 
Velina the Vampire

Copyright 2011 Arthur Roberts

Smashwords Edition

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Chapter One

The night had red eyes! High upon a rooftop in this nineteenth century Croatian village, the vampire crouched. Like a black panther on the prowl, he peered down at a tavern across the street. His eyes burned red with the fires of hell and drool dripped from his fangs at what he sensed was so close he could almost taste it. Virgin blood!

In the tavern below, a nubile barmaid flitted between great wooden tables, avoiding hands that sought her nicely rounded rump. Everyone inside wanted to bed her, she knew, but only one stood a thread of a chance.

"She's staring at you again, Karlo."

Karlo didn't let himself get too excited over what his drinking buddy had told him. "I've pursued Zinka since we were children to no avail. I'm finished with her."

"Aye, but now things are different," his friend reminded him. "Thanks to her parents dying in that carriage accident she's been forced to work here. And with your own father on his deathbed you stand to inherit his land. You'll be needing a wife. And who better than Zinka?"

The barmaid stopped at their table, bent over, and whispered in Karlo's ear.

His friend ogled her dangling breasts and their visible areolas until she bounded away before he asked the obvious question. "What did she say?"

The sight of Zinka's ample bosom so close and the tickling of her sweet voice in his ear had made Karlo sit up straight. "I don't believe it! I just don't believe it!"

His friend's mouth hung open. "You don't mean..."

At the bar sat Nicholaus, a fat, white-bearded old man who hadn't yet lost his eye for sweet young things. He turned to the barkeep, a rail thin, balding man who wore a scowl that seemed to be etched upon his face. "Looks like Zinka has finally found herself the lucky lad who's to introduce her to womanhood."

A flash of jealous rage coursed through the barkeep's bony body. "That boy? Not if I have anything to say about it! It'll take a man to make a woman out of her!"

Nicholaus laughed. "And who would be that man? You?"

The barkeep said no more as he glared at his young competitor. Hidden under the bar rested a club that was normally reserved for belligerent drunks. The barkeep wrapped his fingers around the handle and thought what a sweet sound it would make as it cracked young Karlo's skull.

Several hours had passed and the spring in Zinka's step had been sprung. She plunked down a tray of empty mugs under her employer's hawk nose and turned toward the stairs. "I'm going to my room now."

The barkeep grabbed her by the wrist. "And what if I say no?"

Zinka wrenched free. "Then you can get someone else to work for you, someone who will work for the pittance you pay."

The barkeep sneered, knowing how hard it was to find good help, good-looking help that would attract more customers, especially. "I'll teach you respect soon enough," he grumbled to himself as she left. "I'll show you who is boss. I'll open a crack in your young man's skull, then fill the crack between your legs with all the manhood you can handle!"

Zinka flashed Karlo a come hither look that made the blood drain from all but one part of his body. As she flew up the stairs with a renewed vibrancy, he finished his drink with one big gulp. For so long he'd wanted her. For so long she'd spurned him. Only now that she was desperate did she want him. That bothered him and pricked his pride, but not enough to keep him from partaking. A little voice in his head told him that he'd be taking advantage of her, taking advantage of her dire situation, and that he shouldn't. Another drink, he thought. Another drink would drown that noisome little voice.

Zinka felt the fool as she clawed at the buttons on her dress with fingers made numb from excitement. With a loud sigh of disgust at her ineptitude, she yanked the dress over her head. Who'd have ever thought that it would be the gawky Karlo who would make her a woman? She'd played games with him for most of her life, flirting with him just enough to keep his attention, just enough to make her feel good about herself. She'd always had her pick as pretty as she was so she wasn't about to choose Karlo, but fate stepped in and took her father before he could marry her off to a better man. Her eyes turned misty thinking of what she'd been reduced to. Looking her nakedness over in the full-length mirror, she felt like a harlot luring a man she didn't love to her bed.

"Perish the thought."

Zinka twirled around to the sound of a smooth voice and found herself face to face with a handsome man dressed all in black—a man whose image she should've seen in the mirror, but strangely did not.

He spoke as if he could read her mind. "Do not think yourself a whore. You are a gift from God—a gift to me."

He ran his long fingers ran across her back, over her shoulders, and then buried their tips deep into her breasts. Zinka winced, wanted to object, but an invisible force held her vocal cords fast. She could barely manage a squeak, even when the stranger ripped her dress from her body like it was of no more substance than a spider's web. He, with his narrow nose and slicked back hair, lifted her as if she were a doll and placed her upon the bed.

"Now pleasure me."

The stranger spoke with an air of authority Zinka hadn't felt since she'd last heard her father's voice. She became lost in his black eyes and became one with him in the night

Karlo placed his empty mug on the bar. He'd downed enough liquid courage to bolster him and now it was time to do his work. He began to trace his soon-to-be lover's steps when he heard the barkeep's voice.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Where do you think?"

The barkeep was right behind Karlo on the stairway, club in hand, when the latter chanced to look back over his shoulder. "And just what are you going to do with that?"

The barkeep saw blood in the young man's eye and swung wildly in the air. "I was just swatting at a fly."

Karlo noticed his hand shaking as he reached for the doorknob. Maybe one more drink would steady him, he thought. No, it was now or never. He entered the room and shuddered not from nerves, but from the cold. "Heavens, Zinka! You want to catch your death?"

Zinka was hid under the bedcovers and must have fallen fast asleep while waiting for him to summon enough courage to come to her. Once he closed the balcony doors, the damned little voice in his head said not to wake her. But his organ, which spoke ever so loudly, convinced him otherwise. He'd wake her with a kiss! Yes, that's what he'd do! And she'd be all over him! He slowly pulled the cover back from her blonde hair, her pale forehead, and then her eyes. He flew backward at the sight of them, for they glared up at him, void of the light of life.

A voice from out of nowhere said, "Indeed, there is nothing quite like a virgin."

Karlo spun toward the balcony doors, now open. A man dressed not unlike princes of old had materialized out of thin air.

"And you would have ruined it for me."

Karlo's jaw dropped as the man—or was it a man—straightened his cloak in the mirror despite his casting no reflection.

"Vampire!"

Like a wild bull, Karlo rushed headfirst at his adversary. He didn't consider what it was he faced. All he could think about was what was stolen from him—his Zinka, his dream. The vampire stepped aside like a bullfighter and Karlo crashed headlong through the mirror.

The vampire backed out onto the balcony with the grace of a seasoned dancer and admonished his attacker. "Young fool. I should rip out your entrails for such impudence. But I must be away, for the sun fast approaches." He leapt backward and landed on the narrow rail like a cat. "Perchance we shall meet again. Then we can settle accounts."

He dropped from the rail, emitting a laugh that reverberated throughout the streets and bounced around inside Karlo's head, threatening to drive him mad. He rushed the balcony and looked down. He saw nothing besides the early morning gloom. The vampire had vanished!

The Peeping Tom of a barkeep jerked his eye away from Zinka's keyhole. He ran to his room, hid under his bed, and didn't emerge until well after daybreak.

Chapter Two

As twilight approached, a wagon made its way down a deeply rutted road that cut a swath through the deep wood. A weary couple, newly wed, stopped to make camp. The man was an average sort of fellow and set about to find firewood. His wife, in contrast, was an utterly extraordinary woman. She released their ox from its yoke and tied it to a tree. The beast was oblivious to the fact that she was almost a caricature of the hourglass figure desired by most men and women alike. Her rump was round and firm, her waist weensy, and her cleavage colossal.

Before long the couple was cuddled up next to a fire, eating dinner, and dreaming of their future together.

"I'm so glad your uncle gave us some of his land for a wedding present," the young woman said. "I just wish it wasn't so far away."

The man put his arm around his wife. "We'll get there." He nodded toward the wagon. "And we have the wedding gifts our friends and family gave us to help us get started on our new lives together."

The woman put her hand in her husband's crotch. "And when we arrive you can do more of that wondrous thing you do with this and we can start a family of our own!" She jerked her hand away when she realized what she'd done and looked around to see if anyone was watching.

The man placed her hand back where it was. "There is no one here but us and the wild beasts."

Unbeknownst to the love struck couple, a pair of highwaymen was watching them from the bushes like hungry animals.

The huskier one of the two beasts wiped dripping saliva on his sleeve. "Those be the biggest milk pails I've ever seen!"

The other, who was the thin and nervous type, rubbed his hands together in anticipation. "Same here! Let's have at them! I want to suck them dry!"

The husky one put his filthy fingers over the other's loose lips. "Be still. You will, but let's await our moment."

Severinna gave Antun a peck on the cheek. "I'm turning in for the night. Won't you join me?" Her gaze fixed upon the area between his legs. "And bring it along." She then climbed into the conveyance with the lantern.

Antun poured water on the campfire and it went out with a hiss. An entire ocean, he thought, couldn't extinguish the fire he felt for the form that graced the side of his wagon. His wife was inside, brushing the knots from her long, golden hair. The sumptuous silhouette of her sultry body was cast upon the canvas for all to see.

And all did see. Close behind Antun crept the husky highwayman. He raised a thick stick high into the air. Like his intended victim, he was also mesmerized a moment. So much so that he almost lost his chance to bash his quarry while his back was turned. Almost.

Severinna jerked her head toward a weird whacking sound. Then she heard another. Outside the wagon, both highwaymen stood over their felled prey.

The nervous one bit his lip as he hovered over the unmoving man. "Did you have to hit him twice?"

His cohort grabbed him by his grubby collar. "Do you want him maybe to wake and sneak up on us before we're through?"

The nervous one waved his hands in the air. "Oh no!"

"Then shut up before..."

It was too late. She'd heard.

Severinna tried to convince herself everything was all right over the objections of her churning stomach. "Darling?"

A burly, black-toothed man popped his head in through the rear. "Yes dear?"

Severinna screeched and threw her brush at the offensive ogre. The heavy wooden handle hit him squarely in the forehead and he fell out backward. She burst out the other end of the wagon and right into the hands of yet another ruffian. Her eyes probed the darkness for any sign of her husband. "Antun?" Where was he?

The nervous highwayman wasted no time shoving her back inside. He giggled like a madman then suckled her breasts like he was a milk-starved babe.

The wagon jerked as the other, larger monster jumped back into the fray. He massaged an already forming welt on his dirty forehead. "Hit me with a brush will you?" He ripped Severinna from his cohort's clutches and pushed down his pants.

The other ogre objected. "Hey!"

"Wait your turn, fool! There's enough for the two of us!"

The fool imagined what it would be like, what it would be like to go outside, to get the stick and, whack, have the goddess all to himself. But, no, he was a follower and he needed a leader even if it always meant having to settle for scraps.

He needn't have worried. A more heavenly angel would likely never again drop from the sky in their lifetimes so the felonious friends shared Severinna, hour upon hour, the whole night through.

Chapter Three

Something stung Severinna's eyes through their closed lids. She opened them to the light of the morning sun. The nightmare was finally over. It had gone on so interminably long that after a point she pretended that it was just that—a nightmare. It wasn't over, though. She rose naked from the ground, feeling like she'd been dragged ten miles by a wild stallion. Then, she saw him. Antun lay still and cold not far from her feet. She took his blood caked head in her hands and wept.

Severinna peered up at God's home in the sky. "How could you let this happen?" she asked. What did we do to deserve this?"

All the horrible highwaymen had left behind was a single dress and that was only because they'd torn it in their mad haste to leave the scene of the crime. Severinna fashioned a roadside grave of stone for her deceased husband then offered a perfunctory prayer, for she was too angry with He who would allow such a horrible thing to pass. That done, she plodded barefoot down the rutted road.

Several miles and two sore feet later, Severinna came upon a village. The main thoroughfare was bustling with activity as the morning market was in high swing. Despite her being part of a mob, she still attracted plenty of attention. Anyone who caught a glimpse of her beauty stopped dead in his tracks, whether male or female. A group of awestruck boys followed her around like a pack of lost puppies, watching in wonder as her rounded calf emerged from her torn dress with every other step she took.

Severinna was aware of her following, but she didn't concern herself with it. There was a more pressing matter to attend to. She required the means to return to her childhood home. She needed money, a job. "Excuse me, sir."

A farmer, his face wizened by the sun looked her over, head to toe, with beady little eyes that sparkled at the most welcome sight.

"I'm recently in town and am looking for work. Do you have need of..."

She didn't even have a chance to finish her sentence before he was offering her a job. "Sure! I can use you!"

"Oh no, he can't!" His equally wrinkled wife shoved him in the direction of some willing customers. She looked at the newcomer like she was something too dirty to be touched, although her hands were already far from clean. "Off with you!"

It was the same story all over. Those merchants who had work for her also had wives who would have none of it. As she was about to lose hope, Severinna spotted an oasis in the desert. It was a dress store with a 'help wanted' sign in the window.

She'd loved designing and making clothes since she was a child. It was perfect!

The beguiled boys peered through the dress shop window. They watched as the wondrous woman pitched her skills as a seamstress to the storeowner. They celebrated their good fortune by slapping each other on the back after Severinna shook the owner's hand. She appeared to have convinced him to take her on. Now she would stay in town and they would know where to find her in the future.

The storeowner pointed at some slow selling fabrics that occupied a space on the topmost shelf in the establishment. "You can begin by straightening those."

He offered her a ladder and held it steady as she ascended. The boys gasped as a group as he jockeyed himself into a position where he could look straight up her dress. He licked his lips at the little forest of gold he beheld.

A lady carrying a parasol saw the assemblage of young boys gathered at the window and shooed them away. "Begone, you ragamuffins, the lot of you!" She looked in as they had and saw just what they had seen. The storeowner was looking straight up some girl's dress! She stomped her foot. "Why that wolf!" There was a bell at the top of the entrance to the dress shop and the lady with the parasol practically knocked it off as she barged in. "Jakov!"

The shopkeeper let go of the ladder as if it were electrified. "Vesna, darling."

"Don't 'Vesna darling' me! What is this?"

The curvaceous creature on the ladder turned her head. Vesna almost dropped her parasol at the sight of the Severinna's glistening green eyes and thick golden hair. She was beautiful. She was too beautiful.

"Get down here this instant!"

Severinna obeyed the authoritarian lady. She had to take great care descending the steps, for Jakov wasn't about to get his hands anywhere near her in order to steady the shaky ladder.

He attempted to placate his mate. "Why, my darling, I'm so happy to see you. This is our new employee..."

"I don't care what her name is! We will not be needing her services!"

Severinna pointed at the window. "But the sign said..."

"Oh, it's the sign, is it?" Vesna took it from the window and tore it in half.

Severinna then pointed at the storeowner. "But he said..."

"As for my husband, he says a great many foolish things!" Vesna opened her leather change purse and took out a single coin. She handed it to Severinna with her arm outstretched as if she didn't care to get any closer than she absolutely had to. "Take this for your inconvenience." She opened the door. "Now if you don't intend to buy anything I must ask you to leave."

Severinna opened her mouth to tell the wrathful wife how desperately she needed the job, how good a seamstress she was. But she knew it was pointless. She opened her palm and let the coin drop into it.

"As for you, you lecher!" Vesna chased her husband throughout the store while beating him over the head with her parasol.

The main street merchants were closing up shop and heading for home as a thunderstorm approached. Severinna made a last minute purchase and bought a lump of bread then ran for cover under an eave when half-dollar sized raindrops began pelting her. Once the downpour got going full steam it seemed it would never stop. The bread dissolved in her stomach almost as soon as it had settled there and did little to quell the lion that roared within.

Severinna had always loved God. After all, He'd blessed her with unbeatable beauty and a supportive family. But lately He seemed to have something against her. Now, with this rain, it was as if He were spitting upon her. As she stood shivering, she thought she heard laughter. Was He laughing at her now?

No. It was coming from across the street. She strained her eyes to see through the torrent and spotted a tavern. Her mother and father warned me of such places. Drunken louts congregated there. No respectable lady would dream of entering. Only wanton women and serving wenches would dare to venture within. Severinna's green eyes lit up. "Serving wenches!"

The boisterous bar patrons went silent as a rain soaked stranger strode into the bar. Not in their most erotic dreams had any of them even imagined a sight such as this. A perfect specimen of womanhood, a woman whose every curve was visible through her clinging dress, walked right in through their front door.

"This is just a place of business," Severinna told herself. It couldn't possibly be as bad a place as she'd heard it would be growing up. She stepped up to an open-mouthed barkeep. "Excuse me, sir, but might I speak to the proprietor of this establishment?"

The barkeep was confused as well as dazed. "What do you want?

Nicholaus educated him. "She means you, dolt! You're the proprietor!"

The barkeep gave the man an evil squint then turned his attention back to the scintillating stranger. "What can I do for you?"

She spoke softly in hopes no one else would hear. "I'm stranded in this town and I need money to get back home to my family."

"Now I've seen it all," the barkeep complained. "A beautiful beggar, of all things. I'm not a charity, woman."

"You misunderstand."

Nicholaus couldn't resist taking another jab at the man behind the bar. "Dragan misunderstands a great many things."

The barkeep slapped him with a beer soaked towel. "Shut up, you!"

Severinna did her best to ignore their shenanigans. "I mean that I'm looking for work."

Nicholaus tore his eyes from her hard nipples trying to poke their way through her wet dress and spoke loud enough for all to hear. "Hire her!"

Soon the whole bar was chanting likewise. "Hire her! Hire her!"

Severinna became flushed by the commotion she'd caused. So hot was she that it felt like the rainwater that made her dress stick to her like a second skin would soon turn to steam.

Dragan couldn't believe his luck. The stranger put to shame any wench he'd ever seen, even the poor, departed Zinka. And there she stood, actually wanting to work for him! "Well, my last barmaid did leave unexpectedly. I suppose I could try you out."

The mob erupted into cheers. Dragan had to yell to be heard above the roar.

"Go upstairs to the second room. You'll find some clothes the girl left behind. Put something dry on and get back down here. We have work to do."

Severinna peeled off her second skin the instant she entered her predecessor's room. She rifled through the dresser drawers. She inspected a number of dresses and found, as she'd rather expected, that they were all too small to fit her up top.

"Aha!"

At the very bottom of the drawer was one that laced up in front. She put it on and opened the low cut neckline as far as it would go. She glanced around for a mirror in which to check the look of her new dress, but there was only the frame to one. She huffed in frustration. "No glass!"

Dragan was tired of waiting on Severinna and yelled up in her direction. "Hurry up in there!"

Nicholaus leaned in to ask him a serious question. "Are you going to tell her?"

"Tell her what?"

"You know."

The barkeep grunted. "What? And have her up and leave on us in fright? Besides, what are the odds of that devil showing up here again?"

Severinna came rushing down the stairs. Nicholaus gaped at the sight of her bouncing bosom as it threatened to burst free from Zinka's overburdened dress at any second. "No! We wouldn't want that for all the world!"

Chapter Four

A wagon pulled by an ox stopped in front of a mercantile store. The two highwaymen who'd had their way with Severinna the night before alighted and went inside.

The proprietor wasn't pleased to see them—at least not yet. "Konstantin! Vladmir! You know you're not supposed to come in here during regular business hours and certainly not through the front door!"

The highwaymen were all black-toothed smiles, despite the less than hospitable greeting they received.

"We've got something special for you this time," the husky Konstantin said. "Something you'll like very much."

The proprietor lowered his voice when a customer came close by. "After hours I said! And through the back door!"

Clink! The clean-shaven—for a change—highwaymen tapped bottles of beer together in celebration. Both were in a hostel room, soaking in individual bathtubs.

A couple of naked prostitutes awaited them on a large bed. Except for sharing the same carnal career, they were quite the opposite of each other. One looked older than she actually was, had frizzy, flaming red hair, and a big bust. The other looked younger than her eighteen years. Her hair was a more subdued auburn color, tied into two long pigtails, and she had no cleavage to speak of.

"Hurry up, the both of you," the redhead said. "We haven't got all day."

Konstantin pointed his bottle at her. "Hold your horses, Marija. We haven't had a hot bath in weeks. Why don't you two occupy yourselves until we get there?"

"Occupy ourselves? Doing what?"

The highwayman stuck out his tongue and wiggled it.

"Ah, it's that then." She planted a kiss on the petite prostitute's lips and said, "This will cost you extra."

The prostitutes met in the hall of the hostel once they were finished with their clients. The tiny tart smiled at her promiscuous partner.

"Did I do it right, Marija? I didn't complain no matter what, even if it hurt."

