After many months of getting beta reads and advice from my group, I think I have achieved a final version of this book. It starts and ends much differently than the first draft I posted on here. It is the second book in a series so you might want to...
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Analise
It was day. The Vampires were supposed have retreated to their graves, but now Analise wasn't sure. There were sounds in the castle, voices echoing in the halls below. Still. It was winter. Even in the afternoon, the sky was dark, the vista o the forest obscured by falling snow, the sun blotted out by mists and clouds.
Analise sighed and, wishing Nana were here to brush her hair, swept it back from her furrowed brow with the same soothing gesture. Days were short in winter. Dark and alarmingly short. Too soon the sun would set, and Dracule would rise, and want her.
The door was locked solid, but Dracule could blow it open and appear as he had last night. He could be looking in on her now.
She shot a look at the door, dreading to see his horrid visage floating there
Again, and the blood dripping from his mouth. She prayed the icons were strong enough to keep him out. Seeing them glimmer in the twilight, she felt the power of the Holy Spirit fill her with peace. There was no need to worry. God protected her.
Yet, though they obviously bothered her, the icons hadn't kept Giselle out. Analise's Cross had given the girl a fright, but failed to drive her away. Giselle could not be stronger than Dracule!
Analise pulled her silver Cross out of her bodice and let it hang visibly over her heart. Maybe it was dangerous to rely on a mere jewel, but it reminded her to have faith. She pressed the Cross to her lips. She must not doubt!
Giselle was plotting against her. Analise could feel it, smell it like that fug in the room. Giselle was in love with the Count. Well, she could have him.
"Let me go, let me go..." she mumbled as she drew a shawl around her shoulders and stood before the fire. It was unfortunate that, though Giselle wanted Analise gone, she wouldn't help her to escape. Dracule's punishments must be horrible, indeed.
The atmosphere of the room pressed in. Being in this place was like being at home with Papa, who kept her in an ornate prison in the belief that he could save his daughter from the death that took her mother on the day Analise was born. But there was no love in this tower amongst the painted saints. Monsters roamed the halls outside, waiting for their chance to get in. If she could only strew the room with garlic, lace it over the threshold of the door so that both Giselle and the Count would be overpowered by its odor and never come near the door again, it would be easier to wait for Stefan.
She returned to the window and squinted through the veil of snow. Through the frosted glass were the dark green shadows of the forest, a jagged line of trees against a milky sky.
Where was Stefan?
She wrung her hands. Why was he taking so long? Had he gotten lost? Was he all right? Or had Dracule killed him, after all?
"No... No..."
She sat down at her dressing table, stared into the mirror, and wept. Mirrors were her enemy now. Good only for seeing how insubstantial she had become. She wiped her hands over her eyes and was shocked to find them dry. Where were her tears?
The unexpected trill of a nightingale brought Analise to her feet. Her heart seemed to stop. This was Stefan's call to let her know he was in the garden. Always, this song of grief and the end of love drew her out to the balcony. She never understood why he chose the nightingale's song, except that, for some reason, it seemed romantic to mingle love with death. Her hand shot to her heart. Had he sensed that she was fated to be one of the Undead?
She raced to the window to see if Stefan was coming out of the forest. Dusk was gathering on the grounds far below, and the forest was no more than a smudge in the gloom. Where had the day gone?
Soon, the Vampires would be awake.
A terrible feeling clawed up her spine. Were Dracule and Giselle the only Vampires in the castle, or were there others?
She must get out now!
She hurried to the door, but it wouldn't open. Then she remembered: Giselle had the key.
Quieting her breath, Analise waited for the sound of the lock turning, and braced herself to run.
