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“Really?”

He laughed. “Really. I take it you just arrived?”

I wrinkled my nose slightly at his forthrightness. “Well, yes, as a matter of fact. But I really do not see what concern that is of yours. ”

The man laughed softly, and said in perfect English, “I was merely trying to converse with a lovely lady on a very morose night. I, too, have been traveling long, and a bit of conversation seemed like a sweet indulgence. ”

“You are British?” I said it eagerly, my eyes wide with hope.

I could barely see him shake his head. I truly needed to feed. I could not see his features at all.

“I am not British, but I have traveled there on many occasion. ”

I moved across the parlor to sit in the chair opposite him. Still, I could not see his face.

“Have you been there recently? I miss it so!”

“Not in a long while. I am traveling from Vienna to Buda. ”

“As are we,” I admitted.

“You are with your family, I assume. ”

“With my. . . husband,” I confessed, trying to keep the disgust from my tone.

“Glynis,” Vlad's voice said from the doorway.

I looked up to see him standing tall and straight, his broad shoulders squared and taut. His long hair fell down around his face and was a bit disheveled.

“Come…now. ” He thrust out his hand to me.

I turned to excuse myself, but my companion…. yes. . . this is quite odd…my companion was gone.

Mystified, I stared at the chair, blinking rapidly, unsure of what had just occurred. Had I been speaking with a specter?

“Glynis…now. ”

I reached out. Vlad took my hand and drew me quickly to him. “We are not staying. We are leaving. ”

“What?”

He drew me behind him quickly, nearly at a supernatural pace. I could see beyond the front doors the porters anxiously loading the carriage.

“I do not understand!”

“You need not understand,” Vlad responded as we hurried outside.

He thrust me up into the carriage, then swung up behind me. The door slammed shut.

I could hear the men strapping our luggage onto the carriage, their voices soft and hurried. Vlad was bristling, I realize now, with rage. I shrank back in my seat and tried not to draw his attention.

There was a sharp order and the carriage was off.

“Why are we leaving?”

Vlad ignored my question and sat in angry, unrelenting silence.

I sighed, settling back in the seat. How like Vlad to disregard me and exclude me from what may be a very dire situation. Obviously, we would not have left so abruptly if something was not terribly amiss. I wondered if perhaps the other vampires he had spoken of were the reason for our abrupt departure.


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