A morose Marija gave the girl a quarter of what they earned together. "You did well." Too well, she thought, remembering the warmer reception the younger of the two tarts had gotten.

Anja noticed her cut was less than her mentor's. "Hey! You took more than half!"

Marija shook a fist under the girl's nose. "I get more than half because it was I who felt sorry for you, what with your father being sick and all. And it was I who arranged our little get together with those two heathens in there. If you think you can do it all on your own then you can have it all!"

Anja muttered to herself as Marija marched off. "Maybe I will!"

The refreshed highwaymen emerged from the hostel where they witnessed a temptation they couldn't ignore. A fancy carriage was parked in front of a dress store just across the street. A nattily attired driver assisted a fat man into the conveyance then went back into the store to get what was bought.

The thin highwayman's tongue wagged. "Would you look at that? I'll bet that guy has a pocket full of rocks!"

His big friend rushed around to the side of the hostel where his stick was propped and waiting. "Quick! Let's find out before his man gets back!" Before long he had the carriage door open and was demanding the fat man's money. "Give it now or I'll bop you on the head!"

The fat man appeared unworried. He smiled in fact. "I think not."

"Turn around, you two. And do it slowly."

The highwaymen obeyed the voice behind them. There stood the fat man's servant. And he had a gun!

"Drop your weapon."

The big highwayman complied. "Gladly. A gun beats a stick any day."

The driver looked past the highwaymen and to his master. "Are you all right, Mr. Granic?"

"Yes, Andrej."

The fat man pointed at the would-be-robbers. "You, my friends, have just made the biggest mistake of your worthless, misbegotten lives."

A week after their failed robbery attempt, the highwaymen appeared before a judge with shackles adorning their wrists and ankles.

"Konstantin Klaric. Vladmir Pripuz. For your never-ending crimes against the community and its fine citizens I sentence you to fifteen to twenty years in Lepoglava Prison. And since you two are so inseparable you will share the same cell. I hope you enjoy each other's company."

Their heads drooped as the bang of the gavel sealed their fates.

Chapter Five

In the part of town where the wealthy lived in huge houses, a sprawling new home stood, larger than all the rest. So new was it that the landscaping was not yet even done.

In the dining room, seated at a long, food covered table was the prestigious Granic family. At the head of the table sat Zarko, president of the town council. At the other end his wife, Zora. Overlooked by portraits of distinguished looking ancestors that hung on the walls sat their two sons and their daydreaming daughter, Annica. Annica, despite her youth, was already filled out as much as she'd ever need to be. All the young men were desperate to press tightly against her burgeoning bosom and kiss her full lips. Her little brothers giggled as she stared off into space thinking of it.

The portly patriarch wasn't pleased. "Boys, what have I told you about laughing at the supper table?"

One of his sons pointed at Annica's glorious glands. "But look at her father. She's thinking about all those boys who want to touch her..."

The girl pounded on the dinner table. "Make them stop! Tell them to stop it!"

Zora wagged a finger at the boys. "You mind your father or you'll both not get dessert."

They smiled at their sister without worry for their mother almost never carried through on her threats. They could do practically anything they wanted—a brat's paradise.

Annica knew this and shot up from her seat. "Oh, you're terrible!" She ran out of the room in a snit.

Zora threw down her napkin. "Oh, now look what you've done. You've upset her." She rose and followed her daughter in an ungainly swaying fashion due to the pads of fat that had obscured her once fine figure some years ago.

The boys continued their meal without a care in the world. Until they saw the look on their father's face, that is. Zarko Granic was not one to be trifled with so they kept quiet from then on.

Annica was on her bed with her knees tucked close to her captivating cleavage when her mother sat down beside her. "They'll regret it one of these days!"

Zora stroked her sweet little angel's hair. "Oh, they're just being boys. They mean no harm. You needn't fret. You're so pretty and fast becoming a woman. Someday soon you'll marry a rich, handsome man and raise a family of your own. Then we'll all be so proud of you."

Annica's blue eyes met Zora's. "Do you really think so, mother?"

The matriarch stood up as if to defy anyone who would dare argue. "Why of course I do. I wouldn't have it any other way. Now you get a good night's rest and all will be well on the morrow."

Annica really did try to get that good night's rest, but the thought of all those young men's eyes gravitating toward her mammaries like they were magnets threatened to drive her mad. She hopped out of bed and crinkled her nose at a string of garlic hanging from the balcony doors.

"Here we are," she complained. "Well into the nineteenth century and mother and father are still enslaved to obsolete old superstitions. Well, not I!"

She tossed the article aside then went out to enjoy the moon-filled sky. She took her glands in her hands. What was it about them that man and boy alike could scarcely take their eyes off them to look her in the eye when they spoke to her? She released them from her nightgown to inspect them in the moonlight. She couldn't help caressing them and the more she did, the more her nipples extended as if trying to touch the celestial light above.

"My, how lovely they are."

Annica cupped her hands over her bare breasts and spun to face a dark, handsome stranger. His hair and clothes were dark anyway, dark as night, while his skin was as white as milk.

He pried her fingers loose and admired her gifts. "Wonderments such as these should not be hid."

The will to object in any way seemed to have escaped her altogether. The stranger's voice was so smooth. Was this the handsome prince she'd always dreamed of?

"And on one so young. It must be the good food or perhaps the breeding." The dark prince waved a slender hand in the air. "No matter." He ripped the gown from Annica and flung it over the balcony, off into space. "To bed with us."

The girl gave nary a thought to her nightgown or to her nakedness as she was born aloft in the dark one's arms. "Yes, my prince."

Zora Granic sat up in bed with a strange urge she couldn't quite quell. She rose and put on her slippers, waking Zarko in the process.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"To check on Annica."

Zarko lit a bedside lamp and looked at a wall clock. He groaned when he saw what time it was. "Why, pray tell, at this hour?"

Zora couldn't explain. It was just a feeling. "I don't know."

Zarko huffed his displeasure. "You are going to spoil that child!"

Zora returned his huff with a defiant snort of her own and went anyway. "So what if I spoil her," she said in the hall. "She's worth it!"

She opened Annica's door. She expected to see her sleeping safely, soundly, that her fears were unfounded. Instead, there was a man with an erect member sucking on her nude daughter's neck. While Annica was white as flour, he was quite flushed.

Zora put the pieces together and came up with a catastrophic conclusion. "Vampire! Vampire!"

The beast gritted his bloody teeth at Zora. "Madame, you interrupt!"

With a wave of his hand the door slammed in her face.

A breathless Zarko ran up to his wife's side, followed closely by his two sons. "What is all this commotion? Did I hear you say..."

"I came to check on Annica like I said. And it was in there."

Zarko pointed a commanding finger down the hall. "To your rooms, boys."

"But we want to..."

"To your rooms!"

They skittered away like paddled puppies.

Zarko tried the door to no avail. He turned, yanked, and pulled with all his considerable weight. He eventually gave up, ran downstairs, and returned carrying a pickaxe that had been left behind by the landscapers. He paused to catch his breath and raised his tool to smash open the new door when, swoosh, it opened.

The vampire had collected himself and gave Annica a loud kiss on the forehead. "Good night, sweet princess."

Zora lamented louder than ever. Zarko made quite a noise himself. He roared more like a wild animal than a cultured aristocrat and rushed the vampire with the pickaxe held high over his head. He swung it down with all his might to smite the monster, but it came to a dead halt between its thumb and forefinger.

"Is that any way to treat a houseguest?"

Zarko tried in vain to release his weapon from the vise in which it had been entrapped. With a tremendous tug, the vampire took the tool from his would-be attacker and threw him against the wall.

Zora couldn't look. She closed her eyes as the beast raised the pickaxe and sent it sailing toward her hobbled husband. Thunk! Next, she heard the vampire's velvety voice.

"Milady."

She opened her eyes and saw that the pickaxe had embedded in the wall just above her husband's head.

"My compliments on your glorious daughter. Feel free to have another so lovely and perchance I will visit again when she's ready for me. Until then..." He jogged to the balcony and leapt into the shadows, his bodiless laugh filling the night air.

Chapter Six

A long, glossy table dominated the town council chambers. It weighed hundreds of pounds, yet it trembled under the fat fist of Zarko Granic. He was addressing his colleagues who sat in leather-covered, high backed chairs. "I demand we take immediate action against the scourge that has come to plague our fair city. Do not think your daughters safe as I once did."

A stick figure of a councilor spoke up. "But how shall we kill it? I have heard this creature has been roaming from place to place for at least a century and no one has yet been able to stop it."

"This also I have heard. But I have a plan. I say we offer a beautiful girl, pure of heart, to trap the beast."

Another colleague was thinking of his own daughter. Surely we must not risk the life of one of our own."

"We should not need to. There has been talk among the laborers on my estate of an entrancing newcomer, one who is like unto a dream."

The men shifted in their seats and murmured amongst themselves. Some were intrigued with the idea while others, like the skinny man, were skeptical.

"Where be this so-called dream?"

People in the street pointed at a strange sight. An official government carriage had stopped in front of the town tavern, the Wolf's Bane, of all places. They gathered in disbelief as not one but three councilors, including President Zarko Granic, entered the establishment.

The red-eyed barkeep was caught in mid yawn as the three entered and removed their top hats. "M-May I be of service, sirs?"

The rail thin councilor stepped forth. "We wish to speak to a woman in your employ."

Dragan's mind, such as it was, raced. What were they doing there? What did they want with his woman? Did they want her for themselves? He was afraid to ask, but he had to know. "And what would it be regarding?"

The thin man looked down his hawk nose at the lowly bartender. "It is a matter of state and does not concern you."

Dragan gripped the glass he held until the ends of his fingers turned white. He didn't care to be spoken down to, even if it was by a town leader. "If it concerns my only help then it most certainly is my concern."

The scarecrow-like councilor stayed his temper and replied while his peers huffed and puffed at the plebeian's arrogance. "You will be well compensated for any inconvenience."

Dragan's face lit up. "How well compensated?"

Minutes later, the barkeep stood outside the Severinna's door, fishing in his pocket for a key. "Have any of you ever before laid eyes on the one you seek?"

The councilors shook their heads. Of course they hadn't!

"Then prepare to be astounded!" He found the key and put it into the lock.

While Zarko and his thin counterpart were speechless, the third councilor asked the question they all three had in mind. "Aren't you going to knock?"

Dragan twisted his sneer into a smile of sorts. He'd spent many a gratifying hour with his eye pressed against the keyhole and was determined to get one last peek before Severinna was whisked away. He turned the key.

The councilors' consciences were bothering them to no end. The bartender was suggesting they steal into Severinna's room akin to thieves so they might gaze upon her naked flesh like lechers. Dragan's tempting words had done their work, however, and they followed him inside.

From all the talk, the councilors were expecting quite a beauty, but never one such as this. She lay on her back under a thin sheet that did nothing to hide her curves. Golden tresses framed her picture perfect face and her breasts were like the snow-covered Alps. The only clue that she was indeed human and not some goddess from above was the slight putt-putt sound coming from her lips as she slept.

The men drooled so much at the sight that that someone was all but bound to get some salivation down the wrong tube. The third councilor earned the honor. He clamped his hand over his mouth. His face turned blood red with the effort to restrain himself. But in the end there was no preventing the inevitable.

Sleeping Beauty's eyes jerked open at the sound of the councilor's uncontrollable cough. She saw four men standing beside her bed, frozen in fear. She slid off the other side of the bed and backed up against the wall with her sheet held up against her. "What is this?"

Zarko found his tongue first so he spoke for the rest. "Madam, we are members of the town council and we have a proposition to make."

Severinna barely heard him. All she knew was that she'd been violated again. Would she never be safe from the lusts of men? She yelled so loud that it pained her head. "Out! Get out, you cads!"

"But madam..."

Zarko didn't get another word out. Severinna picked up her new heavy wooden brush and threatened to throw it. He and the others ran out and the door slammed shut behind them.

The third councilor had his voice back by the time he was safely outside the tavern. "She didn't seem pure hearted to me."

Chapter Seven

A few days after Severinna had run the councilors from her room she was wearing a dress that she'd made herself, a dress that better fit her full figure. She'd also armed herself against rude and probing hands.

An unwitting bar patron found this out as he reached for her behind. "Ouch! What the devil?"

Severinna flashed him a mocking smile and brandished her little weapon, a simple sewing needle.

Nicholaus laughed, as did others in the know. "You've got to have awful quick hands if you want a feel of our lovely. She's got bite!"

Severinna got on with her job. She didn't like her situation any better, but at least she had some measure of control now. The contemptible council had again tried to acquire her for some undoubtedly dark purpose and again she'd refused. That she could confound men of such importance empowered her. And then there was her lovely little stinger. Anyone who knew about it thought twice about putting their hands where they didn't belong. Her situation, although less than ideal, appeared to be improving. Appearances can be deceiving, however.

Dragan rarely drank much of his own swill, but this night was special. "My birthday today," he mumbled. "Not that anyone cares!"

His beautiful barmaid's backside beckoned as she bent to clear a table of empty mugs.

"I should give myself a present since no one else bothered to."

His common sense dulled by drink, he slithered up and pressed his loins against her backside. "How about we go upstairs?"

Severinna squirmed. "Get off of me!"

"Come on!"

Dragan pushed her dress up over her hips and shook his head in wonder at the haunches from heaven. While he drooled at the sight of her passion fruit, Severinna took advantage of his state of stupefaction and stabbed him with her needle.

"Ow!"

Severinna bolted for the stairs when Dragan let go. He tried following, but his liquored up legs kept tripping him up. He fell over a chair and at least couple of stair steps before he reached her door. He got the stubborn key into the weensy little hole, turned the knob, and pushed. Nothing. Then, he shoved. The door wouldn't budge! "Open this door, curse you! Earn your wage!"

Ever since the intrusion by the councilors, Severinna had made it a regular practice to cover the keyhole with one of Zinka's dresses and to jam a chair under the doorknob. She breathed a sigh of relief as this same barricade held her boozy boss at bay.

But then she shuddered at the thought of his bony body intertwined with hers. It was bound to happen if she remained there much longer. She had to escape his clutches before that happened, but she hadn't yet saved enough money to get back home and she wasn't likely to any time soon with what little Dragan paid her. If only someone else would hire her. It was then that a vision of the councilors in their expensive suits and top hats entered her mind. She had no idea of their intentions, but they have to be better than Dragan's. Didn't they?

Chapter Eight

Come morning, Severinna was in bed. She hadn't slept a wink all night, though, for her mind had been too occupied listening for the drunk at the door and with wondering what the town council wanted. She sat up, examined herself in a handheld mirror, and decided that she looked as miserable as she felt. Her dress was wrinkled from sleeping in it, her hair was going every which way, and dark circles were under her eyes.

"What a fright you are," she remarked to her reflection.

After she'd made herself more presentable, she paused at the door and listened. Dragan hadn't uttered a peep for hours. Surely he'd gone back to his own room some time during the night. She opened the door, but only halfway. Dragan was still there, lying on the floor!

"There you are," he said.

Severinna drew the door back then thrust it forth as hard as she could. It hit Dragan hard in the head and off he went back to sleep.

Although the sleep deprived Severinna didn't look her best, a male secretary within the ornate town hall couldn't help but gawk when she appeared at his desk. "May I help you?"

A naked young blonde was sitting up in bed, speaking to an old man who was throwing on his clothes in a mad haste. "When are you ever going to leave that fat pig of a wife of yours, Gustav? She'll never do for you the things that I do."

Gustav completed his expensive ensemble with a cravat about his neck. "In due time. Have patience, Patience."

Patience pursed her lips. "Why are you in such a hurry? Is it to see her?"

Gustav bent down and kissed her on the forehead. "Urgent business, my dear. I'll see you later?"

Patience sighed. "I suppose."

A fancy carriage roared down the street and came to a quick halt in front of the town hall. A hurried councilor jumped out and rushed into the building before his chauffeur could even get down from his perch to open the door for him. When the male secretary opened the chambers doors for him he nearly went faint. At the end of the room, silhouetted by the light of a large window, she stood.

Zarko shook him from his spell. "It is about time you got here, Gustav. Sit."

Once his tardy colleague had seated himself he drew his discourse to an end. "I think everyone here will agree that we have selected the perfect person for the task at hand."

The others mumbled among themselves, nodding their heads.

Severinna had been looking through the tall window at the street below to calm her queasy stomach and to avoid the council's scrutinizing glare. But now it was time to turn and face its members and uncover their plot. "And what, pray tell, might that task be?"

"A minor, yet elusive criminal has been roving our fair city, accosting our ladies," Zarko explained. "We need him distracted long enough so that we may dispatch him."

"So I am to be bait am I?"

Most every man squirmed in his seat. Severinna had no idea what danger she faced and they dared not let her know. She did sense, however, that they were holding something back. There was something they weren't telling her and weren't likely to, being the politicians they were.

"Then it will cost you."

They stopped squirming and sat up straight now that the subject of remuneration was raised.

"How much?" asked the rail thin councilor.

Severinna exited the chambers shortly amidst much ado over money.

Zarko rushed out of the room and stopped her before she got very far. "Wait. Please. I am sure I can get them to agree to your terms. Just give me a few moments."

Severinna crossed her arms and tapped her foot on the floor as he returned to his irate colleagues. She was taking an awful chance by asking for as much as she did. She had to have it, though, and they needed her desperately. They'd pay.

Zarko slammed the council chamber doors behind him. "You fools! You greedy fools!"

The thin councilor stuck to his gluttonous guns. "She asks too much."

"It doesn't matter how much she wants!"

The councilor couldn't believe his ears, for Zarko was just as money-grubbing a politician as he was. "It doesn't matter?"

"It doesn't matter," Zarko repeated. "For come that glorious morning in which the devil expires, she who led to his destruction will also be dead."

The room went silent. They'd forgotten about that.

Zarko straightened his cravat and took a deep calming breath before his reencounter with the unsuspecting siren. "Now let us pray that your avarice has not lost us our bait."

Severinna heard an awful lot of yelling going on in the council chambers. She was beginning to think her gambit hadn't paid off, that they'd refused to pay.

Before long, though, the corpulent councilor approached with a broad smile on his face. "They've agreed to your terms. They've agreed!"

Severinna breathed a sigh of relief. But she wouldn't have if she'd heard what was said behind closed doors!

Zarko's goggle-eyed chauffeur let Severinna out in front of the Granic estate.

Her eyes bugged a bit, too, as she saw the sheer size of her host's house. "How many families live here?"

"Just mine."

"Your family must be huge!"

"Just my wife and my three, excuse me, two children."

They both noticed an upstairs window curtain move inside the house.

Zarko took a firm grip of Severinna's upper arm and looked her straight in the eye. "Listen. My wife is not well. We just lost our daughter due to an, uh, accident and her mind has not been the same since. Please do not excite her unduly."

They entered the house.

Zora had made it halfway down the stairs. "Annica, is that you?"

"No, dear," Zarko replied. "This young lass is going to be staying the night."

A crazed light appeared in Zora's eyes. "Well she can't sleep in Annica's room. She could be back any time now."

Zarko emitted a heavy sigh over his wife's dementia. "Not to worry. We have plenty of guest rooms."

The houseguest felt sorry for the lady, but she reminded herself that she had to put her interests above all. It was imperative that she escape from the hungry beast of a town before it gobbled her up.

Severinna sat in the Granic's parlor, nervously nibbling on a cookie as a group of the town's elite, both men and women, discussed her at a distance.

Once their clandestine plans were firmly laid, Zarko came over and spoke to her. "My dear, these fine ladies will prepare you for the task ahead and these fellows..."

Six work-hardened men came in from the kitchen. Although they got cleaned up before being allowed into the house, the ladies nonetheless shrunk away to avoid being soiled by them.

"These stout fellows will make sure that no harm befalls you."

Severinna was surprised and then suspicious at all the fuss that was being made. "All this trouble for a 'minor criminal'?"

Zarko and the ladies forced smiles upon their faces to reassure her. "We just want you to feel completely safe, my dear. Not that there is anything to fear."

She couldn't help but notice that her bodyguards bore faces of stone as if they had some deadly serious task ahead of them. Apprehension welled up within her as she wondered just what in the world she was getting herself into.

Severinna finally felt relaxed as she sat soaking in a tub of hot, soapy water.

One of the ladies put an end to her bliss by pouring a bucket of water over her freshly washed hair. "Up you go."

She and the others were struck numb as Severinna stood before them, looking like a glistening goddess.

A lady reminisced. "Ah, for the days when I had a figure like yours."

