When I entered the room, I saw Ioan stepping away from the bed where he had laid the unconscious girl, while Clara was busy lighting the fire.
I approached the bed myself, looking at the girl, or rather a young woman, trying to spot her injuries. The dirty coat she was wearing covered most of her body, not permitting me to see much.
Before I touched her, I needed someone to tell me what had happened to her. I looked at Ioan, who was trying to avoid looking at me. I would give anything to have Junior there, with his openness and the no- nonsense approach to reality. As it was, I would have to do with Ioan.
"Captain, I must ask you..." I started.
He looked at me, nodded slightly, then inclined his head towards Clara. Of course, we wouldn't want to have this conversation in front of her.
"Clara, could you please go to my chamber and bring some of my clean clothes? A couple of shirts will be enough for now, our guest will stay in bed for a while, I think. Thank you," I added when Clara curtseyed silently and left the room.
"What's wrong with her?" I urged Ioan impatiently once we were alone, as he still seemed to hesitate, preferring to observe his footwear instead of meeting my eyes.
"But I don't know what I can tell you, my lady. How much His Highness would want you to know..." His eyes flickered from the woman on the bed to me, then back to the tips of his shoes.
"Never mind that now!" I called, letting my rising exasperation seep through my voice. "We are wasting time here, I can do nothing for her if I don't know..."
"Don't worry, my lady. There is time. We must wait," he said as he finally moved back towards the woman and unbuttoned her coat, peeling the heavy, soiled fabric off her shoulders.
I approached them to see better and gasped. There was quite a large, half healed wound on the woman's neck.
"Tell me everything, Captain," I said, my voice shaking as he stood in front of me again.
"Those... beasts... they fed on her," he said, and I could feel the anger emanating from his body hitting me like a wave. "She lost too much blood."
"But... how? You don't even have... fangs," I whispered, confused, observing the girl's wound. It was definitely a bite.
"No, those like us don't. Not anymore. As you noticed, my lady, we... drink... from cups. Only those who use their teeth often have them sharp enough to..."
"Will she die?" I asked, my head starting to spin.
"No, my lady. If she were to die, she would be dead already. She is healing."
"But how is this possible?" I just couldn't grasp this idea, couldn't understand what he was trying to explain to me. Why, oh, why didn't I read more about vampires while I had the opportunity?
"It's the venom, Lady Samara. It enters the victim's bloodstream when they are bitten, paralysing them, while the vampire drinks. If they want to change the victim and not kill them, they know when to stop. It takes a lot of skill and self-control, but if they can manage that, then there will be just the right amount of venom in the victim's body. It won't kill them, but heal and prepare the body for the transition."
"Do you think they wanted to change her? They did not mean... to kill her?"
Ioan shook his head sadly, "I rather think we disturbed them at the last moment, my lady. She would have been dead if we found her just minutes later... I wish we had caught the monster who did this to her!"
My imagination was running wild, producing vivid, unwanted pictures of what Ioan was describing. I shivered involuntarily.
"So... what is going to happen to her?"
"Her heartbeat will slow down gradually. After that, when her body is prepared, she will need to... drink... from a vampire. At least the first time. Then, she will become... one of us."
I needed to sit down. I moved away from Ioan and sat on the steps of the wooden dais, leaning my head against the cool wall, eyes closed. This was crazy. And then it wasn't. At least, the concept didn't sound completely new. This was the stuff of vampire novels of my other world, a cruel reality here.
"Are you all right, my lady?" Ioan asked, looking down at me, eyes filled with concern. "Do you want me to call someone?"
The only person whose presence would make me feel better right now was Vlad, but he would hardly have time to rush at my side to hold my hand. I had to manage on my own.
"I'm fine," I assured him, standing up again. "You can go now, surely my husband is expecting you. Would you please tell him that we are all right here? Do not let him worry, please."
Ioan smiled at me, bowing deeply, then moved towards the door.
"Captain!" I couldn't resist. "Your fiancée has missed you very much. Maybe you should take a few moments to talk to her before you return to your duties..."
"Thank you, my lady," he said with another deep bow before he left.
I only managed to remove the girl's coat when Katerina entered with a large basin of warm water and towels. Clara followed a few minutes later, all doe-eyed and rosy cheeked, the way she always looked when she was around Ioan.
Seeing Clara so happy made me worry more about the young woman on the bed. She seemed to be old enough to be engaged or even married. If there was someone waiting for her somewhere, would he still accept her once she was changed? And her parents, her family... It was one thing to become a vampire by choice, and completely another if it happened against one's own will...
I forced myself to stop thinking and concentrate on the task at hand.
"I was told that all we can do for her right now is to give her time, to wait," I said, looking at Katerina, waiting for her to confirm my words.
"Yes, my lady," she agreed gravely.
"Can we wash her and change her clothes? She might feel better..."
"Of course, Lady Samara," the old nurse replied, watching me, her voice filled with anxiety.
"I'm quite well, Katerina, I just want to help! It's her we need to worry about!" I exclaimed.
She nodded, then joined me by the bed, followed by Clara.
Once the woman was clad in one of my shirts, prompted more comfortably against the pillows, the wound on her neck cleaned and dressed, I asked Clara to bring me a chair. I was determined to stay with her. I noticed how the woman's heart rate was starting to slow and how her temperature, already high before, was still rising. Even though Katerina said it was normal, it troubled me.
"This might last for days, even weeks, my lady," Katerina said. "You should come with us and eat something. It's past lunchtime."
"No, Katerina, I'm not leaving her..."
"But..."
A loud knock at the door cut the nurse's retort off. Clara went to open and disappeared behind the door shortly. Then she was back in with a large tray full of food, looking perplexed.
