Free The Ascent of the Vampires - Book 1 by Stephen Harrison Page B

ankommen, eintreffen
    mom – short for ‘mother’. ‘Mum’ in British English. Mutti, Mama
    mall – an indoor place full of shops. ‘Shopping centre’ in British English. Einkaufszentrum
    Struggled – ‘to struggle’ is to find something difficult. This can be literally or metaphorically, e.g. she struggled to learn French. Or, he struggled with the policeman. sich anstrengen, sich bemühen
    guilty – an adjective to describe how someone feels after they have done something bad. schuldig
    hugged – ‘to hug’ is to embrace or cuddle someone. umarmen
    cherished – ‘to cherish’ is to love someone or something very deeply. schätzen, wertschätzen

CHAPTER THREE

    1pm.
    The underground fortress, New York City.

    It was daytime in New York, so all vampires had to stay inside. They could not go into the sunlight. Dragos was in his private room, in the underground fortress. It was a long, rectangular room and it had ancient masterpieces on the walls. The walls and floor were made of stone. Expensive rugs covered the floor. There was a huge mirror with a golden frame and Dragos looked at his handsome reflection. He had not changed in three hundred years. He was born a vampire. Vampires were born like human babies but, instead of milk, they drank blood. Vampires grew like human children, but they stopped aging when they reached twenty years old. If a vampire wanted, they could change a human into a vampire. They had to bite the human and bury them. The next night the human would be a vampire. But there was a rule. A vampire had to choose a good-looking and young human. It was a rule from the sacred book of the vampires.
    The underground fortress was old. The vampire family of Vladu had built it in 1700, three hundred and twenty years ago. Before that they lived in Europe, but they were not a powerful family at that time. However, they knew that America would be a great country in the future. Now the Vladu family was the most powerful vampire family in the world and Dragos Vladu was its leader.
    Dragos was still looking at his reflection, when he heard someone knocking on the huge, wooden door.
    "Come in!" he called.
    His twin sister Daciana entered the room. She was dressed in an amazing red dress by Versace. Red was the vampires' sacred colour. Red was the colour of blood, which was their food and gave vampires their power. Daciana's black hair shone beautifully in the candlelight. She wore a necklace of emeralds .
    "Brother," she said, kissing him on the cheek.
    "Sister," he replied, "is everything going to plan ?"
    "Yes my brother. Everything is going exactly to plan. All over the world, our armies are ready," she said.
    "What about our human mercenaries?" asked Dragos.
    "They are ready. They have been training for three years. We have promised to give them money, when we rule the world. They will help us to win," said Daciana.
    Dragos laughed. He had a huge smile on his face.
    "We have waited so long and now it is almost time. Mother and father would be proud ," he said.
    "Yes," agreed Daciana, "they would be very proud of you."
    "One day I will find the traitors who killed our parents and I will kill them!" Dragos said angrily.
    "Good, but do not talk about this now. We have important things to do. I am hungry," she said.
    "Yes, you are right. When we rule the world, I will have time to think about our parents," he said in a quiet voice.
    Dragos picked up a small, golden bell . He rang it once. A few moments later, a guard brought a terrified human woman into the room. She was struggling and crying.
    "Please! Don't hurt me!" she cried.
    "Silence human!" shouted Dragos.
    He grabbed the woman. Daciana grabbed her too.
    "Leave us," he told the guard.
    Dragos and Daciana bit the frightened woman and began to drink her blood.
    "Please stop!" she begged.
    The vampire twins ignored her. Hungrily, they sucked her blood until she was dead.
    __________________________

    >Glossary<

    masterpieces – a ‘masterpiece’