Her friend begged to differ. "You never had a figure like hers. None of us did!"

They all laughed as they sat Severinna down for a proper pedicure and a manicure to match. Normally they wouldn't be caught dead performing such menial tasks, but their own daughters were at risk and they didn't dare leave anything to chance.

Severinna was getting along well with all the ladies but one. Vesna, the dress shop owner's wife, worked on the side, designing what the siren would wear to entice the vampire.

Severinna pointed at her, much to the chagrin of her manicurist. "I will design what I am to wear!" Before long, she was busy sketching an article of eveningwear. "This is something I'd stored away in my head, something I never dreamed would become a reality!"

A lady blushed a little. "Oh, that is risqué!"

"This should do nicely," said another. "Say, would you consider designing something for me? Nothing quite so daring, of course."

Severinna smiled as her ego inflated. "Why surely." She sketched several pieces to the thrill of all the ladies but one.

A lady looked over at Vesna who was standing off to herself. "Why don't you hire this girl when this is all over?"

Her friend jabbed her in the ribs and reminded her with a whisper. "Jakov."

"Oh yes. That's right."

Vesna wished she could trust her philandering mate enough that she could hire Severinna, for she undoubtedly did have great talent. That bothered her true enough, but that wasn't all. Her fellow ladies seemed to have forgotten something in their excitement. This girl, for all her beauty and talent, would soon be dead!

Chapter Nine

A furtive fellow slid into an alley beside the Wolf's Bane. He stopped in his tracks as a young little thing with auburn pigtails was finishing up with another secretive sort. He paid for services rendered then lowered his head and hurried out of the alley without so much as a glance at the newcomer.

Anja smiled at her most recent visitor. "Welcome! What can Anja do for you today?"

The fellow smiled at the pint-sized prostitute. "I come, expecting to find Marija, and here I find you!"

Anja grabbed his tense tool. "Are you disappointed?"

"Me? God no!"

"Good. Then you'll know where to find me when you want someone young and fresh instead of a tired old hag."

"So I'm an old hag, am I?"

To Anja's stark horror, Marija had materialized. The fellow fled rather than face the redhead's wrath.

Marija took hold of the topless little tart by her pigtails and threw her to the ground. "That's what I get for feeling sorry for you!" She kicked Anja in the gut. "'Father's sick', you said. 'I need money, Marija. Can you help me?' I do and this is the thanks I get? You mock me and steal my favorite spot?" She kicked Anja again. "I don't care if you are my half-sister. You stay away from here or else!"

A third client walked up on them and stood there with his mouth hanging open.

Marija appropriated Anja's money pouch then jerked her head in his direction. "What do you want?"

He looked at what was left of Anja.

Marija could see what he wanted without his saying it. There was new, young meat in town to be had by him and his kind. She hooked his arm and dragged him out of the alley. "Come! Let a real woman take care of you!"

Anja heard a ringing in her ears. At first she thought it was from the pain inflicted upon her, but that wasn't it. She pulled the top of her dress up over her little breasts and followed the sound to its source.

A man dressed in a red robe and wearing a tricorne hat was ringing a bell. He made an announcement that made everyone stop what he or she was doing and listen. "Oyez! Oyez! Until further notice and by order of the town council no one is allowed on the streets after dark. All windows must be shuttered so no light is to be visible from outside. Any infractions to these decrees will be dealt with swiftly and harshly."

Anja couldn't stand up straight due to the pain racking her ribs. She held onto the side of a building for support. "Well, I should have the alley to myself for tonight, at least."

All preparations for the vampire's destruction had been made. The trap had been set at a home in the center of town.

Zarko was giving the ravishing, robed Severinna last minute instructions. He made sure his eyes never fixed upon the bewitching beauty lest he fall under her seductive spell. "Now remember to remain visible at all times. The men will be just outside the door at the ready."

While he was closing the door behind him, his eyes disobeyed him and stole a quick glance at the condemned siren. What he was afraid might happen indeed had. He couldn't close the door. He couldn't close it and thus end her life. The calloused hand of a sympathetic guard enveloped his and helped him pull it shut.

Zarko took a deep breath and let it out. "Thank you." He then steeled his nerves and addressed them all. "I want a man at the keyhole at all times. Even if she fails to keep the beast here until daytime, you are to kill it before can escape. Good hunting."

The men waited until he left before engaging in a silent shoving match to decide who would be the first to keep tabs on the tantalizing temptress. The winner sat down in a chair and planted his eye socket against the keyhole. He had a big smile on his face at first, but his dream job eventually became a chore. Despite his having something to sit on, it was none too comfortable a position to hold for a protracted period of time. Worse still was the constant distraction of his swelled member as it ached and pleaded for relief.

Severinna wobbled as she walked in her very first pair of high-heeled bedroom slippers. She disrobed and took a good look at herself in the mirror. Vesna had done her job well. She'd accurately reproduced Severinna's rendering as a sheer chiffon negligee that left nothing to the imagination.

She perched herself upon the balcony rail and wondered how the felonious fellow was supposed to even get to her. She shrugged then sat, hour after hour, switching from one provocative pose to another.

The vampire scratched his chin as his red eyes scanned the village for signs of life. All was dark, save one lone window. Should he fly to it like a moth to the flame? He shrugged his wide shoulders. Why not? But hark! What was that sound he heard? He went to investigate.

The vampire leapt from rooftop to rooftop until he stood over the source of the sound. They were sounds caused by the pint-sized prostitute, Anja, as she warmed up her latest customer for the coming copulation. A gas lantern with a faint flickering flame furnished a low light.

"Aren't you afraid to be out tonight?" the man asked.

"I'm more afraid of dying poor," Anja answered.

"Aren't you afraid of the vampire?"

Anja waved him off as she lifted her dress. "Oh, there's no such thing." She sucked on a finger and buried it into her auburn bush. "Now do you want this, or don't you?"

"Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! The shame of it all."

Anja perceived a pair of red eyes moving side to side in the dark as the vampire shook his head. The horrified harlot dropped her lantern. It went out while her money landed on the ground at her bare feet.

"What has happened to this generations' sense of morality?" The vampire clutched Anja's dress at the shoulders, tore it in two, and flung each half aside. "Look at you! You should still be a virgin!"

"Not so," the prostitute proclaimed. "I am well versed in the ways of making love."

"So am I," said the vampire.

"I just look young for my age."

The vampire laughed. "So do I." He sighed with exasperation. "Oh, well."

Anja piped a shrill scream as she flew up into the sky, landing on her bare back on a tiled roof. The critical creature stood over her, straddling her. "Now let's see just what it is you know."

Anja smiled up at the vampire. "Was I good?"

He smiled back at her with canines that were much longer than they were a moment before. "Yes, you were. Too good for one your age."

"Then perhaps you'll spare me?"

The vampire gave his head a sorrowful shake. "Alas, I hunger."

He stood straight, dangling Anja in the air by her ankle. He raised her until her femoral artery was even with his fangs then bit into it. Anja tried wriggling free while he drank then went limp as a rag as her life force left her.

The lone lit window in the village caught the vampire's attention as he finished his meal. Anja's ankle slipped through his fingers. Her carcass slid down the steep roof, fell off, and plunged into the dark alley below.

"Perhaps tomorrow," the vampire said to the alluring light. "Perhaps tomorrow."

Eventually the sun rose without incident as far as Severinna knew and a servant appeared at her door with a breakfast tray. The sleepy siren wolfed it down and collapsed into bed.

Chapter Ten

Marija had nearly made her way to her favorite spot beside the Wolf's Bane when she noticed a crowd gathered there. She got close enough to hear the townsfolk talk.

"Poor little thing."

"What happened to her?"

"The vampire got her."

A few of the townspeople crossed themselves.

"Who was she?"

"Janko's girl, Anja."

"What was she doing out last night?"

One member of the crowd was the last mortal man to see Anja alive. He knew. But he wasn't talking.

Marija left the spot in a hurry lest someone hear her laugh. "I know what she was doing. Serves her right, the ungrateful little wench!"

Gustav, the wife-cheating town councilman, visited Zarko Granic's home bearing news. "Well, now we know why the vampire didn't come calling on our siren last night."

One of Zarko's eyebrows rose. "And why was that?"

"A young harlot got in the way. She was discovered in an alley this morning. She must have been out last night, despite the council proclamation. She was completely drained of blood."

Zarko heaved a sad sigh as he thought of innocent Severinna suffering a similar fate. "Oh, what we must sacrifice for the greater good."

It was night again and Severinna was back on the balcony after having slept nearly all day. Her patience had grown as thin as her negligee so she deviated from the script and went into the bedroom to pace. As she did, she kept glancing at the keyhole, wondering if the whole catch-the-criminal scenario could just be an elaborate charade with her being played the fool. For all she knew the whole town was watching her through the keyhole. Perhaps they were even charging admission!" Severinna stopped staring and made for the door. She had to know!

The vampire's dark soul was in turmoil. He felt wrenched in half. While his body was all too ready and willing to partake of what he was being offered to him, his mind said beware. Something was decidedly different about this particular prey, something different than all the rest before her. What was so special about her, besides her all too obvious beauty? He had to know! He crouched and sprang from his rooftop perch. Across the lane he leapt to the balcony of the beauty that beckoned.

Severinna inched her way ever closer to the bedroom door in a nonchalant manner, intending to wrench it open and surprise whomever was on the other side. If it were anyone besides who it was supposed to be, there would be hell to pay.

"I am here, my sweet siren."

As Severinna whirled around, everything seemed to move in slow motion. When her eyes came to rest on the source of the silky smooth voice she felt something akin to a wave hit her head on. It was the force of his powerful mind encroaching upon hers, attempting to gain control of it. This was no "minor criminal" as Zarko had put it. Only one sort of being could wield such power. It could only be—a vampire!

Severinna fought for control of her own mind. If she allowed her wits to be wrested from her then all was lost. The fact that she still had some modicum of control proved that there was at least a glimmer of hope. And that hope lay in her body. Although it was mere flesh and bone, it had the power to make mush of men's minds. Though this creature had long shed its mortality it still had much the mind of a man. Severinna sauntered over to it, balancing expertly on her feather topped slippers.

"Strange," said the vampire.

"What?" Severinna asked. "What is strange?"

"I find myself thinking that I should flee, that I should flee for my very existence."

"Then why don't you?"

The vampire put a hand to his chest. "Run scared? Me? Never! Never would I flee from anyone, lest of all a woman!"

"Well, then..."

Severinna wrapped her arms around his neck, pressed her massive mammaries against him, and gave him a very unladylike kiss. Her lips smothered his. Her tongue lashed the interior of his fanged mouth. Back in the woods the two beasts masquerading as men had introduced her to wild sex and now she would put her new knowledge to good use.

"Impetuous wench!" the vampire said. "You look like an angel, yet you kiss like a whore!"

Severinna smiled. "You flatter me!"

It was the vampire's mind that was swimming for a change. This top-heavy temptress was just a mortal woman, yet her mind was still very much her own. What the devil was happening? And, more importantly, what was happening to him? She was the one undressing him, rather than the opposite, guiding his trim, yet athletic body onto the bed. It was she who willingly shed her sheer negligee and bedded him. He, the powerful, the immortal vampire was mere putty in her hands!

Hours passed in which in which the same scenario played out. While Severinna climaxed time and time again, she made sure that the vampire did not. Not once. She wouldn't let him. She daren't! For the moment he did, she was finished. She'd be no different than countless others before her. She'd be dead like the rest and he'd be free to go on to the next poor girl and then the next...

The dawn was fast approaching, the vampire knew. The conniving creature beside him hadn't kept that fact from him any more than she'd kept secret the presence of those just outside the door. Once more he'd penetrate her and this time there would be no stopping him. He would come! He was stroking her soft, flat belly with his sensitive fingertips when he felt something was amiss.

Severinna couldn't help but notice the strange face he made. "What is it?"

"Your womb."

"What of it?"

"It is—not right."

Severinna sat up. "What do you mean, 'not right'?"

The vampire knew nothing of women's sexual anatomy beyond what he could see with his eyes and he didn't really care. "I don't know. It's not right. I do doubt, however, that you could conceive." The last was a guess on his part, but deep down he knew it was true.

The vampire hadn't yet sipped one succulent drop of Severinna's blood, yet it drained from her face nonetheless. Despite the recent plethora of problems plaguing her, she held hope that one day she might marry again and have another chance at raising a family. But now this fellow who, with his supernatural powers, might know of such things was saying otherwise. Perhaps he was mistaken.

"Are you sure?"

"I am quite sure."

Severinna bowed her head in grief. Her concentration wavered and she glanced sideways at the door. She caught herself almost immediately and jerked her emerald eyes away.

The vampire smiled at her. "Do think me a fool? Do you think I am unaware that someone is at the door, waiting for me to die with the rising sun?"

Severinna's body and now her mind were spent. She hadn't energy for denials or for tears. Instead she lay down and offered her exquisite neck to the vampire. "Then go ahead and kill me. I have nothing to look forward to anyway."

The vampire considered her words. "And what do I have to look forward to? Another virgin? A hundred more virgins? A hundred, hundred more virgins? And could any of them possibly be more satisfying than you? No. I will give you, at least, reason to live. I usually prefer to mark my prey. But I will give you my seed to hold inside you. And it will succeed where all others would fail."

Young Karlo tiptoed up the stairs of the home in which Severinna and the vampire lay. At the top he noticed five men shifting from foot to foot; ready to spring into action. A sixth sat rigid against a bedroom door.

One man gripped the newcomer by the shirtsleeve and whispered to him. "What are you doing here, Karlo?"

"I got wind of your plan and came to help."

The man shook his head. "Go home, boy."

Karlo was adamant. "It killed my Zinka. I must have my revenge!"

While the man shushed Karlo, the one at the keyhole had important news they'd all been waiting to hear. "This is it!"

The other six looked into an empty bedroom across the hall. Its door had been left open so all would know when the sun rose.

One of the men had become convinced that Severinna would succeed in killing the vampire all on her own and that he wouldn't need to risk life or limb. He panicked. "But the sun isn't up!"

Now it was Karlo doing the shushing as he saw fear in more than one pair of eyes. "There are seven of us. I say we rush it while it's weak. The wench has worn it down all night and the higher the sun rises, the weaker it becomes."

The men swallowed their fright and began swinging their arms, loosening their muscles. "The plucky little lad is right," said one. "There's a job to do, a vampire to kill."

The very thing Severinna had been trying to avoid all night was about to occur. With a tremendous tensing of his marvelous muscles, the vampire flooded her insides with supernatural sperm she hoped and prayed would give her the glorious gift he'd promised.

No sooner had the vampire fallen limp upon his lover, than had a dozen strong arms latched upon him and drawn him upright.

From behind him rang a voice full of fire and brimstone. "Remember me?"

The vampire recollected that he had. "Ah, yes. The boy." He felt that he still had the strength to throw off his attackers, but he didn't bother to try. He made it seem like he was fighting for his life, while he only put forth half an effort at escape. And since this was to be his grand finale he added to the dramatic effect by extending his fangs.

Karlo yelled at him. "Die, vampire!"

Thunk! Thunk!

He was driving a stake through the vampire's heart from behind. Severinna screamed as the point emerged through his chest above her, drenching her in the blood of virgins past.

The vampire stared down at his mortal wound as he became reacquainted with what real pain felt like. "Heavens, that hurts!"

The men dragged him off of Severinna. As he writhed in their arms his skin turned ashen and shriveled until it barely covered his bones. A man was about to end the waning struggle with a stroke of his axe, but Karlo was far from done. He put out his hand.

"Let me do it!"

Clunk! One blow and the vampire's head, which was little more than a skull at this point, separated from his body. Karlo clutched the remaining wisp of gray hair atop the head and held it high. He and the others cheered and slapped each other on the back with unmitigated glee. They were heroes!

Severinna, bloody like a newborn babe, watched in horror until a black veil descended over her eyes and everything went dark.

The entire town council had been informed of the vampire's destruction, but only two of its members had the nerve to survey the scene. Zarko Granic and his rail thin counterpart paled at the sight of the blood caked Severinna.

Zarko bowed his head. "We will bury her with honors."

"But she's not dead."

Zarko jerked his eyes toward the vampire killer that had spoken. "What is that you say?"

"She is not dead, sir. She has merely fainted. She lasted nearly the whole night through with the monster, only to collapse at the end."

The cadaverous councilor turned to Zarko. "What will we do? She wasn't supposed to live. What if she conceives?"

Zarko mulled it over. "Killing her would be a crime. Jailing her would not be much better."

His cohort was having conniptions. "Imagine what might happen if we held her anywhere in town. The people would eventually learn of her confinement and riot in the streets. If they somehow got their hands on her they'd tear her to pieces."

The tallest of the vampire killers was a deeply religious man and didn't want innocent blood spilled. "Pardon the interruption, but may I make a humble suggestion?"

Zarko directed a haughty frown up at the fellow. "And what, pray tell, might that be?"

"You could keep the lass's true condition a secret from the people and temporarily hold her someplace outside of town."

Zarko shook his head as if it were a crazy notion then snapped his fat fingers. "I have it! We could keep the lass's condition a secret and temporarily hold her someplace out of town!"

His peer shook his chubby hand. "Brilliant idea, Zarko! Brilliant! But wherever shall we hold her?"

Zarko addressed the man who'd dared to try and steal his thunder. "You have a small farm just outside of town, do you not Juraj?"

"Yes sir, I do, but..."

"No buts about it. You are hereby charged with the internment of the lass until it is deemed safe for her to take her leave."

He gestured at the other vampire killers. "As are the rest of you. You, too, will reside at the farm until this matter is resolved."

His command didn't go over too well to say the least. "But we each have trades to be carried out, mouths to feed."

"You will all be handsomely rewarded for your trouble. Especially you, Juraj."

The vampire killer had been thinking that he should keep his ideas to himself, but now he cracked a little smile. Maybe his suggestion wasn't so bad after all!

Chapter Eleven

Severinna at first thought she was lying flat on her back in a dark room in which a loud bell was ringing. It took her a moment to realize that her eyes were just closed and that the bothersome bell was inside her head. Her eyelids felt as if they were glued shut so she decided to pry them open with her fingers. Her arms felt full of lead and light seared her eyes. She gave up, for the moment at least, and her arms dropped like dead weight to her sides. Before long she was at it again, repeating this exercise over and over until her eyelids had the strength to remain open on their own.

It seemed to take forever, but she finally managed to sit up. Tears streaming from her scorched orbs, she glanced about in a dazed effort to get her bearings. She found herself clothed in a tent-like dress and on a bed of straw in what appeared to be a barn. She eased up from the bed and shuffled to the door like a feeble old lady. She pushed on it, but it wouldn't budge. Her legs were threatening to give way at any second, so she went back and plunked herself down on her crude cot. That's when she heard the sound of a bolt being slid open on the other side of the door.

A fat farm lady came in, carrying a breakfast tray. She almost dropped it when she saw Severinna sitting upright on her own. "Heaven be praised!" She sat down beside the befuddled beauty. The homemade wooden frame of the straw bed creaked from the added weight, but it managed to hold together. She got a forkful of eggs and offered it to Severinna. "This should be much easier now."

Severinna was confused. "You speak as if you've done this before."

"Oh, I have. Ever since you were brought here. I was beginning to think you'd never come out of that awful brain fever."

It was enough of a chore to simply remain erect so Severinna allowed herself to be fed like an infant while she pondered her predicament. Someone had brought her here and locked her up. But who would do such a thing and for what reason? She was about to ask when a tall man appeared at the barn door.

"Come, Jalena."

Severinna squinted her eyes and thought hard. She'd seen the lofty fellow somewhere before.

The farm lady left the barn with her empty tray and without uttering a word. The similarly silent man began closing the door.

Severinna's big green eyes opened wide as she remembered. "I know you! You were one of the six! Why am I here?"

The only sound made in answer was that of her being locked inside.

The next time the barn door opened Severinna was up and stretching her mouthwatering muscles while holding the hem of her dress high on her thighs. She was expecting either the farm lady or fellow, but she got Zarko Granic instead.

He licked his lips at the provocative position into which she'd bent her beautiful body, her bared legs spread far and wide. "It is good to see you up and about."

Severinna frowned and draped her dress back over her long legs. "Thank you for caring. Now where is my money?"

Zarko's face turned red as he fumed over the funds he and his peers thought they'd never have to pay. "You will get your money. Just as soon as we are sure."

