Free The Tale of the Vampire Bride by Rhiannon Frater

did. When we reached the carriage, he lifted me up then followed me in.
    “What is happening, Edric?” My mother looked pale and frightened as she tried to soothe my moaning sister.
    “The way down has been cut off. A landslide perhaps. We have to try and find another way down.” Though his face was quite stern and his eyes anxious, he forced a smile and kissed Mother gently on the forehead. “It is nonsense to think this is something other than a natural phenomenon.”
    I gazed at my father sadly. I knew he was a man who was skeptical of all things supernatural. He attended all sorts of lectures about enlightenment and the rational mind. I had not seen him enter a church since we were small children, and I had the impression he endured Mother’s fervent Catholicism. He was, by nature, a skeptical man. But I had seen his face at the gorge. Despite his words, I knew, in that moment, staring into the chasm, he had believed that somehow the Prince had reached out with his power and destroyed our way to the village.
    May burst into tears and buried her face in Mother’s shoulder. My mother held her tightly, looking toward me. I reached out to her and we clasped hands for a tender moment.
    “Do not be frightened, my darlings. All will be well. There, there,” Father said soothingly. He had quite recovered himself at this point and looked his normal calm self. He put his arm around my shoulders and hugged me close.
    The storm bellowed overhead and erupted with such fury the entire carriage began to shudder. The horses whinnied with terror as the carriage lurched into motion. It had not traveled far when the storm began to beat down on us with such savagery the driver was forced to seek shelter in a thicket of trees. The hiding place only spared us a little from the brutality of the wind and the rain. ligtning flashed brilliantly all around us.
    For several hours, we huddled inside the carriage, cold and wet, fearing the ferocity of the storm. I sat close to Father, trying to seek both warmth and assurance. Deep within me was a horrible fear that we were never going to be free of this place. Oh, how I wished I had behaved myself when my family had been in Italy and France. Perhaps if I had been more agreeable we would not be in such a horrible predicament. Guilt raged within me as fiercely as the storm. My mother sat across from me, her eyes clenched tightly while her fingers slid over the beads of her rosary as she prayed. Ever faithful May sat beside her, following her in her prayers. They did not deserve this. Perhaps I did, but they certainly did not.
    Whimpering slightly, I pressed myself more deeply into the embrace of my father and felt his gentle hand patting my back.
    I thought of my nightmare of Prince Vlad and those horrible women with the sharp teeth. What if had not been a dream? What if all of this was a manifestation of his evil? Of his power? Then, surely, we would never escape.
    I felt warm tears fall down my cheeks and covered my face with my hand.
    After a while, we became hungry and ate a bit of the food the gypsy women had given us. I still remembered their dark eyes as they had handed us the basket. I suspected it was pity I had seen dwelling in their gaze. I ate slowly, feeling a tight pinch in my throat and a nervous flutter in my stomach. May was too upset to eat, but I ate the piece of chicken and the fruit Mother gave me. Even though my stomach was churning, I was famished. I had felt listless since awakening in the morning and the burning emptiness inside of me did not lessen with the food. Yet, the food tasted divine. As I chewed on the succulent flesh of a ripe apple, it never occurred to me that I was eating my last meal.
    The day slipped by quickly for it was mid-afternoon when the carriage finally rolled past the castle. We said not a word as we watched it slip past the window. May whimpered a bit so I reached out and took her hand to calm her.
    For what seemed like an eternity, the carriage