he watched Victoria and then turned his attention to Sorin.

"Yes, I was with Vlad tonight, he wants them upset with the missing members of the family. He wants them under chaos when he makes his demands. He will trade her for Daphne, Carolyn, and Penny. He will keep Elizabeth and Maggie as a way to persuade Victoria to embrace him as her husband. You are to send Gilda to taste, and I mean this Radu, she is to only taste him, not bring him over. Is that understood?" Sorin has lifted his finger as a form of making his point and a dramatic display of what he meant.

"She has been behaving since her last visit with Vlad, he had threatened to send her home if she continued to bring attention to us and our mission here. I believe she has bee sulking but she has not gone hunting humans since that meeting."

Sorin turned those emotionless black eyes on Radu. "She does it because she does not want Vlad to turn me loose on her. Tonight just watch her and keep those blankets over her body, we do not need her in poor health when we take her to see her future husband." Sorin turned one more time peering at victoria over his shoulder and Radu saw something in Sorin's gaze he had never seen before and it intrigued him but he kept his counsel to himself. Following Sorin to her bedroom door, he watched him walk down the hallway and disappear in a soft flash of light.

Bangor Hotel

Roger was on the phone with George Patterson, "What do you mean Elizabeth, Carolyn and Penny are gone?" Barnabas had come from the bathroom paused looking around and then walked to Roger's side. Quentin had just entered the room and he too was concerned by the way Roger was acting. Roger had raised his hand motioning for Barnabas and Quentin to just wait a moment. "Maggie and Daphne too! George what is going on?" Barnabas could hear George's excitable voice on the other end of the phone. He noted that Roger was starting to get upset and he gently pride the phone from his hand.

At the mention of Maggie and Daphne being missing, Quentin looked from Barnabas to Roger with open concern. He knew he should have stayed behind but Barnabas and he had planned this trip to meet up with Roger over a month ago, and now he was just hearing a portion of the conversation with a growing hysterical Roger and George, he watched Barnabas pry the phone from Roger's clinched hand and stood patiently waiting. Roger had walked to the nearest chair and sat heavily, he was not sure how he felt he was worried about his sister.

"George this is Barnabas, what is going on and is Victoria safe?" He could hear the instant relief in George's voice. Barnabas could tell George did not like dealing with Roger and there was confusion and tension between the two.

"Look Barnabas you know that this part of the coast is under one of the worse ice storms in the history of Collinsport. So we had to put a curfew on the town, I did not see Elizabeth when I left to meet with the Mayor and talk with the Governor about the curfew. When I returned home only Mrs. Johnson was here, I searched the house and Elizabeth, Carolyn, Daphne and Penny are gone. So I called Joe and Maggie was not with Joe, he said he had spoke with her earlier and she said she was not going anywhere. I have an all points bulletin out for all of the women. The thing is Barnabas, I called the Old House and Vicki said she had not seen her mother since she went to the Caretaker's Cottage to make sure it was secure. She said she had not seen her mother since that time. No one has seen her and Mrs. Johnson said the house is like a tomb."

Barnabas could not help but chuckle, which was Mrs. Johnson's impression to a T. He could hear George's frustration and did not want to take away from the seriousness of the situation. "Do not take that the wrong way George, I do understand this is a serious situation and that we are missing most of our women, it is just at this moment I needed a little levity for the situation, surely you realize that we are stuck here and obviously hearing such distressing news and feeling so isolated and distant I just thought your impression of Mrs. Johnson was pretty much an accurate depiction. So do not think I am disrespecting this situation."

George visibly relaxed. "Thank you Barnabas, I am glad to see you really do understand the seriousness of this situation and there for a moment I thought maybe I was in an asylum and everyone had gone mad and missing." George understood Barnabas need to break the tension so they could think clearly.

"You are sure that no one has seen the ladies since earlier today?" Barnabas questions and a sinking part of him realized that he was not up against Vlad Tepes and he must have made his first move against he family which sobered him considerably that would mean that Victoria would be next.

"No we have not seen anything of them, since I left the house to go to the office. I saw Carolyn and Penny as I was going out and to my knowledge they were in for the night. After I was finished at the office I was going to go by the Old House, which I did, and I saw Victoria and she is fine with Silas and Mrs. Cook. Then I came home. That is when Mrs. Johnson was here wringing her hands and nearly hysterical. David is in his room so I did not want to upset him. Look, I am going to send the National Guard to pick you gentlemen up and have you brought home, I really need you here."

Barnabas nodded and realized he could not see him nod over the phone. "Very well I shall be awaiting them with Roger and Quentin in the lobby." Barnabas hung up. "I think we have been delivered our first message from Vlad Tepes, I think he has our women and he is sending us a message." He saw Quentin's scowl and Roger's perplexed look. "George is sending the National Guard to pick us up, we need to be in the lobby."

A knock on the door Quentin turned to open the door. "That was quick, did not expect them to get here that quick." He opened the door and a bellhop stood with a letter with Barnabas' name on it in scripted writing.

"Mr. Barnabas Collin?" The young man smiled and extended the letter to Quentin.

"Thank you," Quentin took the letter and slid a five dollar bill into his hand. "There you go."