Severinna's face puckered in puzzlement. "Sure of what?"

"As soon as we are sure the creature's seed has not taken root."

Severinna bared her teeth in anger. "First you imprison me like a common criminal when you should be hailing me as a hero. And now you have the gall to threaten my unborn child?"

Zarko grasped his lapels and struck a political pose. "You will be released and sent on your way with our thanks once the public safety has been ensured."

"By the killing of my baby?"

"If it becomes necessary, yes."

Severinna was desperate. According to the vampire this was her only chance at having a child and she had no reason to doubt him. "Well, what if it's normal? Could I keep it then?"

Zarko was unyielding. "We must not take that chance. It could kill us all." He turned toward the door. "I will return when the time comes. Until then, you are to remain here under constant watch. Good day."

Severinna rushed the door, missing the opening by inches when it closed shut. She beat her fists on the old, warped wood. "Let me out!"

She took her stinging hands from the unyielding exit and placed them on her womb. She had to escape and, if she were indeed pregnant, save her baby. But how could she?

Not long after Zarko Granic had taken his leave, Juraj reopened the barn door. He fixed his eyes on a spot high over Severinna's head to avoid looking directly at her. "You may get a breath of fresh air. Just stay within sight of the barn."

Severinna emerged from her prison to lay eyes on a man with a musket. She recognized him as another of her vampire lover's killers. His face acquired the usual wide-eyed look of astonishment at the sight of her, but it faded as he remembered his grim task. He had to make certain that the beauty before him didn't escape, even if it meant the use of deadly force.

"Ow!"

Juraj's son, Mirko, had meant to hammer a nail into a fence when Severinna walked near. He rapped his thumb instead. The gliding angel amply filled the bosom of his massive mother's dress with a pair of unbelievable udders, each one at least as big as her heavenly head. The bottom portion, in contrast, swallowed her up and billowed in the breeze.

Mirko was so entranced that his father had no trouble approaching him unnoticed. "Serves you right, boy."

Mirko dropped his hammer and it landed on his foot. "Ow!"

"Now stop lusting after that wretched creature before you kill yourself and get back to work."

"I'm not lusting after her."

Juraj wasn't deceived. It took a great deal of spiritual strength not to fall under Severinna's spell, strength Mirko didn't yet possess. "And lying is a sin. Don't let her appearance fool you, son. She's no angel. This I've seen for myself."

Mirko sighed and shook his head as his father took his leave. "You are entirely too pious, father." He retrieved his hammer and was drawing back to strike when he remembered that there was another, more private way he could admire his angel's attributes.

Upon Severinna's return from her walk she was met at the barn by Jalena. She was holding a pair of scissors, a needle, and thread. "My dress doesn't fit you well at all. It looked like you were about to blow away out there. Why don't you let me take it in?"

Although Jalena was making a genuine attempt at kindness, Severinna couldn't bring herself to be anything but curt with her. "I can do it."

Jalena turned a little red in the face. "I have no doubt but that you could. I've, uh, heard tell of your work."

She wiggled the pair of scissors. "But Juraj, my husband, doesn't want you to get hold of these."

Severinna stomped into the barn. "Fine!"

Mirko almost couldn't breathe. He was peeping through a crack between two boards on the back wall of the barn. His angel had shed her borrowed dress and was standing by as his mother took it in for her. His hand went to his crotch as if to scratch an itch. This was no ordinary itch, however, for he'd soon soiled himself in some slimy, but not altogether unpleasant manner. It was his angel who'd brought this on. She had a power to make his body do strange and intoxicating things. He had to have more! But for now only a change of pants was in store for him.

Chapter Twelve

A couple of months into Severinna's incarceration, Jalena emerged from the barn with a nearly full breakfast tray. There she voiced her concern to her husband. "I fear the worst may indeed be true."

Juraj, like his wife, could hear Severinna vomiting inside. "I'll get word to the council."

Severinna put away her bucket for the time being and ran to put her ear to the door. Tears of anger and sorrow ran down her cheeks when she heard what Juraj said. She'd meant to keep her pregnancy from her captors and make her escape, but had failed on both accounts. The morning sickness had gotten the better of her and she'd been as yet unable to slip past any of the guards. What was she to do?

"Don't cry," she heard.

She whipped her head in the direction of the sound but saw no one. "Who's there?"

"It is I, Mirko."

Severinna followed the sound to where there was a crack in the wall and saw an eye peering through it from the other side. She poked it.

"Ow!"

Mirko drew back. He was holding his pained peeper in one hand, while yanking the other hand out of his pants.

"That was for spying on me! Have you no shame?" Severinna looked through the hole and saw it was the lanky young fellow who'd been scolded for staring at her during her first walk outside the barn. There was a noticeable resemblance between him and her tall captor. "You must be Juraj's boy."

Mirko took offense and stood up to his full height, which was nearly that of his father's. "I am his son, but I am no boy."

Severinna noted the sizeable swelling in his pants. "I see that."

"Are you going to tell him?"

"Your father? I should. I really should."

"Please don't! I won't look in on you again. I promise!"

The proper thing to do was to indeed tell and to have the crack covered. But was this really the time for appropriate behavior? They were coming to kill her baby and this Peeping Tom may be her only chance at escape.

"Why do you cry so?" Mirko asked. "Is it because you're being held here against your will?"

"Yes. I have done no wrong, committed no crime, yet here I sit. If I am guilty of anything it is only of having risked my life for the lives of others." The scheming Severinna made her voice sugary sweet. "Would you be my knight in shining armor and rescue me from this unjust imprisonment?"

Mirko grew weak at the sound of her velvety voice, weaker still at the thought of defying his fearsome father. "Oh, I couldn't."

The desperate detainee sustained her sugary salvo. "I'm sorry. I was just so taken aback by your rugged good looks that I..."

"Good looks? You think that I'm good looking?"

"Oh yes. It embarrasses me to say, but ever since that first day, that glorious first glance, I've not been able to stop thinking of you."

Severinna rolled her eyes at the sound of her own sickeningly sweet speech, wondering if she was perhaps laying it on a bit too thick. It seemed to be working, though. The boy looked like he believed every wily word she'd uttered.

Mirko took a hard swallow to get his heart back down his throat to where it belonged. Much as he now loved the delectable detainee he feared his father all the more. "I just couldn't!"

Her first plan foiled, Severinna tried a different tack and abandoned her syrupy speech. "My mistake. I had thought you to be a man, a brave man yet. But you're just a scared little boy. Begone, boy! Come back when you're a man."

Now it was Severinna who felt it hard to breathe. Her second strategy was just as likely to run Mirko off for good as it was to inspire him to action. She'd found that there were two common qualities that the male half of the species seemed to share, qualities that could be used to manipulate them. One was their perpetual lust. Another was the indomitable male ego. Men oftentimes did incredibly stupid things to placate it. What would Mirko do?

He withdrew as if Severinna had struck him across the face. His ego had indeed been affronted. He seethed in silence, searching for words to fire back at his sultry assailant, but found none. He spun around and stomped off.

The weary Severinna withered and sat herself down. All she could do was wait and hope he returned with a change of mind."

Zarko Granic sat in his office, scratching his head while deep in thought. He and the council wanted a raise in salary. He was thinking of what new tax they might levy to pay for it.

His male secretary came in. "Pardon the interruption, sir, but I have an urgent message from the farmer, Juraj."

Zarko's fat fingers snatched it from his secretary's slender ones. He studied the missive, blew an exasperated sigh, and then burned it in an ashtray. "Teodor, I have a mission requiring some measure of subterfuge that must be carried out. Seeing as I am a well-recognized persona in these parts, I am unable to carry it out myself. You are involved in the local theater, are you not?"

The secretary clasped his hands together with joy. "Yes I am, sir. And I'd be delighted, sir, to use my dramatic talents in the service of the community."

Zarko smiled and leaned back in his chair. "Well, then, this is your assignment..."

Teodor had covered his usual impeccable attire with a worn overcoat, his neat hair with a tattered hat, and glued a large fake moustache on over his smoothly shaved lip. Leaning against a corner of the Wolf's Bane was Marija. She showed off a curvaceous calf to a passerby. He, in return, averted his eyes and quickened his pace.

She yelled at him. "Aw, off with you! You're not man enough for Marija, anyway!"

Teodor approached and addressed her in his best brusque voice. "Hey you! I have a question to ask of you."

"A question?" Marija held out her hand. "That'll cost you too."

Teodor emitted a gruff growl and deposited payment in the palm of her hand. Marija took it and disappeared into the dark alley beside the bar. Teodor took a deep breath to steel his nerves and followed.

"All right, love, what do you want to know?"

"Have you ever, um, aborted a baby?"

Marija thought she'd heard it all, but apparently she hadn't. "Hey now! What sort of question is that?"

Teodor was immersed in his part for it was a welcome diversion from his usual prim persona. He shoved the wanton woman into the wall. "Well? Have you or haven't you?"

Marija, fearing for her safety, dredged up the dreadful deed from the depths of her memory. "Yes. Once. Did it on myself, you see? You happy now?"

"Could you do it again?"

The conversation was getting stranger and scarier by the minute. Marija glanced toward the street and was disappointed by what she didn't see. "Never a sign of help around when you need it."

Teodor shook her. "Could you do it again—to someone else, I mean?"

"I suppose I could. But it's dangerous. A friend of mine killed herself doing it. I got awful sick, myself. Thought I was going to die, too."

Teodor smiled at last. "Good. Then be here just after sunset with whatever tools you'll need and you'll be well compensated."

Marija squinted. "How well?"

Teodor gave her a substantial down payment. "There will be more when the deed is done."

Marija's eyes bugged. "Why that's a week's wage! Of course I'll be here!" Her wide eyes became suspicious slits. "But what's this all about? You come to me in disguise and..."

Teodor gasped. "Disguise? What makes you think I am in disguise?"

Marija took him by the hand and showed him his own fingertips. "Your nails are nicer than mine." She then raised his upper lip. "And your teeth are so fine and white."

Teodor drew back out of her reach and sped out of the alley, past a regular customer of Marija's. "Just be here and ready shortly before sunset."

"I will!"

As sunset neared, a couple of patrolling guards conversed.

"Am I glad this is almost over!"

"So am I. Beats hard labor, though."

"Aye, but I could sure use a stiff drink."

"I second that. There's not so much as a drop to be found anywhere around this wretched place."

"We have Juraj to thank for that, the damned teetotaler."

A guard pointed at the barn. "So what do you think will become of her?"

His friend removed his hat and ran a hand through his oily hair. "The wench? I don't know. Maybe the right man could convince her to stay."

The other looked at him as if he were a loon. "And you think you're that man? If anyone could do it, it'd be me!"

The competitive couple glared at each other in the waning light and put some distance between them lest they come to blows over their imprisoned prize.

Jalena excused herself from the crowded supper table and rushed into the kitchen, tears in her eyes.

Juraj wasn't far behind. "What is it? I can see you're vexed."

Jalena's head drooped. "I feel so guilty."

"Guilty? About what?"

"Here I am, feeling relieved that our home will soon be our own again while that poor girl is out there, suffering."

Juraj straightened his arm to its full length and put it around his wife. "Her suffering will soon be at an end."

Jalena shrugged off his hug. "How could you think such a thing after the child we lost? She'll remember her loss for years to come as I did. And have you forgotten that it is a sin to kill?"

Juraj found the level of his voice rising to match that of his wife's. "No, I haven't. But the thing we are killing is not a child of God. It is of Satan."

"How do you know?" Jalena yelled. "How do you know?"

Juraj took a deep breath and lowered his voice so those in the dining room couldn't hear. "I admit that I do not know and that I will spend my full share of time in the confession booth in case I'm wrong."

His ears caught the sound of wagon wheels and horse's hooves. "That would be Zarko Granic. The time has come."

Jalena snatched up a washrag. "Well, I'm staying inside to wash the dishes. I'll play no further part in this."

The guards deserted the supper table at the first sound of Zarko's conveyance. Mirko rose with the intention of following them when his father intercepted him.

"Go to your room, Mirko."

"But..."

"To your room, boy!"

Mirko slammed his bedroom door behind him. He paced his room, clenching and unclenching his fists in anger. Severinna was right! He was a boy, letting himself be run over like that!

An evening breeze stirred the curtain in his half opened window. It was like a finger tempting him to come hither. Dare he listen to it? Dare he disobey his father and oppose no less than his entire community? His bruised ego called him a coward. It asked if he was a scared little boy. Or was he a man, no, a knight, a knight in shining armor?

Two carriages had halted outside the farmhouse. In front was Zarko's stately carriage. Behind it was a dust-covered stagecoach that had brought the guards to the farm months ago and would soon take them home at last. Those who weren't on duty lined up like soldiers outside the farmhouse, their muskets at the ready.

More than one jaw dropped as Marija emerged from the stagecoach and dusted herself off. "Hey Miroslav. I was wondering where you'd wandered off to. I haven't seen you in a while."

She pointed at another guard. "You too, Jozo."

While they went red in the face, Zarko Granic exited his carriage with a helping hand from his driver. He was like a general addressing his army. "You are all hereby commended for the sacrifices you've made these months past. Now let us end this unsavory business and put it behind us evermore."

Juraj had taken but a few steps toward the barn when a slight movement caught his eye. "If you will excuse me." He sped off into the darkness without explanation.

Zarko shouted into the shadows. "Where are you going? Juraj!"

Marija came alongside the councilor. "I know of that fellow."

Zarko was shocked. He couldn't have imagined either of them ever having had anything to do with each other. "You do?"

"Aye. He caught me, um, peddling my wares once and set about to try and save my soul. It didn't work. Knowing him, his conscience has probably got the better of him."

Zarko's eyes narrowed. "Do I detect disinclination on your part, harlot? Would you rather I get someone else to do this?"

Marija pointed at the politician. "I'd be worse than a harlot if I didn't have second thoughts. Do you not, yourself, wonder if it's the right thing to do?"

Zarko slid the bolt on the barn door. "I entertain no doubts whatever. And I will have no regrets!"

Severinna was yanking on the loose boards at the back of the barn when she heard someone at the door. She rushed back to her bed, sat, and tried to look innocent.

Her eyes flew wide at the sight of Marija. "I know you! You're the one who's always waiting around for someone outside the Wolf's Bane!"

Miroslav sniggered and whispered to Jozo. "You might say that."

Marija was no less surprised. "You! I thought you were dead!"

She turned to Zarko. "And you! I thought you were bringing me to some mistress of yours!"

Zarko huffed with indignation. "Trollop! Don't be absurd. I'm a respected public representative."

Marija laughed. "Oh yes? Well I know of at least a couple of 'respected public representatives' who have them."

Zarko growled. He knew the whore was probably telling the truth, but he didn't care to hear or know of it. "Enough of this! Let us be on with it."

An object had been wedged between Marija's breasts. When she laughed it had fallen to the ground. Severinna felt faint at the mere sight of it.

Marija retrieved the object and wiped it off on her dress. It was a sewing needle! Severinna withdrew into the seizing arms of two guards.

Marija offered her a sincere apology. "I'm sorry, young miss. I didn't mean for you to see this if at all possible."

Severinna writhed in the guards' grasps. "Murderers! Murderers all!"

In a night filled with shouting Mirko heard still more as he tiptoed toward his peephole. His fair damsel was arguing with the corpulent councilor while surrounded by men with loaded muskets.

"Be reasonable," Zarko said. "Who knows what unspeakable horror lies within you?"

"But this is my one and my only chance at having a child!"

"How do you know this? How do you know that you cannot marry some day and have another?"

"He said so! He said that only his seed could accomplish what all others would fail to do!"

"And you believed him, it, this creature?"

"I did! And I do!"

"Then I grieve for you. It remains an immutable fact, nonetheless, that the beast and its evil legacy must and will end here."

Mirko, too, recognized Marija. He was the one she'd tried selling herself to when his father began his religious rant. What was it she had in her hand? He staggered back when he realized just what it was. He ran into something tall and hard. At first he thought it was the big tree next to the barn. But no, it was Juraj!

"I thought I saw someone skulking around over in this direction." He saw light coming from Mirko's peephole and shook his head. "I knew you were too weak to resist her charms, boy."

Mirko became as a wild animal. He reared back and knocked his father out cold with a single blow. "Don't call me boy!"

The guards forced Severinna down onto her bed. Two held her arms while two more spread her luscious legs apart.

Marija marveled at the stunning sight before her. "Oh I only wish I looked so good. I could name my price."

Miroslav caressed Severinna's curvaceous calf. Drool leaked from his lips and landed on her knee. "That you could!"

Jealousy welled up within the whore. "Avert your eyes, you scalawags!"

Zarko sighed. "Whores and whoremongers. How did I ever find myself surrounded by such filth? Do as she says. Avert your eyes."

They snarled like angry dogs, but they obeyed their master. Zarko's own eyes, however, remained right where they were—a fact that didn't miss Marija's notice.

"And what of you, Mr. 'Respected Public Representative'?"

"As I said before, I will see this thing through."

Marija gave up with a shrug then proceeded to plea with the writhing Severinna. "Please don't thrash about so. This procedure is dangerous enough without your squirming about."

Severinna sensed the harlot wished her no lasting harm so she continued to resist on the slimmest of hopes that Marija might give up to defeat and withdraw her wicked weapon.

Zarko Granic had no such compunction. He called upon one whom he knew had no misgivings over murder. "Karlo!"

Mirko was wondering how in the devil he was going to get past two armed guards and into the barn when Karlo was called inside. He smiled at his good fortune and pulled a homemade sling out of his pocket. Ever since he'd first heard the story of David and Goliath, it had been his favorite toy and he'd practiced with it unto perfection on countless crop-eating crows. He slung a stone at the remaining guard. It hit him on the temple and down he went.

Several sharp farming tools were normally stored inside the barn. They'd been relocated outside lest Severinna be tempted to try and use one of them in an attempt at escape. They were temporarily stuck into a bale of hay. Mirko wrenched a sickle free and headed inside.

"Karlo," Zarko said. "Take your musket and bash her on the skull if she continues."

Karlo nodded and positioned himself behind the disruptive detainee. He turned the butt of his gun toward Severinna's luxuriant locks and drew back for a brain-bashing blow.

The wild-eyed Severinna watched as the instrument of her baby's destruction reached the edge of her pubic forest. This was it, the official end of any and all of her dreams.

Mirko burst into the barn ready for anything—or so he thought. His angel was spread-eagled before him, her privates in plain view. He dropped his sickle at the sight of them and barely missed cutting off his own toe.

Zarko was weary of the unending delays. "What is it now, young Mirko?"

The grating tone of the politician's voice helped him regain his senses. He snatched up the sickle, got behind Zarko, and put the blade to his throat.

"What is the meaning of this?"

Mirko played the part of the gallant knight to the hilt. "I'm saving this poor maiden from a cruel fate at the hands of you blackguards."

While the guards aimed their muskets at Mirko, Marija pointed her knitting needle at him. "Hey, I know you. You're the young lad that Juraj fellow stole from me. Now I see the resemblance."

"I'm not a lad. I'm a man!"

Zarko tried to reason with Mirko. "You misunderstand. We wish her no harm. We want only to relieve her of the evil which festers in her womb."

Mirko was mystified. The cunning councilor made it sound as if he were doing Severinna a service, as if curing her of some dreaded disease.

Severinna discerned doubt in Mirko's mind. Zarko's wily words were getting through to him. She had to regain her grip on him before it was too late. "If they do this then I may as well be dead."

That settled it for Mirko. "Put down your guns or he dies!"

Karlo took his sights off the boy who was not much younger than he and acquired a new target. He pointed the barrel of his gun at Severinna's head and cocked the hammer. "Let him go or she dies."

Mirko was again plagued with indecision. Karlo had had blood in his eye ever since he lost his lover to the vampire and probably would shoot his angel. What should he do?

Zarko smirked as he felt a loosening of his confused captor's clutch. His grin changed to a grimace, however, as Mirko tightened his grip and his curved blade made direct contact with the councilor's fat-shrouded Adam's apple.

Now it was Mirko who was all smiles. "I sharpened it just this morn. Shall we see how good a job I did?"

A trickle of blood ran down Zarko's neck and stained his starched collar. "Put down your guns!"

Four of the five obeyed, but Karlo held fast to his. "We cannot let her go! We cannot let another of those murderous monsters loose!"

Zarko's voice became calm. "Put it down, Karlo. This is not over yet. We can still win this."

