Free VROLOK by Nolene-Patricia Dougan

Dracula called after her.
    “Will you be coming back?”
    Isabella turned, smiled and shouted back, “I might!”
     
    Isabella was not used to this sort of treatment. This man was different from any other man she had ever met in her life. He was a gentleman, a nobleman, a prince and he treated her like a lady. Isabella enjoyed this kind of treatment; she liked feeling superior. She was more than a little bit fascinated by him. He was handsome, but then again so was Nicolae, she kept reminding herself. He was arrogant and that was something you could never accuse Nicolae of being. To be his wife would mean travelling all over the world, not just reading about it in books. Isabella wondered to herself, if he had come along a year ago, would she still have married Nicolae?
    Isabella ran the rest of the way home. When she arrived, she watched and waited for her husband to awaken. Lying on their bed beside him she felt ashamed. Nicolae was just as attractive as Vlad and Isabella loved him, no one else. She would always love him —even longer than she could know—and she would never intentionally hurt him. Isabella knew that she could have never married anyone else, even if she had wanted to. She moved her body as close as she could to her husband. She didn’t want to let him go.
    Nicolae awoke, turned around to face his wife, kissed her on the forehead and then got up and left the room. Isabella lay on the bed alone and thought that just because she loved her husband did not mean she had to stop going up to the castle, and if she happened to see Vlad, how could she help it? Besides, what Nicolae did not know could not hurt him. Isabella turned over onto her side, and went to sleep with a fractious smile upon her face.
     
    On the other side of the village Natasha, Isabella’s sister, was talking to a man called Peter.
    “Did you follow her?” Natasha asked.
    “Yes,” Peter answered.
    “Where did she go?”
    “She went up to the castle.”
    “The castle. I wonder why she went up there…how long did she stay?”
    “I don’t know. As soon as I saw she was going up there I turned back.”
    “You turned back!?!”
    “I’m not going anywhere near that place. You’ve heard the rumours.”
    “You’re not scared, are you Peter? I wonder how long she has been going up there. I am sure Nicolae does not know.” Natasha paused. “Anyway, that gives me an idea,” she continued. “People go missing in the woods all the time and when they find them they are always dead. Why not Isabella? She shouldn’t be going up there anyway. It’s the perfect chance to get rid of her once and for all.”
    “You never told me how beautiful she is,” Peter interrupted.
    “She’s not beautiful,” Natasha answered vehemently. “She has a scar on her shoulder. You obviously did not see her too closely!” Natasha leaned her chin coquettishly on Peter’s chest and whispered, “I want her dead…you’ll kill her for me won’t you, Peter?”
    Peter smiled, ran his fingers through Natasha’s hair and answered, “I will.” Natasha kissed her lover and went to sleep. Natasha had so far neglected to mention her feelings for Nicolae to Peter. He’d find out soon enough.
     
    The next day Isabella went to see Katya. Katya was nursing her child.
    “It won’t be long till your baby is born,” Katya began the conversation.
    “Hmm.” Isabella wasn’t really paying much attention to what Katya was saying.
    “Just a couple of weeks to go, isn’t it?” Katya sighed when Isabella did not respond. “Are you even listening to me? You’ve hardly said two words since you came in!” Isabella still wasn’t listening. “What’s wrong with you Isabella? What are you thinking about?”
    “Oh, nothing important,” Isabella said. She looked quizzically at her friend and asked, “You don’t believe all this nonsense about Vampires, do you?”
    “Yes, I do, Isabella, and so should you!” Katya said gravely.
    “All right, all right,