"Well, I see your husband remembers your stubbornness," the nurse muttered, "still, he shouldn't encourage it this way."
That made me laugh. "Katerina, just go. Take Clara to her Captain and have lunch with them. I'm staying here. Go!"
Even as I sent the women away, I realised I missed my friend. We had left him sleeping in Vlad's chamber in the morning.
"Just one more thing," I stopped them as they reached the door. "Clara, could you check on Shadow and make him come over here if he's still in my husband's chamber?"
"Of course, my lady," she agreed, leaving the door open for the wolf.
I walked over to the window where Clara had placed my lunch on the low round table. It was sunny outside but freezing. The sloping meadows and the surrounding wall of trees were all white, bright blue and crystal clear, covered completely in snow and ice. The breath-taking view I was looking at seemed to be a work of art, a picture engraved by a skilled artist into a fragile pane of glass.
Shadow disturbed my peaceful reverie when he materialised on the threshold. The wolf was by my side in a heartbeat, crossing the vast room in several joyful leaps.
"Have you been lonely?" I asked him, coming to sit at the table and caressing his soft fur while he licked my hand playfully.
We shared the lunch in companionable silence. As soon as he retired to continue his disturbed nap by the fireplace and I sat in my chair by the bed, Clara came back with her basket of needlework.
"You don't have to stay here if you have something better to do, Clara," I told her as she cleared the table and carried the tray across the room to someone waiting behind the door. "Also, this rule about no maids being allowed in... it will only add to your and Katerina's duties, surely at least Alina..."
"Don't you know, my lady?" she interrupted me mid-sentence. "Alina is gone. She disappeared, most probably in the confusion following the fire last night. We don't know where she is. The maid who shares the room with her, Larissa, said that Alina had left all her things behind, took nothing with her..."
This piece of news kept my mind busy for most of the afternoon. Alina had never been exactly pleasant, but I hoped that nothing bad happened to her. Where could she have gone, and why?
"Has Alina got a family? Someone to stay with?" I asked later, as I walked to the basin of water by the window for at least tenth time, to get a fresh damp towel to put on the young woman's forehead. She was burning with fever.
"I don't really know, Lady Samara, she has never been friendly. We have never really spoken together."
So her unfriendliness wasn't reserved only for me.
As soon as the light of the day vanished completely, Vlad entered the chamber.
"Thank you, Clara, you may go now. Katerina is on her way. She will stay with the girl at night," he addressed my companion.
"Doesn't Katerina need to sleep?" I asked, standing up from my chair and stretching my stiff muscles while trying to conceal a yawn.
"Not as much as you," Vlad said, grinning. "She will manage."
Clara collected her work, curtseyed politely, then left the room.
I touched the woman's forehead one last time only to see that she was still too hot. Vlad took my hand in his as I descended the wooden steps and led me towards the fireplace. Shadow shot us a puzzled look as we stood embraced next to him, warming up by the fire, waiting for the old nurse.
"Do we know her name?" I asked after a few moments of silence, turning my head towards the woman on the bed absently.
Vlad wrapped his arms around me stronger and nodded. "Sorina. She is from Sighisoara, her mother is a healer. I know the family well. Her parents will come over in a few days."
"Are they..."
"They are like you. I'm really sorry we found her so late... she will have to be changed," Vlad said, his eyes full of regret. "Her suitor is one of us though, he is one of my Guards. He should be downstairs now, waiting for your permission to see her."
"Do you have any news about the other missing girl?"
"I got a note from my son. A girl, in a similar condition to Sorina's, was brought to the Citadel. I hope it's her. She will live."
I sighed.
"He won't let anyone hurt her. She will be changed, too, then returned to her family, if she wants to... There's nothing else we can do," he told me.
"I know," I breathed, hoping that the girls would want to be changed. Or at least, that they could learn to live with it.
He kissed me, then said, "You had a long day. What would you like to do tonight?"
Hmm... I knew exactly what I wished to do when I felt his arms drawing me nearer, his lips on my ear and neck making me forget the rest of the world as my knees threatened to give way...
"Where would you like to eat?" he asked, smiling.
Right. We are talking about food. "How about we eat in the kitchen?" I asked. I missed old Cook.
One of Vlad's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Kitchen? Do I need to have a word or two with my son? This sounds very much like one of his ideas."
I laughed. "And just what is wrong with it? You know, kitchen, friends, food..."
His second eyebrow joined the first, nearly disappearing into his black hair. "The Great Hall is full of friends who would like to meet you right now."
"Is it? Fine. If I don't have to change," I said, paying attention to my attire for the first time since the morning, "I'll come with you to meet them. And after that you'll come with me to eat in the kitchen."
"Is that an ultimatum?" he asked, smiling, tucking a stray strand of hair behind my ear.
"Let's call it a compromise," I said, my breath hitching as I looked in his eyes.
"All right then. You don't have to change, you are beautiful, my lady. They are just friends as I told you, nothing official."
A knock on the door announced Katerina's arrival. The old woman entered, curtseyed silently, then walked towards the bed.
"Katerina, are you sure that you can stay here all night? I can come back later if you want..." I offered, but she waved me away.
"No, my lady, I'll stay. You can come in the morning if you wish."
"Of course I will. But if you need anything..."
"Don't worry, Lady Samara," she said, looking at me, then turned to Vlad. "Take her away, my lord, before she changes her mind and decides to stay. You know her as well as I do."
"You are right, Katerina." Vlad smiled, then pulled me towards the door. "Does he have to come, too?" he asked, looking at Shadow, who followed us outside.
"It seems so. He doesn't usually ask permissions. This wolf has his own stubborn head," I informed him.
"Now that reminds me of someone I know," he said, looking at me pointedly, a suppressed laughter tugging at the corners of his lips.