The clever councilor had always had answers for the most perplexing of problems so Karlo relented. He put his trust in Zarko and lay down his gun.

With a nod of his head Mirko directed Severinna's attention to the weapons that lay on the floor. "Gather them up."

She did as she was told and carried them in the crooks of her arms like a bundle of firewood as Mirko backed out of the barn. After he and Zarko had stepped over the unconscious guard, Mirko nodded down in his direction. "Do you think you can drag him inside?"

Severinna dropped her heavy load as gently as she could and grabbed the man by the shoulders. "I think so."

While she strained and struggled to drag him inside, Mirko exchanged his sickle for one of the guard's muskets and prodded Zarko forth. "Move!"

Severinna slid shut the bolt on the barn door while panting from exertion. Beside her feet laid the mound of muskets. She picked one up and smiled at how empowered it made her feel.

Mirko heard Severinna emit a sigh of satisfaction. He looked over his shoulder and saw her wielding the weapon. "What are you doing with that?"

She had a simple enough answer. "Two guns are better than one."

The stagecoach driver lit a second cigarette off the end of his and handed it to Zarko's driver, Andrej. "Here you go, mate."

Andrej took a drag then snorted up a wad of mucous and spat it out. "His majesty won't let me enjoy a smoke while I'm driving. Says it's a nasty habit. Imagine that!"

The stagecoach driver looked him over, from the tips of his shiny boots to the top of his tall hat. "Aye, but look at your fancy vestments, the fine rig you drive. I'll bet you fairly rake in the swag."

Andrej nodded. "The money is good, I have to admit."

The two were oblivious to the harrowing happenings within the barn so they were startled at the sound of Mirko's voice. "You there! Step away from the carriages!"

They caught sight of Zarko being held at gunpoint, put up their hands, and backed away.

Mirko saw that there were two conveyances, one that could be used to chase down the other. He nodded at Zarko. "Train your weapon on him and don't be afraid to shoot if he tries anything."

Severinna lifted the barrel and smiled at the prospect of burying a ball in his belly. "Don't worry. I won't be."

Zarko groaned. It was bad enough when his life was dependent upon an impetuous youth. Now it lay in the hands of an angry female!

Boom! Mirko fired his weapon very near the heads of the councilor's horses, causing them to rear up and run off. Severinna relinquished her musket to Mirko and accepted a hand into the stagecoach. Her rescuer then took his seat in the driver's box and grabbed the whip.

The stagecoach driver protested. "Hey now! That's me personal whip!"

Zarko decided to make one last, probably pointless plea for sanity. "Think of what you're doing, Mirko. Think of what you're doing to yourself and if not yourself then your community, your family."

Mirko raised the whip. "I'd rather not if you don't mind. It gives me the frights!"

Crack! He urged the four horses on. As the stagecoach was gaining speed, the barn door burst open and the guards spilled out. Karlo was allowed to get to his gun first as he was the best marksman by far. Boom! Mirko cringed as the lead ball crashed into the corner of the carriage just inches behind him.

Back at the barn Karlo was yelling at Juraj. "What the devil? You made me miss my shot!"

The farmer feigned innocence. "I'm sorry. It was a mistake my bumping into you, what with the dust and the darkness."

Karlo grabbed the bigger man by the shirt. "Like hell it was! You did it on purpose!"

Juraj didn't bother to deny it for he was a lousy liar from lack of practice and he knew it.

Zarko walked up, holding a handkerchief to his bloodied neck. "Let him go, Karlo. We have failed."

Marija poked her head out of the barn and joined the others when she saw it was safe. "And what of my pay? It's not my fault you let her get away."

He pretended not to hear her question, but Karlo's he could not ignore. "What do we do now?"

"We pray, Karlo. We pray she doesn't doom us all." He addressed all who stood there. "All of you must make a solemn promise never to discuss with anyone what has transpired here today. For if any of you do it would cause a general panic in the streets and result in punishment of the guilty party or parties, I assure you."

While everyone nodded in agreement Karlo's eyes narrowed with dogged determination. "Promise me one thing, Zarko Granic."

"What?"

"Promise me that if either she or her demon child ever returns to bedevil us I'll be the first you call."

It was Zarko's turn to nod. "Agreed."

The stagecoach carrying the recently rescued Severinna roared down the road. Its inexperienced driver, Mirko, could barely see where he was going. His only light was that being cast by the nearly full moon. Just when he thought he was getting the hang of piloting the ponderous carriage, a sharp turn leapt at him like a tiger. He fought the laws of physics with both rein and brake but, despite his valiant effort, the stagecoach tipped and fell over.

Severinna's world had turned upside down with the murder of her husband. Now it made a violent jerk to one side, flinging her from her seat. She flew into the right side door as the stagecoach thudded against the earth. "Ow!" She pulled up her dress and noticed a gash in her calf that was caused by her fall. It wasn't bad enough to keep her from standing so that she did. "Mirko!" She got no answer. She climbed up to the left side door and heaved it open enough to slide through. "Mirko!" There was still no answer. She scaled down the stagecoach and began the search for her savior. She noticed the horses had broken free and run off. Mirko, she saw, was still in the driver's box. "Mirko?" Severinna froze when she saw the unnatural position of his head. In the course of the crash it had been bent farther than his neck bones could bear. The moon reflected in his open, yet lifeless eyes. Severinna shouted at the starry heavens. "Not again! How long must this go on?"

She got no answer from above, nor did she expect one. Below her, though, at the base of the hill on which she stood were many lights to show her the way. It was a city!

A couple of heavily made up women in low cut dresses were stationed beside a gas lit streetlamp.

"I sure hope the good doctor shows up tonight," one said. "I need me a bath and the doctor always has me take a bath first."

Her companion took a whiff of her and drew back, waving a hand in the air. "Whew! You sure do!"

The pair engaged in a semi-friendly tussle until they caught sight of a visitor to their little street corner. It was a woman who made them both look plain as vanilla in comparison. She came hobbling along their direction.

"Whatever happened to you?" asked one of the ladies.

"Stagecoach tipped."

The lady sucked cool night air in through her yellowed teeth and shook her head. "I hate it when that happens."

While the first lady spoke, the second lady's eyes roved over Severinna's figure. She didn't like what she saw which was too much competition. "Well, it was nice meeting you. I guess you'll be on your way now."

The first lady caught on to what her friend was up to. Neither of them could even hope to compare in beauty to the stranger. She had to go! "Katarina is right. You should move on and find a place to stay before you catch cold."

"But I'm a new arrival in town. Where could I..."

The made up women forgot all about the newcomer when a fancy Brougham carriage pulled up to the curb.

"Ah, it's the good doctor," the first lady said. "What can Renata do for you this good night?"

Her friend shoved her aside. "No, what can Katarina do?"

A cultured sounding voice emanated from within the Brougham. "Nothing."

"Nothing?"

A slim, white-gloved hand pointed at the newcomer. "You."

Severinna touched her bosom. "Me?"

"Yes. Come."

Renata objected. "Come now! Haven't I, haven't we served you well in the past?"

The doctor was indifferent. "We all must move on some time."

The ladies snarled and pounced on Severinna. While Renata grabbed her hair, Katarina brandished her long fingernails.

"I'll rip your green eyes out!"

The doctor leapt from the Brougham before she could and beat the heated harlots back with his silver-tipped cane. "Withdraw, you filthy whores! Withdraw!"

Severinna jumped into the carriage for safety's sake and was soon joined by the daring doctor.

"Are you all together?" he asked.

Severinna winced and felt of her sore scalp. "I'm all right, except for this injury which I acquired earlier this evening."

Given that he was a health professional, she showed him her calf. Once his eyes had worked their way back into his skull he grabbed his medical bag. He cleaned the wound, sterilized it with carbolic spray, and then dressed it. "There you are."

"Thank you. But I'm afraid I can't pay you."

The doctor hadn't yet let loose of Severinna's leg. He did a very unprofessional thing. He drew her dress up until her whole limb was exposed and ran his thin fingers along its lip-smacking length. "Ah, but you can, my dear."

Now it was Severinna's eyes that swelled from their sockets as she came to a shocking realization. Marija was a harlot. Renata and Katarina were whores. And now the doctor thought she was the same!

She tore her dress from his grasp and covered herself. "I'm no harlot!"

The doctor closed his bag and leaned back into the plush seat. "The city can be a cold and cruel place. One would do well to have a friend with a comfortable home."

Severinna let out a long, mournful sigh. Defending her virtue had become a never-ending battle, one that she was tired of fighting. At this point all she wanted was a warm bed in which to sleep—that which the doctor was offering. She bowed her head in defeat as the final fatal blow to her purity was struck at last. "I suppose I could very well use a friend."

A tall, stone-faced butler let the doctor and his latest whore into a stately townhouse. "Good evening, sir."

"Evening, Bojan. Is the lady's bath prepared?"

"Yes sir."

"Very good."

The doctor stepped aside and gestured toward a flight of stairs. "Up you go then."

Bojan, too, sidestepped to let Severinna pass. His master noticed him swaying on his feet and became concerned.

"Are you all right, Bojan? You look unsteady."

The butler gathered himself and took the doctor's outerwear and cane. "I'm quite all right sir."

The doctor's eyes narrowed with suspicion. "You haven't been drinking, have you?"

Bojan's pale complexion reddened a bit. "Definitely not sir."

"Well then get yourself some rest."

"Very good sir."

Once his master was safely up the stairs and out of earshot the butler peered into a hall mirror and gave himself a stern talking to. "She's no angel, Bojan, no goddess. She's just another whore, just another of his whores."

The doctor banged on the bathroom door. "Hurry up in there!"

Severinna was in no rush to rise out of the hot, oil sprinkled water. The last real bath she'd had was the night before she conceived the vampire's progeny. While she soaked, thoughts of the choice she'd made, the life she'd come to lead weighed heavily on her mind. Reflecting upon the little one growing within her womb helped silence her doubts. If she had to lose her virtue to ensure her offspring's survival then virtue be damned.

The doctor was raising his fist to bang on the door again when it opened wide. Severinna hadn't bothered to dry herself and stood before him, a glistening goddess.

"My, you are an impatient little man!" she said.

He was speechless for a moment, as no anatomical chart he'd ever studied had prepared him for such utter perfection of the human female form. Then his nostrils flared at being called "little". He engaged in a little tit-for-tat. "My, you are top heavy!"

Severinna cupped her gigantic glands in her hands and positioned them right under his nose. "Most men seem to like it that way."

The doctor apparently did too as he stood spellbound, his moustache twitching as if alive. Severinna took advantage of his momentary helplessness to force him onto the bed. She was moving to mount him when he held up his hand.

"Wait!"

"Wait? Wait for what?"

The doctor produced a peculiar little rubber sock.

Severinna snatched it from him and stretched it. "What is this?"

"Protection."

"Protection? Protection against what?"

"There are diseases."

"Diseases?"

"Yes, diseases. And heaven forbid should I leave you with child."

Severinna chuckled. "You sound like the latter is worse."

The doctor rolled his eyes. "Perhaps it is!"

Severinna didn't dare tell him she was already pregnant. She just attempted to give him the ride of his life. It was a short trip. She put her hands on her hips in disgust. "That's it?"

The doctor let out a contented sigh. "Alas, I am spent."

It had been a couple of months since Severinna had engaged in the act. Despite having faint pangs of guilt for entertaining unladylike thoughts, she'd been looking forward to it. It was obvious why the harlots liked the doctor so. He made them good money and little work was involved. The bath was nice too.

Despite the brevity of their encounter, he was hooked. "Stay with me," he told the unsatisfied siren.

She could tell from the longing look in his eyes that he meant something permanent, but what exactly? "Do you mean marriage?"

It definitely wasn't that, for he choked at the mere idea. "Oh, my heavens, no! I would never marry a..."

Severinna glared at him. "A what?"

"A, well, you know. You'd make a marvelous mistress, though!"

Severinna lightened up and laughed. "That I would. But if you expect me to stay then you're going to have to do better."

The doctor sat up. "Better?"

"You may have found our lovemaking satisfying but I, however, did not."

The doctor's mouth hung open. He was used to the streetwalkers singing his praises through their lying yellow teeth. "You didn't?"

"No. I'm still waiting for my moment of sheer delight."

The doctor looked down at his limp member. "But I am, as I said, spent."

Severinna snagged his tongue between her thumb and forefinger. "There's more than one way to skin a cat!"

Chapter Thirteen

A month after the doctor and his mistress had begun to cohabitate they were embroiled in a heated argument over Severinna's expanding belly.

"You'll do no such thing!" she yelled.

The doctor tried reasoning with her. "But surely you do not want to keep it. I am a good physician. I can make it go away, quickly, safely."

He'd forgotten that one of the things he liked most about streetwalkers was that if they had a child by him, he'd never hear of it. They couldn't prove it was his anyway. An unforeseen drawback to his having a regular mistress was that this was no longer true. He didn't even like treating the little snot-nosed urchins as a physician, let alone having them running rampant through his tidy home.

Severinna headed for the bedroom door as if to leave for good. "I'm having my baby and no one can stop me. It's the only one I can have."

The doctor stopped her, grabbing her by the arms. "How can you know this with such unshakeable surety?"

"Oh, I know and you don't want to know how I know, believe me."

The doctor shook his head. Severinna was speaking in riddles. "How can you possibly raise this precious child in a healthy environment being what you are? What kind of mother would you make?"

"What kind of a mother would I make? A loving one!" Severinna pointed at the doctor. "I've been with you long enough to know most of your ways. I can tell when you're speaking like you care about something or someone when you really don't. You're not concerned about the welfare of my baby. You just want rid of it!"

"You are a harlot," he said, being careful to make it sound like a cold hard fact and not a derogatory remark. "As good a mother as you might make, it wouldn't be just to raise the child under such circumstances." There was a deadly earnestness in his eyes. "Make no mistake. You raise this child and you raise it alone. We will be finished."

The first thought that popped into Severinna's head was: what would she do once she was thrown out onto the streets? Her trepidation turned to determined fury as she convinced herself that she would survive somehow. "I don't need you!"

The doctor put his hand over hers on the doorknob, preventing her from turning it and leaving him. "What about an orphanage?"

A look of disgust came upon her face, disgust at the very idea and at him for even suggesting it. "Don't think I haven't heard the horror stories about those wretched places!"

The doctor's mind raced, for even worse than the notion of his supporting a child was the thought of losing his marvelous mistress. There had to be a way to keep her. "Aha!" he said. "What if I had another solution?"

"What solution?"

Chapter Fourteen

"For God's sake, woman, cover yourself. We're almost there."

The doctor's mistress sat with him in his carriage, one of her bulging breasts bared. It was larger than ever due to being gorged with milk. Her newborn babe was latched onto it and was sucking away like there was no tomorrow.

"She's hungry. And who will see us through the curtains you insisted we keep drawn this entire trip?"

The Brougham stopped, bringing the first half of the journey to an end. The doctor fished a rubber pacifier out of a vest pocket and offered it to Severinna. "Let it suck on this."

Severinna wrenched it from his grasp. "My baby is not an 'it'! She is a she!"

The doctor disembarked and held out his hands. "Fine. Let's have it, uh, her."

Severinna clung to her child, hesitant to hand her over. "You're sure they're good people, your sister and the man she married?"

The doctor reassured her. "Frieda is a good woman and Ivan a God-fearing man. Worry not."

The teary-eyed Severinna kissed her baby just above her little blue eyes and handed her over. The doctor took the bundle and, being careful not to hold the infant too close, took a brisk walk toward a farmhouse.

"Hurry and answer," he said to himself as he knocked upon the door. "Before this dratted thing wets on me."

The door swung open and there stood a giant.

"Ah, Ivan. Take this thing from me."

The giant answered with a voice that could shake the leaves from a tree. "Still the confirmed bachelor, I see." He stepped aside so his wife could relieve her brother of his burden.

"Oh, what a lovely little girl you've brought us Victor." She showed the babe to her two young sons. "Petar. Pasco. Isn't she lovely?"

They were a sour-faced pair. The elder of the two dared to ask the question that had been burning in both their minds.

"What do we need a sister for?"

His mother gasped. "Petar!"

Ivan grabbed his boys by their ears and dragged them back into the house. "All right, you two, off to your room."

Frieda recovered from her shock and smiled at her brother. "Do come in, Victor. You must be weary from your long drive. And it's been so long since we've actually spoken face to face."

The doctor was indeed tired, but he recalled the second thoughts his mistress was having and was afraid she might change her mind altogether. "I'd like to, but I really must be getting back to my practice. Very busy, you know. I'll write soon." He rushed back to his Brougham, for the longer he stayed, the greater the likelihood for disaster.

"Victor!"

Chills ran up the doctor's spine. The big oaf his sister had for some reason married and moved to the country with was beckoning with his bullfrog voice. He leaned toward the drawn carriage curtain and shushed Severinna inside.

Ivan's eyes roved over his brother-in-law's conveyance. "Nice Brougham. I hope you remember to thank God daily for the means to be able to afford such an extravagance."

Victor flushed. "It's not merely an 'extravagance'! I use it in my practice regularly!"

Ivan calmed his brother-in-law with a pat on the shoulder. "If you say so, Victor. Now you're sure there'll be no one to come try and take the child from us, that everything is in order?"

Victor massaged his sore shoulder. "It is all taken care of. You have the baby free and clear."

Ivan scratched his chin. "Strange thing, a woman giving up her own child."

"As I said in my letter, she had not the means to take care of it herself and I immediately thought of you two and of your desire to have more children."

"More boys," Ivan specified. "To help with the crops. I only agreed to this because the wife, your sister, so wanted a daughter. I have little use for a girl, except maybe to help with the women's work." He groaned as his thoughts turned to the future. "And then there'll be the day when there's a dowry to pay."

"Ah!" said Victor. "In my haste I almost forgot!" He reached into a pocket. "I have taken care of that also." He produced an envelope that he put into Ivan's ponderous palm. "For when that time comes."

The wad of bills within made the giant almost amiable. "So when are you getting married, Victor?"

The doctor held his hand to his chest as if he were having a heart attack. "Never! Not if I can help it!"

Ivan wagged a finger at him. "It is your Catholic duty, you know, to marry and raise your children in the Church. That reminds me. Has the child been baptized yet?"

"No, not yet."

The giant jumped as if startled and spun toward the house. "Then I'd best get right on with the making of arrangements. Good journey, Victor."

As Ivan trotted away Victor noticed that the carriage curtain was open a trifle and a couple of jewel-like eyes were peering out. He hopped in and jerked the curtain shut. "What do you think you're doing? He might have seen you!"

Severinna was at least as angry as he was. "So what if he had? I don't know that I like the idea of putting my child in the hands of that ogre, anyway!"

Victor rapped the silver tip of his cane on the side of the carriage, signaling the driver to crack his whip and take them back to the city. "It doesn't matter whether you like it or not! I said I would provide for the welfare of your child and I have! It is done!"

Severinna folded her arms under her colossal cleavage and prepared to pout all the way back to the city. "Well you won't be sharing my bed with me tonight whether you like it or not!"

The very next Sunday after Severinna had left her child with the Vidovichs, the wailing baby lay in a marble font, dressed in a white christening gown. A priest sprinkled water onto her forehead.

"I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."

Pasco Vidovich leaned aside and spoke into his older brother's ear. "Why won't she shut up? She hasn't stopped squalling ever since we got into church. I hate her already!"

"Look at the bright side," Petar answered. "At least now you will have someone to pick on."

Pasco grinned at the prospect.

At the Vidovich home, an ancient-looking mother superior shuffled her way to the mother of the newly baptized child. "An excellent christening party, Frieda. Does the little one have a name yet?"

Frieda cradled the child in her arms. "I've named her Velina, after my dearly departed mother, God rest her soul."

The old lady nodded in approval. She was present at the baptism and well-remembered the ruckus the babe had made. "And what a healthy set of lungs she has. Perhaps she'll be a singer."

Frieda blushed. "Perhaps."

While Pasco Vidovich filled his face full of Krafne, a jelly-filled pastry, his brother Petar sneaked up behind him and put a big spoon of custard pudding down his pants.

Pasco spun around. "You horse's ass!"

Petar pointed at Velina, safe at present in her adoptive mother's arms. "Don't forget, little brother. You'll get your turn."

An evil grin formed on Pasco's crumb-covered lips. "Oh, I haven't forgotten. But how do you pick on a girl?"

Petar put his hand on his brother's butt and spread the custard evenly. "Use your imagination. I'm sure you'll find a way."

