Free Drew D'Amato:Bloodlines:02 by Drew D'Amato Page A

mountainous landscape.  To the south, Wallachia, to the north, Transylvania.  This was Vlad’s homeland. 
    The air got colder as they got closer to the top.  It was reported to be one of the most haunted castles in the world, but Vlad knew that was just people’s nerves getting the best of them.  It couldn’t be his ghost.  But then again, there were the souls of all the people he put to death.  Maybe their spirits were living on?  It sent a little chill down his spine but he moved on.  Ghosts haunt the living, and he wasn’t either of them—a ghost or the living.
    When they got close to the stairs of the castle proper, they noticed three figures at the top.  They put down the suitcases loaded with their recently purchased arms and went for the guns in their belts.  It couldn’t be Radu, the sun was out, but it might have been a team of Crusaders.
    However, as the three passed them down the stairs, they realized it was not a risk.  It was three college students—two boys and one girl, probably from America, and possibly stoned—with piercings in their tongues, ears, and noses, their hair all black, and so were their clothes.  They were the kind of kids who loved vampires, and wished they could be one.  The kind of kids who had no idea what they were wishing for.
    “Fucking Dracula lived here, man,” one boy said.
    “That place was fucking sick,” said the girl.
    They snapped out of their conversation when they realized six men in all black on the stairs below them.  They straightened up like they had just run into some type of authority.  Vlad saw fear in their eyes.  They nodded at the vampires, quickly tip-toed their way past them and then hustled down the rest of the stairs.  The vampires continued their way up.
    Once inside the castle, the vampires were in awe. 
    “Men, feel free to explore,” Vlad told them.  Vlad told their taxi driver to keep the meter running.  He was already paid in full for the ride back to Sibiu, but if he wanted the handsome tip he was promised he would stick around.
    The men went about the place.  Deacon and Andrew were more curious than the others.  They checked out everything, and everything was something worth checking out.  They were like kids on a field trip.  Malachi and Michael went down to the torture dungeon.  The cement stairs jutted out of the walls.  They didn’t look sturdy, but they had lasted for centuries.  The cold basement was nothing more than stone walls.  But as they walked in they could feel the souls of those who Vlad killed taunting them.  They saw nothing ghostlike, but they got the feeling of something rolling over their skin.  Goosebumps, something neither had felt for years.  Malachi actually felt cold, something he had not felt in centuries.  There was some presence in here, thousands had died here, but they couldn’t put their fingers on it.  Could it be ghosts?   Ghosts don’t exist—but neither do vampires and yet here you are.  The irony played inside his head.
    “A lot of people died here,” Malachi said.
    “And master probably ordered most of it.” Mchael concurred.  “He was one major son of a bitch.” 
    “What are you saying, Michael?”
    “He acts so noble now, and thinks so less of us for wanting to stay vampires.  Yet he was such an evil bastard as a human.  A little hypocraitical wouldn’t you say?”
    “Maybe he learned in death what he should have known in life.  People deserve a second chance.”
    “And people also deserve a chance.  He assumes if we had this power to ourselves we would turn evil, yet we have been nothing but loyal and good.  We deserve this chance.”
    “Michael you sound as if someone had let you borrow their Ferrari and now you’re mad they want it back.  If he gave this to us, he can take it back.  That’s the way I see it.”
    “Malachi, I don’t wanna die.”
    “I don’t wanna live forever, do you?”
    Michael grew frustrated.  “I just think after