Prettiest Vampire

Chapter III: Demons

Chapter III: Demons

Ilinca wailed. She wailed, long and loud, as only a Harpy can wail. And Daciana cried – the cry of the Banshee. Ilinca wailed, and Daciana cried, and the castle walls echoed their combined despair and misery.

No one could mourn as Sirens mourn. The depths of their misery were unthinkable for mere mortals. Even Dodrescu, a vampire and hardly a mere mortal, had never experienced its like. His frustration at not getting any actual information on what had prompted their misery was evident.

Renfield, who actually was a mere mortal, knew better than to interfere. Renfield watched from a balcony above, glancing tensely back and forth at the players in the drama. He trapped a spider against the curtain and nervously popped it into his mouth.

"Enough!" the Count cried out as the Sirens paused to breathe between screams. He well realized that they had once mourned for fifty years. Twenty minutes was all he was willing to put up with. "Where is Mirela? Perhaps she can make sense of this hysteria!"

Ilinca held back a scream and told him, "Master, she is dead! Dead, dead, she is dead!"

"Dead? This is not possible!" shouted Dodrescu in disbelief. "What are you talking about?"

"She burned!" cried Daciana. "She burned, she burned, she burned!" Daciana began to scream, but Dodrescu caught her by the throat.

"I... do... not... believe you!" he yelled into her face. Dodrescu then threw the Harpy across the great hall. Daciana slowed herself by spreading her wings, but still hit the stones of the far wall with considerable force. She slid to the floor.

"It is true," Daciana told him weakly as she raised herself to her knees. They knew this would be dangerous, and now she could not leave her sister to deal with Dodrescu alone. "We watched her die."

"She died!" cried Ilinca. "Burning in the night, we watched as she died!"

"Treachery!" shouted Dodrescu as he grabbed Ilinca's throat and squeezed. "You say you watched her die, and yet did nothing to save her?" Ilinca choked, unable to answer, unable to breathe.

"We tried!" screamed Daciana. Dodrescu released his grip on her sister as he turned. Ilinca slumped to the floor, massaging her bruised throat. "We tried, again and again but we could not save her!"

"How did this happen?" shouted Dodrescu as he advanced on the older sister. The Sirens were strange, and he had not dealt with them often, even over three centuries. He wanted simple answers to simple questions, and yet they frustrated him with their evasiveness and vague statements.

"The power lines!" shouted Daciana, shielding herself with her arms as Dodrescu advanced, preparing for his wrath.

Dodrescu stopped a moment and considered her words. Could power lines kill a vampire? He didn't know enough about them to be certain. He did know that Mirela hated the power lines, though. He lifted Daciana from her knees and confronted her.

"Mirela would never go near the power lines!" he yelled into her face.

Ilinca jumped on his back, wrapping her arms around his neck, matching her pitiful strength against his. Holding Daciana aloft, however, he was temporarily out of arms with which to deal with a second Harpy.

"Leave her alone!" shouted Ilinca.

Dodrescu tried to shake her loose, finally getting a hand on both sisters and tossing them into a pitiful heap against the wall. When he advanced again Daciana spoke.

"She wanted to see them up close!" she said quickly. This was the lie they had decided upon. She did not know if Dodrescu would believe her, or if he would kill them anyway. All she knew was that this was the time. "She wanted to see if they could be destroyed!" Daciana cowered, expecting another blow.