Chapter Fifteen

The doctor's manservant, Bojan, answered a ring at the front door and accepted the mail from a carrier. He gave the carrier a cordial, "Thank you."

His master was breakfasting with his kept woman when he handed it over. "The mail, sir."

"Thank you, Bojan."

While Victor read the first letter Severinna noticed an envelope with his address somewhat crudely written upon it. She reached for it. "Who is this from?"

Victor slapped her hand. "That is none of your business. Now about tonight..."

Severinna rolled her eyes. "I know. I must leave the house before your well-to-do friends arrive tonight and keep myself occupied until they depart. Why do you not just marry me and be done with all this skullduggery?"

Her master chuckled at the ridiculous notion and continued his meal. Severinna simmered over his callous dismissal when the doorbell rang again.

A moment later, Bojan entered the room, a little out of breath. "A medical emergency, sir. Mr. Jakovic has had an attack."

Victor dropped his mail and rushed out with Bojan. He put on his hat and coat as quickly as he could with the help of his manservant. "Thank you for notifying me with such haste, Bojan. Erza Jakovic is an influential man and a good paying customer. It wouldn't wise to keep a man like him waiting long even if most of his 'attacks' are psychosomatic."

He was all set to bound out of the house when a jolt of nervous electricity shot through his bones. "Do something for me, Bojan. Take the letter from my sister and burn it immediately."

"But you haven't read it yet, sir."

"Immediately!"

"Yes sir." Bojan was wondering why his master was so emphatic about his burning the mail when he opened the door and saw Severinna reading it.

She smiled up at him. "Velina. They named her Velina."

He seized the letter from her. "The master wouldn't appreciate your reading his correspondence."

"But that letter concerns my daughter. Surely I have a right to know how she is."

Bojan brought out a match and lit it with his thumb. "You have whatever rights the master says you have."

As the flame came ever closer to obliterating any news of her daughter, Severinna got desperate. She exposed the entire length of one luscious leg from under her robe. "What would it take to convince you to let me read that one little letter?" She ran her finger along the huge bulge that had formed below Bojan's belt. "Is this really as large as it appears to be?"

"Ow!"

The little flame had burned Bojan's fingers. He cast the match aside.

Severinna waited to see if he would get a fresh one. When he didn't she took the letter from his limp fingers.

Bojan pondered his predicament out loud while she read in silence. "I am a gentleman's gentleman, loyal to my master, above all. I have a code to follow."

Severinna put down the letter, stood up, and let her bedclothes drop to the floor.

"A code to..." Bojan wedged chairs under the doorknobs at the two entrances to the dining room then returned to the table and began undoing his pants. "Filthy strumpet!"

Severinna nodded. "Yes. Yes, I know."

"This mustn't ever happen again," Bojan said.

Severinna was on her knees by now. She lifted her eyes and leered up at him. "At least not until another letter arrives from Frieda."

Bojan shook her by the shoulders. "I mean it! If the master ever found out..."

Severinna smiled at him. "Then we'll just have to be careful, won't we?"

Bojan sighed with dread of the future. Would he be able to his resist his master's mesmerizing mistress the next time?

Chapter Sixteen

Velina, now a toddler, watched with wide-eyed wonder as her brothers ripped open their Christmas presents.

"A pop gun!" Petar yelled. "Can I shoot it?"

Frieda pointed toward the door. "Not inside the house. Take it outside."

While Petar rushed out of the house Pasco frowned at his gift. It was a cup situated on the end of a stick. A ball was attached to it with a string.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" he asked.

Frieda put out her hand and Pasco handed it over. "The object is to try and get the ball into the cup."

She tried several times to show him how it was done, but failed miserably. She handed it back. "Well anyway that's what you're supposed to do."

Pasco's frown grew ever more pronounced as he tried again and again to get the ball into the cup. Ivan bit down hard on his index finger in an effort not to laugh.

Frieda was saving what she thought was best for last. "Here you are, Velina."

The newest addition to the Vidovich family opened her present. It was a rag doll that looked back at her with a painted on face. Velina held it at arm's length and stared at it as if she had no idea what it was and what to do with it. She'd been watching Pasco with his present and knew exactly what to do with it. She dropped the doll, snatched the toy away from him.

"Hey!"

She proceeded to show him how it was done. Time and time again she swung the ball up and into the cup.

"Give me that!" Pasco retrieved his toy and tried again to do what his adoptive sister had done with such ease. "Oh, forget it!" He handed it to Ivan and ran out to join Petar.

While Ivan tried it himself, Frieda retrieved her adopted daughter's toy and presented it to her again. "Here, Velina. Play with your doll."

She would have nothing to do with it. Instead, she watched Ivan try and fail to get the ball into the cup and wished he'd just give up and let her have it.

Ivan noticed his wife's face droop with depression. "What's the matter Frieda?"

"Velina doesn't like her present. And I made it myself."

Ivan took the toy and thrust it in Velina's direction. "Play with your doll, Velina."

She shook her little black-haired head. "No!"

"Play with your doll!"

Frieda gasped as Ivan jammed it against Velina's chest. "Maybe she doesn't want to play with it right now. Perhaps later."

"Now!" Ivan said.

Velina growled like a little ferret. She took the doll, ran over to the fireplace, and threw it in. She then stood there with a defiant smile on her face. You could tell what she was thinking: Don't tell me what to do!

Frieda's eyes rolled up in their sockets. Ivan caught her as her knees buckled and sat her on the couch. Within seconds he had Velina draped over his knee. "This is going to hurt me more than it will you!"

As he spanked Velina's round little baby bottom she winced, she grimaced, but not one tear did she shed. Ivan was flummoxed. The girl's butt cheeks were nice and red and his hand was stinging from the impact, but he just couldn't get the girl to cry!

He plopped down beside his wife and shook his head. "Oh, what is it we've gotten ourselves into, Frieda?"

She shuddered as Velina's lethal little eyes burned with hatred at the both of them. "I don't know, Ivan. I don't know."

Frieda had recovered enough from her Christmas Day disaster to give her defiant adopted daughter a bath. "My family moved here from Germany when I was just a little girl like you. While my brother, Victor, became a big city doctor I met your father and..."

Speaking of the devil, Ivan's voice thundered through the door. "Frieda, would you come in here and look at this?"

Frieda left the kitchen and went into the parlor. There she saw Pasco sporting a red eye.

Ivan showed her the popgun, its cork dangling from its string. "Petar's to blame for this."

Frieda aimed an accusing finger at Ivan. "No, you are! I warned you we shouldn't have given him such a dangerous toy for Christmas no matter how much he begged for it. I knew he'd shoot someone's eye out!"

She pointed Pasco toward the door and gave him a little shove. "Go outside and put some snow on it."

She shook her head at Ivan then went into the kitchen to get yet another shock. Velina was gone!

Ivan was unbuckling his belt to Petar's petrifaction when he heard his wife yell through the kitchen door. "Ivan!"

He pushed the door open a crack. "Yes? What is it?"

"It's Velina! She's gone out the back door without a stitch on! She'll freeze!"

As Ivan buckled his belt he noticed a sly grin on Petar's face. "Don't think you're getting away with anything here, boy. I'll deal with you later!"

Petar stopped smiling.

The Vidovichs were following Velina's little footprints in the snow. It was hard to see for the sun was out and its rays reflected off the snow with a brilliance that made the couple's eyes water.

Frieda squeezed a blanket she'd brought for Velina. "I hope we find her before the snow melts."

A squinty-eyed Ivan pointed. "There she is."

She was strolling along while playing with Pasco's toy. Although she didn't look or act as if she were cold, Frieda wrapped her up in the blanket and rushed her back inside.

The flustered farmwoman was in for yet another surprise on a suspense-filled Christmas Day. She removed the blanket from Velina and found the girl's milky white skin had turned a deep shade of red. "My Lord, Ivan! She's been sunburned in no time! Sunburned in the middle of winter!"

Chapter Seventeen

It was before dawn and Velina, a couple of years older now, could barely keep her eyes open. "Why so early?"

Freida was leading her to the barn, a pail in one hand and a lantern in the other. "Because this is when it's done."

"But I'm sleepy. The sun's not even up yet. Not that I want the sun to come up."

Frieda shook her head. "Never have I seen one who burns quite so easily as you, Velina. You're worse, even, than my red-haired cousin, Christa." She opened the barn door. "Good morning, Dora."

The family cow answered her the only way it knew how. Moo!

Frieda pulled up a stool next to the beast. "This is how we get milk for our breakfast."

Velina's naturally high arched eyebrows rose even higher as Freida grasped a couple of teats. Then she thought she heard something. Not words so much, but thoughts. And they weren't hers. They could only be Dora's!

"Dora thinks your hands are too cold."

Frieda stopped squeezing. "What?"

"Dora thinks your hands are too cold. She thinks your hands are always too cold."

Frieda blew warm breath into her hands. "I'm sorry Dora, I..." She jerked her eyes toward Velina. "How do you know what Dora thinks?"

"She told me." Velina pointed at her head. "In here."

Frieda wasn't amused. "It's a little early for jokes, Velina."

"Dora thinks you look funny, too."

Freida realized Velina was serious. She believed what she was saying. She was either mad or she really could hear Dora's thoughts. Frieda made the sign of the cross over her chest. "Don't speak of such things!"

Velina wondered why she should keep such an interesting talent to herself. "Why not?"

"Because it's not natural."

Velina was confused. "What does that mean?"

Frieda's patience was at an end. "Just don't!"

Velina shrugged. "Fine!"

Later in the day Frieda was showing Velina how to sew. "First off you put the thread through the needle like so, like so, like..."

Velina rolled her eyes at Frieda's multiple failed attempts to thread the needle, took the items from her, and did it for her—the very first time!

Frieda's face lit up. "Why, Velina, you just may be a natural seamstress!"

Velina mindlessly murmured, "Mm, Hm."

Frieda noticed her foster daughter's attention had been diverted by an old toy ship that was perched high upon the mantel. "That would be your father's brother's toy ship. Axel always dreamed of sailing the high seas. He finally followed his dreams and sailed to America where he eventually became an oyster fisherman in the state of Louisiana."

Velina sat back on the couch and smiled. "I'd like to do that someday. Not the oyster fishing part, but the sailing. I'd like to sail the high seas, to sail to America."

Frieda chuckled. "All right, Velina. Get your mind back on something more practical."

The girl groaned and forced herself to learn how to sew.

Velina was indeed a natural seamstress. So much so that she'd been left alone to darn socks while Frieda went off to do some other chore. While Frieda the cat was away Velina the mouse wanted to play with the toy ship perched so high out of her reach. She dragged a dining room chair over to the fireplace and, bingo, problem solved. She climbed off the chair with the ship in hand, spotted the spool of thread she was supposed to be sewing with, and got an idea.

Ivan came into the kitchen after toiling in the garden and saw Frieda preparing lunch alone. "Where's Velina? Why isn't she helping?"

Frieda nodded toward the parlor. "She's in there, sewing. She's quite good at it. You should take a look."

Ivan smiled. "She's finally doing something normal, eh? Perhaps I will."

Ivan's smile was short-lived. Velina wasn't in the parlor. And neither was the ship!

Velina was ready to set sail in a nearby stream. A scarf, gloves, and her long-sleeved dressed protected her sensitive skin from the sun. "All right, mates, be hardy, for the journey on which we are about to embark will be one fraught with danger! Cast off!"

The ship had barely begun its voyage when Hurricane Ivan came barreling toward it. When he got to the water's edge he made a big splash and kept on running. The toy was just within his reach when it magically began to sail upstream.

"Be careful!" Velina said. "You might break the string!" She brought the ship safely into port with a length of thread that she wound back onto its spool.

Ivan trudged out of the water. Velina could tell what he had in mind so she lifted her dress up over her butt cheeks.

Ivan was appalled at the sight of her prepubescent privates out in the open for all to see, although no one else was around. "Velina!"

"What? I know that look. You want to spank me again." She bent over. "Well here you go. Have at it."

Ivan looked all around to make sure no one saw his half naked daughter. "Cover yourself!"

Velina draped her dress back over her legs. "Does that mean you don't want to spank me?"

Ivan grabbed her by the arm and led her back toward the house. "Oh, I do, I do!"

"Then why not here? Why not now? Why not get it over with?"

"You'll not be showing off your nakedness for all the world to see, young lady."

Velina moved a stray black lock from her crystal blue eyes. "Why not? I think I look nice."

"Because it's not natural."

Velina crinkled her nose at him. "Not natural? Animals are natural as can be and they don't wear clothes. Why should we?"

Ivan searched his mind for an adequate answer and couldn't find one. "Just because!"

Velina stood in the garden, planting seed alongside her adoptive brothers. She was covered head to toe and daydreaming of far off places as usual.

Petar yelled as she stared off into space. "Wake up Velina and do your share!"

His frown changed into a smirk as he noticed Pasco sneaking up behind his inattentive sister. He snatched the scarf from her black-haired head and ran, while Petar laughed his head off.

Velina dropped her seeds and gave pursuit. "Give it back!"

The Vidovich brothers' noses were stuck in two corners of the dining room as supper was being laid on the table.

Ivan waved them in his direction. "All right, boys. Sit down and eat."

The pouting pair sat down. They weren't half as ill as Velina who was badly sunburned thanks to their shenanigans. She bored holes right through them with her baleful blue eyes.

Pasco pleaded with his parents. "Make her stop. Make her stop staring like that. You know how scary she can be."

His mother had little sympathy for him. "Serves you right. You know Velina can't take the sun for long. What were you thinking?"

Petar put in his two cents worth. "I still don't know why I had to be punished. I didn't do anything."

Frieda had no pity for him either. "Well you certainly didn't help matters any. Knowing you, you probably put him up to it."

The boys found their protestations pointless and so ate their suppers without raising their eyes in order to avoid Velina's vexing orbs.

Ivan was reading the bible to his family as he did every night. They all sat enraptured—all except for Velina. She was bored to death. If he was going to read them fairy tales then why couldn't it be something about adventurers and explorers, mysterious lands and the strange creatures that inhabited them?

"And David put his hand and took thence a stone and smote the Philistine and slew him..."

He was interrupted by a giggle Velina couldn't quite stifle. Her foster mother and brothers froze in terror of the bible toting behemoth. What would he do in response?

"What's so funny, girl?"

She was already in trouble, so Velina felt she had no choice but to stand up and speak her mind. "We're to believe a little boy killed a giant as tall as our roof with a pebble?" She ground the ball of her slender foot into the floor. "Goliath would've squashed him like a bug."

Ivan felt like beating the devil out of the girl, but pointed instead to a corner of the room. Velina sighed and stuck her nose into it as her foster father resumed reading.

After having been released from her time in the corner Velina laid on her bed, drawing. She drew a very good likeness of herself wearing a dress much shorter than the one she or any other women of the age were wearing out in public.

"If only," she said to herself with a sigh. "If only I could leave my legs bare. Then I could run free." She sneered at the thought of her foster father. "But you, Ivan, you and all your kind don't want us women running free. You want us to stay still and be your servants all our days." She heard her foster father's lumbering footsteps outside the door and hastily hid the picture under her bed.

He opened the door. "To bed, girl. You have many a chore to do tomorrow."

Velina doused her lamp so he would leave and sulked in bed. "Just as I thought. A servant. That's all I am." She saw a celestial light shine through her window. "Ah, Mr. Moon. I like you. You don't burn me like mean old Mr. Sun."

She listened for any stirrings within the house. When she heard nothing and was sure everyone was bedded down for the night she raised the window and slipped out. She pranced about as she gazed upward at the panoramic view of the stars in the sky. If only she could sleep the day away and be awake at night. That would be grand!

It wasn't too long before dawn when Velina sneaked back into her room. She wouldn't get much rest, she figured, before beginning another dreary day. She was wrong. She would get no rest at all!

She gasped in fright as someone lit the lantern beside her bed. It was Ivan!

"I thought I heard your window open. I've been awaiting your return."

"Well, I'm back. You can go back to your own room now."

She tried to get back into bed, but Ivan had her by the arm.

"If you like it in the dark so much, perhaps the closet is where you belong." He shoved her in and put a chair under the knob so she would stay put.

"Let me out!"

"When you want to be a part of this family, when you don't want to live in darkness, then you can come out."

"No!"

Frieda came in after hearing the racket. "What's going on in here? What's Velina doing in the closet?"

Her husband guided her out of the room by the shoulders. "Just fix breakfast."

Petar slipped into the room behind them. He smiled like the little devil he was and directed the spookiest sounding whisper he could muster through the closet door. "You know monsters live in closets. Not big monsters, mind you, but wee ones. Wee ones that crawl under your skin and lay their eggs. And when they hatch..."

Velina banged on the door. "Let me out!"

A satisfied grin swept across Petar's face. His work was done.

Velina pounded and kicked the door without success, then huddled on the floor. From time to time she would frantically scratch her soft skin. She could feel them—the little monsters—crawling about her flesh, burrowing in.

Pasco met Petar just outside Velina's room. "What's going on?"

Petar led him away to where they wouldn't be overheard. "You're going to love this!"

It was time for supper. A bleary eyed Velina had just been released from her prison and taken her seat.

Ivan afforded her no respite. "You will wash all these dishes when we're through, little lady. Thanks to you, your poor mother has had to do all the women's work by herself today and is dead tired. I hope you're happy."

She couldn't bring herself to look upon her foster mother whom she was sure would be furious. She was wrong. Frieda just felt sorry for the girl who hadn't done anything so terribly wrong. If she was mad at anyone it was at Ivan for always overreacting the way he did.

Petar nudged Pasco then made creepy crawly motions with his fingers upon the table. Pasco soon joined in, causing Velina to cringe in fear.

After supper, Frieda was about to help Velina clear the table when Ivan intervened. "You heard what I said, woman. That little upstart has got to learn how to behave proper or who knows how she'll wind up."

Frieda had had enough of his attitude and set up to write a letter upon the table. "Fine!"

Ivan cocked his head and looked at the piece of paper. "Who are you writing to? Your brother?"

She replied without looking up. "Yes."

"Then while you're at it, tell him he should have paid us more to take that little troublemaker off his hands."

Frieda clenched her fists. "Oh, sometimes I'd just like to..."

Ivan unconsciously tightened his fists as he dared her to try something. "What? What would you like to do?"

Frieda sighed and resumed her writing. "Oh, nothing!"

Chapter Eighteen

Bojan the butler was sifting through the morning mail when he stopped about halfway through and stared at one of the letters. "No," he said at the sight of it. "I mustn't." He stuffed it back between the others and made it only a couple of steps toward the dining room before stopping again. "Damn it!" He found the offending letter again, hid it under his coat, and continued on.

Bojan saw Severinna the siren sitting at the breakfast table with his master, the man who trusted him with his kept woman while he was away at work. There had been times where he had managed to keep Freida's letters from Severinna and his hands off of her. He was about to do the same when Severinna dropped a little jelly on one of her giant jugs and wiped it off with her napkin. Bojan imagined licking it off with his tongue, thus ending his feeble resistance. While the doctor's back was to him he flashed the edge of the envelope out from under his coat. Severinna gave him the slightest of nods.

A short time later Severinna was at the front door, handing the doctor his little black bag of tricks. "Don't forget this, darling." She pecked him on the cheek. "And have a good day."

The doctor smiled. "Thank you, Severinna. I'm afraid I'm becoming a bit forgetful these days."

Severinna put her hand in his crotch. "Well, at least as long as this keeps working correctly..."

The doctor removed her hand in haste. "Severinna! Really! Someone may be watching!"

While the mistress was seeing off her master, the butler was in the kitchen with the letter that was supposed to be for the doctor's eyes only. Keeping his back turned to the cook, he held it over a steaming kettle until the glue let go. Then he stuffed it into his pocket and headed off to find his lover.

Upstairs, Severinna was on her bed, naked and massaging her privates in preparation for the beating they were sure to receive. She whipped her head toward the door as it flew open.

Bojan closed the door behind him and flashed her the letter. "Here it is, my love."

Severinna scowled at him. "I told you always to knock!"

She reached for the letter, but the butler shoved it back into his pocket. "After."

Severinna snorted and lay in wait for him to whip out his whopper. "Very well. Hurry it up then."

Bojan did no such thing. He took his sweet time undressing while she drummed her long, polished, fingernails on the mattress. He smirked since he had the shoe on the other foot. This time it was he who was driving her mad with desire, although he didn't know that she was longing to read the letter he was holding from her even more than she wanted to have sex with him. He folded his clothes so they wouldn't wrinkle and set them aside.