The boy looked at the tip smiled brightly and said enthusiastically. "Thank you! You all have a good night!" He turned and walked down the hall unfolded the five and snapped it between his thumb and forefinger. "Wow!" Pocketing money he almost skipped down the hallway.

Quentin shook his head and turned handing the letter to Barnabas. Barnabas immediately was able to recognized the writing, it was Tepes' writing. Barnabas opened the envelope and began to read it. "He has them, he has Elizabeth, Carolyn, Daphne, Penny and Maggie. In exchange he will release our women for Victoria." He slumped to the edge of the bed and handed the letter to Quentin.

"Do you think he took them to Romania?" Quentin took the letter and began to read through it hurriedly, he was no longer filled with any doubt that the Tepes Camp had fired the first salvo. He looked from Barnabas and then glanced to the confused look on Roger's face.

"Would one of you two please tell me who the hell is this Tepes you keep referencing? Why do you think some man I have never heard of is responsible for my sister and obviously all the other women that reside at Collinwood being missing?" Barnabas stood and walked to the window, he was in distant thought and what he was thinking was dark.

"Come we need to meet our ride in the lobby, we will explain on our way downstairs Roger." Barnabas turned and began to repack his things while Quentin went to the room to repack his things and left Barnabas to explain to Roger what was going on. All three men made arrangements to have someone from the hotel to deliver their car back to Collinwood when the roads were passable again.

Collecting in the lobby, Barnabas took the time to call Elliott to alert him that Julia and he might be next to come under attack. It was with a grave look on his face that he walked back to Roger and Quentin. "It would appear that Julia is under attack too. Elliott said he would explain it to us. My thoughts are we get back to Collinwood, we have George go and collect Julia and Elliott and bring them to meet us at the Old House. That way David will be safe under our roof, Mrs. Johnson may find it more secure to be around Vitoria and we can discuss our next plan of action. Roger nodded slowly. Quentin said what they wall were thinking.

"Close ranks so they have only one place to come at us and wait and see?" Quentin waited for a nod from Barnabas and Roger. Which at that moment both men were both upset, for Barnabas' peace of mind he knew at least Victoria was safe.

MDI Maine

Castle Tepes

Vlad Tepes sat at the long elegant table watching his guests who all appeared to have lost their appetites. "Ladies I must say it has been ages since I have had such a dichotomy of beautiful women sit at my table." They sat with their eyes down looking at the delicious meal they had not desire to eat and then turned to peer back and forth with each other.

Elizabeth was the first to speak. "Why are we here and you are you? What is going on?" She had locked her gaze on the handsome man at the end of the table and saw his eyes glow with pleasure looking upon her being so openly defiant. Which when he began to chuckle she blushed so beautifully.

"Do you know how much you look like your daughter when you flash those eyes and make those demands?" He sighed deeply glanced up and smiled watched Petru and Alexandru enter the room. The three men took their seats at the head of the table and they all three looked appreciatively on the women sitting at the table. Penny was so afraid she had reached her cold hand and curled it around Elizabeth's hand.

Ladies, may I present my father in law King Alexandru Banare and his Son Prince Petru Banare." The two men on his left and right stood clicked their heels together and bowed at the waist. "Of course I am your host, I am the sitting Prince of Wallechia. I am, "He stood and bowed, "Prince Vlad Tepes, from the House of Draculs at your service." He bowed at the waist and then took his seat.

Maggie, Daphne, Carolyn, Elizabeth watched the men at the end of the table and thought they might be at the mad hatter's party because the man at the end of the table just introduced himself as a man that had been long dead many centuries and he had just proclaimed he was Dracula a fictioious character from a novel.

Carolyn was the first to react. "That is impossible. You are expecting us to believe we are in the company of Dracula. He is not real." Petru's eyes glowed with intensity as he watched the blond beauty with an open defiance and a hint of spoiled brat in her manner. He liked her. He waited to see how Vlad would accept her defiance and heard him laugh.

"Oh I can assure you I do exist." Before their startled eyes, Vlad with the super human strength and speed was at Carolyn's side lifting her with one hand and baring his fangs which caused the ladies to scream and push away from the table in a scramble to get away from the blood sucking monster that had just reared his ugly head.

Elizabeth is the one that was up and pulling on his arm to release his hand from her daughter. "Let her go! Damn you let her go!" He took his free hand and shoved Elizabeth back down in her chair.

"Alexandru take our wife to her room, Petru, come collect your fiancé and take her to her room, and no tasting Petru, we will be civil for now I just wanted to make a point." He watched the older gentleman smile rise and come to Elizabeth's side.

"Please my dear follow me and I will explain all to you." He escorted Elizabeth who had shot a backwards glance to her daughters petrified features as he blond Petru walked to release Vlad's fingers from her dress and gently led her away from the table.

Vlad sat back down and looked upon Maggie, Daphne and Penny. "Now ladies I insist you eat while I explain to you what is going on and why you will be my guest. You will of course still be here when my fiancé arrives and you will be a part of her bridal party and members of my court." He was talking as if nothing had just happened when Penny, Maggie, and Daphne knew this man was dangerously insane and a monster.