"Oh, do hurry!"

"May I read that letter now?"

Bojan had collapsed beside Severinna. He waved a limp hand in the direction of his clothes. "Be my guest."

Severinna snatched it from his coat pocket and perused it. It was all she could do to keep from crushing it in her hand when she read what it said. "Why that—that..."

Bojan sat up what little he could. "What is it?"

"That brute of a brother in law of Victor's is punishing Velina just for being a little different!"

"Different? How?"

"Never mind how! He should just let her be herself! I can't believe I let Victor talk me into taking her there!"

Bojan shook his head. "Now I see why he didn't want you reading those letters. Are you done with that one?"

"Yes."

He held out his hand. "Then give it here. And you'd better not let on that anything is wrong when the master returns—or he might ask why!"

There was a knock at Severinna's door a couple of hours after Bojan had left her room. She'd been stewing since then. She scowled in its direction.

It had been a couple of hours since Bojan had left Severinna. She'd been stewing since then and was pacing the floor in her bedroom when she heard a knock at the door. "Who is it?"

The door opened and the doctor came in. "It is I, Victor."

"You're home early."

"Business was light today and that kiss you gave me this morning made me want to come home to you that much sooner. And so I did."

All of the dresses Severinna wore around the house were low cut to please her master. A single pull of a string on the one she was wearing would cause it to fall right off. The doctor pulled and it dropped to the floor. Severinna sighed as he fondled her. It wasn't a satisfied sigh, the doctor could tell.

"Is something the matter?"

Severinna rolled her emerald eyes. "Oh, nothing."

"Then would you..."

"I suppose."

Her lack of enthusiasm hadn't passed Victor's notice, but that wasn't about to stop him. He slipped on his rubber and did his business until he came a couple of minutes later. He fell aside, panting, while Severinna acted as if nothing of note had even happened.

"Whatever is the matter?" Victor prodded.

"Nothing, I tell you!"

"Then why are you so cold to me? You act as if you are not glad to see me, that you did not at all enjoy..."

Severinna was honest with him for a change. "How could I? It's always over almost as soon as it starts!"

Victor gasped in shock. He'd never heard anything but the highest of praise from his mistress.

Unbeknownst to the two, Bojan was standing outside the bedroom with one of his big ears pressed to the door. He tiptoed away. He was afraid this might happen. Now if he had any brains at all in this head he'd stop letting the harlot see those damned letters!

Chapter Nineteen

Velina complained as she labored over the iron kitchen sink. "Why can't they wash their own dishes once in a while? Are they so helpless?"

Frieda sighed. "I've told you before. It's the natural order of things."

"And who was it that decided this supposedly natural order? Was it men?"

"No," Frieda explained. "It was God."

"And of course God, if He exists at all, is a man."

Frieda was all at once filled with fear. She looked up at the ceiling and made the sign of the cross over her heart. "Velina! Don't talk that way!"

Velina emitted a great sigh of her own and began washing the dishes. There was simply no talking sense to people who believed in supernatural beings!

Later in the day Velina was on her way to visit her seemingly only friend, Dora the cow, when she noticed Petar was already there. He was about to shoot her in the flanks with his popgun.

"Stop that!" She pushed him aside and hugged up to her befriended beast. "I know Dora. He is such an animal."

Petar's jaw dropped then clinched tight. "Father! Velina's talking to animals now!"

He ran toward the garden to tell him in person while Velina chastised herself and made for the house. "Curse me and my big mouth!"

Frieda was confiding in the Mother Superior of the local convent. "Do not get me wrong, Mother Mirta. I believe Velina is truly a blessing, but she can be such a handful."

"Are not all children that way at times?" the old lady asked.

"She's really not such a problem for me, but as for Ivan..." What the farm lady had to say troubled her so that she mindlessly fiddled with her teacup.

The wrinkled woman of God steadied Frieda's nervous hand. "What of him, child?"

"Well, you know he's a traditional sort. Man has his place and woman definitely has hers."

"And why is that such a problem when it concerns Velina?"

Frieda flung her free hand in the air. "Velina wants none of that. She wants to find her own way and not be told how she should act or where she fits into the grand scheme of things."

The Mother Superior was intrigued. "She sounds like a very interesting little..."

Velina interrupted by rushing past on the way to her room.

Frieda yelled at her as much from embarrassment as in anger. "Velina!" She turned back to the Mother Superior. "See? She's probably in trouble again."

The old lady's thin lips formed a sympathetic smile. "May I speak with her?"

"Oh, I really wish you would."

Velina was imitating a turtle for protection, sitting upon her bed with her knees tucked to her chest. She buried her head into her folded arms when she thought she heard Ivan actually knock before barging in.

"Velina, what are you doing?"

She came out of her shell at the sound of Frieda's voice. "Nothing."

Her foster mother had not the energy to press the matter further and made introductions on her way out. "This is Mother Mirta and she wishes a visit with you. Behave yourself."

Velina narrowed her eyes at the old lady and spoke exactly what was on her mind. "What do you want?"

The Mother Superior squinted right back, but for another reason altogether. The curtains were drawn despite its being broad daylight and it was hard for her to see in the dark. She went to open them.

Velina would have nothing of it. "Leave them be. I like it dark."

The Mother Superior clasped her gnarled fingers together and joined Velina on the bed where she could see her better. "So I'm told."

Velina crossed her arms. "So what else do they say about me?"

"Well, you don't get along with your father nor your brothers."

Velina pointed her straight, young finger at the old lady. "He is not my father. And they are not my brothers, which they are always quick to remind me of. I wasn't good enough for my real family, they say. My real family abandoned me."

Mother Mirta nodded. "Children can be cruel."

Ivan and Pasco were wrestling with a plow out in the field when Petar came running up. "Papa. Velina was pretending to talk to Dora. She said Dora said I was an animal."

Ivan halted the mule and put his hands on his hips. "You were supposed to get yourself a drink of water and then get right back here. What were you doing in the barn?"

Petar's eyes rolled around in his head as he searched his brain for a non-punishable excuse.

Ivan grew tired of waiting for him to come up with one and handed the plow over to his snitch of a son. "Here, you little tattletale. Take over for me while I'm gone."

Petar was crestfallen. He wanted to see what his father would do to Velina but, instead, he had to stay and struggle with the stubborn earth.

Pasco elbowed him hard in the ribs. "Thanks a lot, brother. Now I don't get my break!"

Velina was on a roll. "And that man you call my father wants me to learn to be a slave to him and to all other men; to cook and clean for them and to bear still more men."

"Man provides for the woman," the Mother Superior explained. "And the woman loves and cares for the man. It's the..."

"I know," Velina interrupted. "It's the natural order of things. Say, who wrote the bible anyway? Men?"

"Men wrote it under the guidance of the Holy Spirit of God."

Velina interrupted yet again. "I knew it! I'll tell you what. As soon as I'm big enough, I'm getting out of here." She produced her drawings from under the bed and showed it to the bug-eyed old lady. "I'm going to wear dresses that I want to wear and nobody's going to tell me what to do."

Ivan burst into the kitchen. "Where's Velina?"

"She's in her room," Frieda replied. "But what..."

He brushed by her, but she managed to snag him before he got far. "You can't go in there now."

Ivan didn't care for her less than subservient tone. "And why, pray tell, can't I?"

"Mother Mirta is in there with her."

Ivan began to wonder if the entire female population of the earth was ganging up on him. "What's she doing in there?"

"She came by to pay me a visit. I told her of our troubles with Velina and..."

Ivan threw up his arms in exasperation. "Wonderful! Soon the whole world will know what a queer daughter we have!"

Frieda's instincts as both a wife and a mother kicked in as she saw her husband, who sometimes acted like a boy, was suffering. She pulled out a chair for him to sit and dipped him a glass of water out of a bucket. "Have a sit and cool off. Maybe she can help."

Velina stood in the middle of her room, moving about as if she were an actress on a stage. "There's a whole world waiting out there for me. You have China to the east, America to the west, the jungles to the south, and to the north, um, snow."

Mother Mirta was impressed by the show and intrigued by the idea, but still skeptical. "And just how are you going to accomplish all this?"

Velina settled down and tried to think. "How indeed?"

Ivan had simmered down for the most part by the time Mother Mirta entered the kitchen.

She rested her hand on his shoulder. "That's quite an interesting little girl you have there, Ivan."

He grunted. "You could say that."

She gave him a comforting pat. "God has made us different, every one. Some are just more different than others. Try not to be too hard on her."

Ivan's eyes bulged. "Not too hard? If anything I'm too easy on her, what with her being an abandoned child and all."

The old lady smiled down at him. "Will you try, Ivan? For me?"

His broad shoulders rose and fell as he sighed. "I'll try."

Mother Mirta hugged Frieda. "I'll be back in a few days if you don't mind."

Her hosts shook their heads that they didn't.

"I'll have a gift for Velina. I'm going to give her my own personal bible."

Frieda was in shock. "But why?"

"I'm going to suggest a radical solution to at least one of your problems with her."

The couple braced themselves for the worst.

"Don't read scripture to her any more. Let her read it herself when she's ready and her mind is open."

Frieda was flummoxed, while Ivan sat still with his eyes wide open. She was the one to reply since Ivan was struck speechless. "Uh, all right. Good day."

"Good day."

Ivan's eyes were that of a madman, glaring off into space, until they narrowed and became hard enough to send a chill up his wife's spine. "What is it, Ivan?"

"I'm wondering how she did it."

"How who did what?"

He rose from his chair and strode out of the room. "How that little devil bewitched the old woman!"

Velina was lying on the floor, still pondering how she might manage to travel the world when her foster father burst in.

"How'd you do it, girl?"

There he went invading her privacy again. "Don't you know how to knock?"

She forgot all about giving him a lesson in manners when she remembered her drawings were still atop her bed rather than under it. She lunged for them, but was too slow. He got there first.

"Filth!"

Velina objected. "It's not filth! It's fashion!"

Ivan was deaf to the little upstart. How dare she question hundreds even thousands of years of convention? He wasn't going to be the one blamed for loosing such an errant influence into society. He threw the pictures to the floor and yanked the curtains open, letting light stream in.

Frieda had never seen her husband so angry. "Ivan!"

She wanted to talk some sense into him, get him to calm down if only just a bit, but he was more like a raging animal than a human.

"You will live in the light, girl," he said. "You will be a proper young lady."

"But I don't want to be a 'proper young lady'!"

Her argument simply added fuel to the fire that blazed between his ears. Molding this little miscreant would take the most drastic of measures, something he'd never done before. He slipped off his belt. "And you will obey me."

Velina cringed. This was no time for backtalk. He was going to kill her for all she knew.

Frieda pleaded with him. "Ivan! No!" When the monster that was once her loving husband began whacking the frail little thing for all he was worth, she ran.

Outside Velina's window stood Petar and Pasco. They had neglected their work to relish in their adopted sister's troubles, but even their faces turned to stone at the thoroughness of the thrashing the girl received.

That night, Ivan made a show of burning Velina's pictures in the fireplace. When they were gone he handed her the family bible. "Read!"

She stood before the others while shaking like a leaf in the wind. She obeyed with a wavering voice. "Oh give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endureth forever."

A week after Velina's beating, Mother Mirta was shuffling up the Vidovichs' walkway. She was paying a return visit as she'd promised. Ivan was putting the finishing touches on the front gate, which he'd just given a fresh coat of paint.

The Mother Superior squinted her old eyes at him. "I hope you didn't do this just for me, Ivan."

He shook his head. "Oh, no. It needed painting so I painted it." He opened the gate wide with the tip of his finger so she wouldn't soil her habit.

She could tell he was lying from the naughty-little-boy look on his face, but didn't bother to take him to task on it. She simply nodded in appreciation and headed for the front door. "Thank you Ivan."

Frieda was darting about the parlor with a feather duster when a knock came upon the door. "She's here!"

Velina opened the door. A short-lived smile flashed upon her face when she saw the Mother Superior. It vanished when her paint-smeared foster father appeared close behind.

"I came by to give you a bible of your very own, Velina."

Great, she thought. Another bible. She hesitated to take it until she saw the menacing look being given her by Ivan.

Remembering how her rump had been ravaged, she smiled broadly enough to show her sharp little canines and accepted the gift. "Oh, thank you, Mother Mirta. Thank you so very much. I'll cherish it forever."

Velina knew she was spreading it on thick, but the big buffoon wouldn't be able to tell. Indeed he didn't, if the sudden smile on Ivan's face was any indication.

The wise old woman could see through the act, however, and was suspicious of Velina's sincerity. "My you seem gay today. Things are going well?"

Velina glanced over the old woman's shoulder and saw that Ivan's short-lived smile had evaporated and been replaced by his usual stern frown. "Couldn't be better!"

Chapter Twenty

It had been quite some time since Severinna had read a letter from Frieda. She was afraid the butler had finally found a way to resist her charms. So once the doctor had left the house for the day she donned her naughtiest negligee and went to work. She called the butler from Victor's library. "Bojan? Would you help me get this book down?"

Bojan joined her in the library and scowled when he saw that he'd been suckered. Severinna wasn't reaching for a high-perched tome at all. She was sitting in a loveseat with her hooters hanging out. She juggled them like giant balls and tickled her nipples with her tongue. "Wouldn't you like a suck?" She spread her legs wide. "Or how about a little of this?"

Bojan did his best to remain rational, what with his brain being deprived of so much blood. "Don't I need to have something in hand first?"

"Oh, you mean a letter? We can forget about that this once. It's been so long. I've missed you."

Bojan's head swam. Her words were weakening his will. It had been a long time. He remembered the last time and the near disaster that occurred. He straightened up like a rod. "Yes, it has been a long time. And it will be a lot longer still! I will not have my career jeopardized by a conniving female!"

He stomped out of the library and met up with the doctor's aged old maid. "Milka, I'm off to run an errand."

Bojan was still stomping when he reached a dilapidated part of the city. He strode up to a painted lady leaning against a light pole. Looking down the low cut neck of her dress, he decided she had the closest amount of cleavage to Severinna he was liable to find. "How much?"

The painted lady put her hand in his crotch. "Whoa! That's a whopper! A girl could get hurt on a thing like that! How much you got?"

Chapter Twenty-One

Ten more years had passed and Velina was again in the garden planting seeds. She was still covered head to toe. Only now the shape that was concealed from the sun would have put any hourglass to shame. Yet again, Pasco snatched the scarf from her head, revealing perfectly proportioned features and sultry eyes set below a pair of highly arched brows. Pasco's not too bright intention was to get Velina's attention and hopefully her affection pointed in his direction.

The attention he received instead was from Petar. He tore his eyes from Velina's more-than-ample bosom, tackled his brother, and wrestled him for the scarf and for the chance to impress his adopted sister.

She grinned under the long black hair that she draped over her sun-sensitive face. The grappling brothers were constantly doing stupid stunts to try to catch her eye as if she'd ever take a fancy to either of them after all the grief they'd caused her through the years. They were just pigs rolling around in the dirt as far as she was concerned.

Frieda could see the wrestling match through the kitchen window. "They're fighting again, Ivan!"

Ivan joined her at the window and shook his head. "Over Velina again, no doubt. We're simply going to have to get her married off before they wind up killing each other."

The battle raged on, but Ivan made no move to go out and stop it. He stood still, engaged in deep thought.

Frieda, annoyed at his inaction, slapped him on the shoulder with a large wooden spoon. "Well? Aren't you going to do something?"

"I am! I'm thinking! I'm wondering if we could succeed in marrying her off to a rich man."

The iron barred gates of the monastery-turned-prison at Lepoglava closed behind a couple of haggard old highwaymen.

Konstantin commented on the place without looking back. "It's nice to be finally on this side of those dreaded gates after all these years."

He noticed his friend and former cellmate shuffling off in another direction. "Say! Where are you going?"

Vladmir, too, didn't look back. "Anywhere that's away from you!"

Konstantin was stunned by the turn of events. "Why, Vladmir, I thought we were old friends, comrades in arms."

Vladmir rubbed his sore sphincter. "I'm tired of being a comrade in your arms, Konstantin!"

Konstantin's face reddened. "I'm sorry, Vladmir, for what happened in there. Truly, I am. But a man has needs. Even in prison."

Vladmir waved him off. "Well, I don't need you! Not anymore!"

"Are you sure? Are you sure you don't need an old friend out here in this cold, cruel world?" He grinned once indecision began to show on his friend's features.

"Do I have your promise that it'll never happen again?"

Konstantin crossed his heart. "Never again."

"Well..."

Velina and her foster mother shared a wagon that rolled down the main thoroughfare of the nearby village. Frieda noticed men in the street and on the sidewalks craning their necks and straining their eyes to look upon the human hourglass that was her daughter.

Velina was oblivious to it, her mind being otherwise occupied. "Why do we have to buy a dress? Can't we just make one?" Despite the fact that sewing was one of the many labors forced upon her, she'd found that she actually liked it and was darn good at it.

"Your father thinks a store bought dress would more likely attract you a husband."

Velina reacted like she got punched in the gut. "A husband? Why ever would I want such a thing?"

She had no way of knowing that they'd stopped in front of the very same dress shop visited by her birth mother years before. She felt a sudden queasiness in her stomach and a sense of dread in her mind as they made for the door. She wondered for a moment if the place itself was somehow making her ill, but then she chalked it up to a case of nerves brought on by talk of marriage.

"Ladies. How may I help you?"

Jakov ran his eyes all up and down Velina's stunning shape. All during his inspection she felt like she knew him and that she didn't want to know him both at the same time.

Frieda couldn't help but miss his ogling eyes that had finally come to rest upon Velina's outstretched bosom. Hers was an icy tone she hoped would cool him off. "My daughter needs a nice dress—-nice, but not too expensive. That and a matching hat if possible."

Velina whipped her head toward Frieda. "A hat? What do I need a hat for? Can I not wear my scarf? The sun will burn me if I don't."

Frieda frowned at her distracting daughter. "You can wear your scarf until we reach the church then you can put on the hat."

The shopkeeper was all too eager to get his arms around Velina. He whipped his tape measure out from about his neck and practically lunged at her.

Freida halted him by putting a hand in his face. "That won't be necessary. I know my own daughter's measurements!"

But Jakov was adamant. This peasant woman wasn't going to tell him how to do his job and deprive him of feeling, rather measuring his curvaceous client. He was just as cold toward Freida as she was to him. "Madame. I am a professional. You must let me do my job!"

Velina turned her head and whispered under her breath to Frieda. "Professional fondler is more like it!"

He managed to feel of her every curve without being too obvious about it then stood up and wiped the sweat off his brow. "I have some dresses that will do nicely, but I may have to tailor them a bit." He made little and big hand gestures to illustrate his point. "Her waist is so—and her bust line is so..."

Frieda wished to spend as little time as possible in the shopkeeper's presence. "I can do that if necessary. The dresses, please."

The Vidovich women stood outside the store carrying the new dress they'd bought. Velina's normally creamy white face was reddened. "I don't think I like that fellow. I don't like the way he..."

It was then that she become aware of the fact every man who passed them by stared at her much like the slimy shopkeeper had. "They're all doing it! They're all staring at me!"

Frieda chuckled and hugged her adopted daughter. "It's because you're so beautiful, my daughter."

Up until now, Velina had been without a clue as to how she might look to others. "Me?"

Vivacious Velina stood on a stool while her foster mother put pins in her new dress. "I'm beautiful," the beaming beauty broadcast.

Frieda was in total agreement, but she issued a warning. "Yes, you are. Now hold still and mind your modesty. A vain woman is a cursed woman."

Velina felt a tiny twinge of guilt. "Yes, mother."

She couldn't help but stand a little straighter with pride, however, when Petar came inside for a drink and couldn't keep his eyes off of her. Now she knew why he and his brother had been so enamored of her of late. She was beautiful!

As soon as she was done being measured, Velina rushed to her room, stripped down, and looked herself over in a full-length mirror. She had a pretty pair of feet, not too big and not too small. Her long, slender legs had just the right ratio of muscle to fat to appear strong yet feminine. A flat-as-a-board belly connected her wide pelvis to her ribcage and the fairly hefty pair of hooters it held.

Velina remembered how happy it had made the dressmaker to feel her up so she decided to try it for herself. She squeezed her breasts and tickled her nipples with her thumbs. The little pink nubs hardened and her private place got warm. She sat on the edge of her bed and spread her legs spread to cool it off. In the mirror she saw her pink pussy lips peering back at her through her black bush. She ran her fingers along them and liked the way it felt. She licked her lips, wondering what it would feel like with her fingers buried deep into the divide between them. Now was as good a time to find out as any!
Chapter Twenty-Two

It was Sunday and the Vidovich family arrived, as they had for years, to attend Mass. Petar and Pasco led the way by heading for their usual seats near the rear of the church. They got halfway along the pew before they noticed the rest of the family going further into the church.

Petar was mortified. "What the hell?"

He put his fingers to his lips and hoped no one heard his curse. The only one near enough to hear was the widow Klaric and she was nearly stone deaf. Petar sighed in relief and followed Pasco out of the pew.

They joined the rest of the family about halfway into the church. Freida had already taken her seat while Ivan and Velina waited in the aisle for the boys to catch up.

Petar whispered to his father. "What are we doing way up here? We never sit here!"

Ivan remained silent and directed him into the pew with a nod and a stern look.

Unlike her baffled brothers, Velina knew exactly what her foster father was up to. He was positioning himself in the dead center of the church for the big unveiling. He removed the scarf that had always covered her head in church, causing her long black hair to cascade down her back like a soft raven waterfall.

A church lady gasped. "Look at that! Showing off her hair in church. Shameful!"

Velina wasted no time affixing her new hat atop her head so as not to offend.

Vesna, wife of the dress shop owner jabbed her husband in the ribs. "Stop staring at that girl!"

"I'm not staring at her. I'm just admiring the ensemble I sold her just yesterday."

Vesna was unconvinced. "Sure you are!"

In the foremost pew sat Goran Granic, son of Zarko. He was no longer the little boy he was when the vampire took his sister. He was now as big around as his father beside him. He couldn't help but notice that people were turning around and staring at something further back in the church. Unable to resist the temptation to follow suit, he pivoted his ponderous poundage around in his pew and laid eyes on Velina a moment before she took her seat. In that scant second he fell hard for the statuesque stunner he'd never noticed before.

He nudged his father. "Who is that? Is she new here?"

Zarko hadn't time to turn around before Mass began. His comments would have to wait.

The service lasted an eternity for Goran. When it was finally over the congregation filed out beginning with the foremost pew. It was then that he got a better look. It was then that he decided he had to have what he saw.

The ever-aware Zarko noticed the love struck look on his son's face and what had brought it about. He agreed with his son's assessment of Velina's charms and addressed the issue as soon as they got out of the church. "I take it you are enamored of this girl?"

"Oh yes, father. I must have her."

Zarko rubbed one of his chins with concern. "She was seated pretty far back in the church and did not appear to be part of a particularly well-to-do family."

Goran grabbed his father's coat sleeve. "I don't care. I must have her. I must!"

Zarko blew out a thoughtful sigh. "Very well. I will see what I can do."

Goran released his grip then bowed in gratitude. "Thank you, father."

Like Goran, Velina thought the service would last forever. But then she always did. As usual she was hot on the heels of whoever stood between her and the church exit. She fully expected to make her customary rush for the family carriage and freedom, but it wasn't to be on this particular day. Ivan's plan to parade her to the parish had worked beyond his greatest expectations. He was surrounded by potential suitors the second he emerged from the church. They scattered like scared mice, though, with the approach of Zarko Granic.

He extended his hand to Ivan. "Let me introduce myself."

The farmer squeezed the politician's hand. It felt like a ball of dough in his massive palm. "I know you, Mr. Granic. Who doesn't in these parts? I am Ivan Vidovich and this is my wife, Frieda."

Zarko nodded at her. She returned a strained smile and a small curtsey.

"Mrs. Vidovich." He then gestured toward his son. "I would like you to meet my son, Goran."

Goran advanced and had his turn at shaking Ivan's hand. It, too, had the consistence of so much dough.

Petar and Pasco Vidovich were embroiled in a shoving match to see who would help Velina into the carriage. While they were busy battling she shook her head and got in by herself. She caught sight of her foster parents talking to the Granics while motioning in her direction. She felt a sudden sickness in her stomach. "Oh no!"

Petar broke free of Pasco and rushed to her aid. "What is it Velina? Is there anything I can do?"

Her eyes were glued to the conference being held not far off. "I wish there was."

Petar traced her line of sight, witnessed the Granics in conference with his parents, and came up with the same conclusion she had. He put his hand on Velina's. "Don't despair. There may be hope yet."

Velina yanked her hand out from under his. "What?"

Petar saw Ivan and Frieda approaching and decided to delay their discussion. "Later."

Velina was on pins and needles during Sunday dinner. What scheme had her foster father cooked up? The weird smile he had on his face throughout the meal didn't exactly aid her digestion and when he finally said what was on his mind, the tension made her jump.

"Velina, I have wonderful news. You're going to have a gentleman caller this evening."

She'd been expecting bad news ever since they left church, but she choked on the bite in which she was nibbling nonetheless.

After supper Velina began to help her foster mother clear the dishes from the table when Ivan stopped her. "Why don't you go to your room and rest, my dear?"

One of Velina's already highly arched eyebrows rose still higher at the strange suggestion. She and the rest of the family felt faint as Ivan picked up a pile of plates.

"I'll help your mother."

Frieda complained as she placed the dinner dishes into the sink. "I don't like that Goran Granic, not him nor his father. How could you even think of coupling our lovely daughter with him? He's so fat!"

Ivan twitched his eyebrows. "He's fat because he's rich."

"Yes. He and his family have gotten quite wealthy off our tax money all these years."

Ivan dropped his plates into the sink, causing him and Frieda both to get wet. "Don't you see that a union between them would be good for all of us? Honestly, it seems as time goes by Velina becomes more like you were and you become more like she was—belligerent, disrespectful."

Frieda said no more for, perhaps, he was right. She missed the feisty little girl Velina once was and had come to resent her husband's heavy-handed treatment of her through the years. Now he was practically forcing her to marry into a family of bloodsuckers!

Petar and Pasco had gone outside to carry on a clandestine conversation.

"She can't marry him," Pasco said. "Not him."

"The courtship hasn't even begun," Petar pointed out. "Maybe he won't want her or she him."

"How could he not want her? I want her and I'm her brother!"

"Not her real brother," Petar reminded him. "And neither am I."

"Are you saying we should vie for her hand ourselves?"

Petar turned and walked off. "No. Not we. I."

Pasco buried an imaginary knife into his overconfident brother's back. The fight was on!

Velina stood at a window watching wistfully with her foster parents as a chauffeur helped Goran out of his carriage. Even at his relatively young age he needed a bit of assistance exiting his transport.

"Has he grown larger since this morning?" Frieda asked. "He seems larger than last I saw him."

Velina moaned. "That's because he looms ever closer."

"Silence!" Ivan ordered. "This is no time for tomfoolery!"

It was into the night before Velina's suitor was finished bragging on himself and his family. It was about time as his audience, Velina and her foster parents, were about to doze off from the excitement. "Well, enough about me. Tell me about yourselves."

Ivan stirred from his stupor and barely had time to open his mouth when Goran looked at his gold pocket watch. "Heavens, look at the time. I really must be going."

"Must you?" Velina asked.

Goran rose with a helping hand from his potential father-in-law. "Sir, if it's all right with you, I'd like to take your lovely daughter out for a ride in the country tomorrow."

Velina couldn't believe what she was about to say, but she couldn't possibly take more of his overbearing ego. "Father, don't I have a lot of chores to do?"

Ivan all but ignored her. "That's fine with me and she'd be glad to."

Velina had to put on her act, put on her smile. "I'd be glad to."

Frieda wasn't fond of her daughter's suitor or of his being left alone with her. "And I'll come along as chaperone."

Goran's nostrils flared as he balked at the idea.

Ivan tried calming him with a word to his wife. "I'm sure a man of Goran's standing in the community wouldn't do anything untoward."

Goran bowed to Frieda. "I'll be the perfect gentleman."

Frieda remained unconvinced. "Still..."

Ivan stepped between the two and saw the suitor out. "I'm sure you will. Until tomorrow."

He closed the door and frowned at Freida. He then reached for Velina who flinched in fear. But all he did was hug her for the first time she could remember. He was giddy with glee. "Isn't it wonderful?"

Velina outwardly agreed with a strained smile. "Wonderful."

Chapter Twenty-Three

Konstantin and Vladmir, the old highwaymen, were trudging down a country lane on a hot summer day.

Vladmir was vexed. "I'm hungry. And what are we doing all the way back here? This is awfully close to where we were pinched."

"I know it is. But I just can't find it in myself to wander too far from where my dear old mother spit me out all those years ago."

"The same mother who abandoned you when you were five and left you to picking pockets to survive?"

Konstantin wiped a tear from his cheek. "The very one."

Velina tried to keep her mind off of her predicament by enjoying the countryside as it passed by. She and her suitor were being driven in a calash with the top up to protect them—her in particular—from the sun's rays. They couldn't see the look on their driver's face as they approached a couple of raggedy old men walking along the road. It was a look of recognition.

He shook his head in denial. "It couldn't be."

Goran leaned in his direction. "What was that, Andrej?"

"Nothing sir!"

Goran fell back into his seat and saw a look of alarm upon his intended's face. "What is it, Velina?"

"Those two! They look familiar somehow!"

Goran huffed. "I should hope not. Ruffians! Don't worry, my dear. You're safe here with me."

He placed his hand on her knee as if to comfort her, but it had quite the opposite effect. She promptly removed it with her gloved hand.

"Ah, but who will save me from you?"

Konstantin stood with his hands on his hips after the two-wheeler whizzed by. "Couldn't be."

Vladmir squinted at his friend. "Couldn't be what?"

Konstantin waved the thought away and strode on. "I thought I recognized—ah, never mind."

Velina had been letting Goran's words pass in through one ear and out through the other so she didn't notice it at once when he fell silent. The calash was rolling over a rough patch of road and Velina's bosom bounced in response. Goran's glazed over eyes were glued to them.

Velina grabbed her glands to still them. "Honestly! You men are always staring at these. What is the fascination?"

Goran was drooling like a common mongrel. He wiped the spittle with a monogrammed handkerchief. "If only you knew, my dear. If only you knew."

Velina was getting uncomfortable in more ways than one. She shifted in her seat. "My legs are stiff. Let's go for a little walk."

Goran gulped. "A walk?"

Velina made motions with her fingers. "Yes. You know. When you put one foot in front of the other and so on."

Goran groaned. "Very well." He was back to telling tales while Velina put on a sunbonnet. "Andrej once foiled an attempted robbery, you know."

Velina perked up. Goran finally had something interesting to say! "He did?"

"It happened while I was a little boy. A couple of highwaymen tried to filch from my father."

Velina turned to the driver. "What did you do, Andrej?"

He pulled the same pistol from inside his coat. "Not much."

The courting couple was soon strolling along while Andrej kept the calash nearby. Goran was doing almost all the talking as usual. "I plan to follow my father's footsteps into public service. The life of a politician's wife is splendid, indeed. It is a life of leisure, of soirees, of..."

Velina wasn't impressed. "It sounds boring."

Goran's head jerked backward. "Boring?"

Velina stopped and spread her arms high into the sky. "I always dreamed of traveling the world, of high adventure."

Goran wrapped his arms around her small waist. "Speaking of dreams." His puckered lips desperately searched for a soft place to land.

Velina withdrew her face from his. "Why, you said you'd be a gentleman!"

Goran let go. "You're such a tease, hiding your beauty under that bonnet. Take it off for me."

She opened her mouth to explain why she dared not when a strange idea rose from the depths of her mind. "If you insist."

Ivan was as irate as ever. "What were you thinking?"

Frieda removed Velina's bonnet, revealing a face covered in blisters. "Oh, dear! Sit."

Ivan paced the floor as his wife went to get ointment. "You know how the sun affects you. How could you let yourself get burned?"

He gestured toward where Goran's carriage should have been, but wasn't. "He couldn't wait to get you home!"

Frieda returned and began applying the salve to Velina's ripe red apple of a face.

"Ouch!"

"You'd better pray this little incident doesn't drive him away."

"Ouch!"

Frieda paused to make a point. "Really, Ivan, what sort of man would reject her for such a trifling thing? If he truly loves her then he'll accept her faults as well as her assets. Do I not love you despite your flaws and vice versa?"

Ivan put one of his faults—callousness—to work. "What else has she going for her but her appearance? If that goes..."

While the womenfolk gasped in accord, Frieda was furious. "Ivan!"

He was anxious to smooth things over, but he just kept shoving his foot further into his mouth. "I mean to say that she's only a farmer's daughter and not even that, being an orphan and all."

Velina ran to her room.

Frieda was still steamed. "How could you say those things about your daughter?"

Ivan took one last stab at redeeming himself. "I just meant that this might be her one opportunity to rise above her station in life—her one chance!"

Velina couldn't help feeling inferior from time to time, knowing she'd been abandoned. She'd learned to suppress those feelings for the most part, but Ivan's insensitive remarks had caused them to resurface and she couldn't bear it.

Velina tried to close her bedroom door, but Petar had a grip on the knob. He stepped inside, a wicked smile cutting across his face. "So you ran him off, did you?"

Velina lied. "I didn't 'run him off'. I simply got burned."

Like Goran before him, Petar wrapped his arms about her. "You can't fool me. I know it's me you want."

Velina tried to pry herself loose. "Let go of me!"

"Let's leave this place, you and I. We can travel the world like you always wanted—in each other's arms."

Velina was peeved at his perversion of her longstanding dream. "Let go or I'll scream!"

He relented and released her. "Think about it. We're not truly brother and sister. We could marry. I could save you from having to bed that porker."

"Get out!"

Frieda witnessed Petar walking away from Velina's door with the smirk of a smile still on his face. She knocked and received a prompt reply.

"Leave me alone!"

She opened the door anyway and saw her adopted daughter seated on the bed in the same tortoise shell position she used to assume as a child. "What was Petar up to?"

Velina told her while leaving out the detestable details. "Oh, he was just being a man."

Frieda sat. "Listen. I want to apologize for what your father said."

Velina would have nothing of it. "Why must it always be you who apologizes for him? Can he not ever do it himself? If an apology comes from anywhere but the original source it doesn't mean a thing!"

Frieda shook her head. "You know your father. He isn't good with words."

Velina snorted a retort. "He gets his thoughts across very well, I'd say. I'm so much garbage, tossed aside by my very own mother."

Frieda rested her hand on Velina's shoulder. "Granted you had a rough start in life, but surely you know that Ivan loves you and just wants what's best for you."

Velina couldn't help laughing. "Ha! What's best for me? He just wants me to marry Goran for his money."

Frieda pondered Velina's proclamation. "He does seem overly concerned with Goran's wealth and what it could mean to our family. But I don't believe he would put it before your personal happiness."

"Then he wouldn't make me marry Goran if I didn't want to?"

Frieda shook her head. "Oh no. He wouldn't. He couldn't! Surely not!"

What would he really do, Velina wondered. What would he do if she dared say no?

Chapter Twenty-Four

A tall, thin woman with long, curly blonde hair sat alone at the piano in her parlor, playing a classical tune to wile away the time. When it came to an end she blew out a sad sigh.

"What it the matter, mistress Sanja?"

Sanja spun around on her revolving stool to face her maid, a shorthaired brunette whose petite frame came packed with come-hither curves. "Oh, Danica, I do get so very bored when Andro is away on his infernal business trips."

Danica smoothed Sanja's hair with her hand. "There, there, mistress. If you're really so unhappy I can help you."

"You? How?"

Danica tightened her grip on Sanja's curly blonde locks. She then bent down and planted a big kiss on her lips.

Sanja's doe eyes bulged and her hands waved as if she were drowning. Then she gasped as if she'd been under water too long and had finally come up for air. "Danica! What do you think you're doing?"

"Helping you."

"How can that possibly help me?"

Danica strutted out of the parlor, her maid's outfit stretched tightly against her round rump. "Follow me upstairs and I'll show you."

The thick-mustached master of his house dropped his bags at the sight of his wife and his maid pleasuring each other in bed. "Sanja! Danica!" He glared at his maid while pointing at the bedroom door. "Get out of here! You are discharged!"

His wife pleaded with him. "But Andro, she meant no harm."

"No harm?" He grabbed Danica by the wrist and dragged her out of the room. He shoved her uniform into her open arms and slammed the door in her face.

Sanja pleaded mercy for her mouthwatering maid. "She only meant to console me during your absence!"

"By turning you into an, an abomination?" Andro undid his pants and stepped out of them.

Sanja's eyes lit up at the sight of his swelled member. "Why, Andro! Whatever are you doing?"

He didn't dare admit it, but seeing the two tramps tangled together had titillated him. He latched onto his lanky, yet luscious wife's hair. "Hopefully I'm undoing the damage that little slut did to you."

When Andro was done he unlatched himself from his worn out wife and waved a finger of warning at her. "Now let that be a lesson to you!"

Sanja took a moment to catch her breath then asked, "When is the next one?"

Andro jerked his head backward in shock. "What?"

"When is the next lesson?"

Severinna's slim hand slid down the stairway banister while she balanced herself on her high-heeled bedroom slippers. She stopped halfway down when she saw a small group assembled at the foot of the stairs. It consisted partly of Bojan the butler, Milka the elderly maid, and their master, Victor. A fourth she didn't recognize. It was another maid, obviously, judging from her rather tight fitting outfit.

Victor directed his gaze up at his mouthwatering mistress. "Ah, Severinna. I would like you to meet Danica. She will be assisting Milka in her chores."

Severinna balanced her way the rest of the way down the stairs. As she did, she quickly scrutinized the scene below. Milka looked tired like she usually did and Victor was as cold and detached as ever. Bojan's face was impassive, but his eyes were transfixed on the new maid. Severinna couldn't blame him. Danica was a delectable doll, hiding dynamite under her drab uniform. Severinna's brow furrowed at the way the little maid looked at her. It was no different than that of a lustful man! She was positive, absolutely positive that this Danica's eyes were as riveted on her heaving cleavage and long, luscious legs as Bojan's used to be.

Severinna and the servants saw the doctor off. While Milka led Danica off to describe her duties, Bojan's eyes bored into the new maid's ripe, round rump. Danica glanced back over her shoulder, but it wasn't at Bojan. It was at Severinna!

The mistress's mind was muddled. Why would Danica, a female and a fetching one at that, leer at her so? The butler, on the other hand, was easy to figure. When the magnificent maid was out of his sight, he whipped around and almost ran into sulking Severinna.

"You like her, don't you?" she asked.

"What makes you think so?"

"You look at her the way you used to look at me!"

"You're imagining things."

"I admit I imagine things from time to time, but that I certainly did not! Would you not lay her if you had the opportunity?"

The butler paused to do a little daydreaming of his own. "If I had the opportunity and if she wanted me, yes."

Severinna smirked as the devil in her rose to the surface. "Well, she doesn't want you. She wants me!"

The butler snorted. "Don't be ridiculous! You're a woman!"

"That, I may be, but I know that look she gave me. I know what I saw. I've seen it many a time before. I've seen it from you!"

Bojan shook his head and took his leave.

"Go ahead and try," Severinna said. "See how far it gets you."

Severinna was examining her naked body in a full-length mirror and noticed that she wasn't quite as firm as she once was. The sheer weight of her whoppers was beginning to work against them, dragging them down a bit. Creases had begun to show at the edges of her mouth and eyes. She was still as beautiful woman as there was to be had, but still she knew she wasn't at her peak.

Ten years had passed since she'd heard news of Velina, ten years of unheeded advances toward Bojan, of unsatisfying lovemaking with the dreary doctor alone. This Danica seemed to be under the same spell she'd held Bojan under. She lusted after her mistress, while Bojan wanted to lay her. The conniving little devil inside Severinna surfaced and gave her an idea. Perhaps she could use their desires to her advantage! She jerked on the bell pull and before long there was a knock at the door.

"Yes miss?" Danica asked.

Severinna took a deep breath to settle her nerves. "Would you please come in?"

Danica's jaw dropped. Her new mistress hadn't a stitch on! She closed the door in such a hurry that she caught her dress in it. She opened it just enough to free the fabric and closed it back again. "Yes miss?"

Severinna put her hands on her still trim hips. "Danica, is it?"

"Danica. Yes."

"Danica, let us get right to the point."

"Miss?"

"You find me somehow attractive, do you not?"

Danica's refocused her dark eyes from the fabulous figure before her down to the hardwood floor. "I'd rather not say, miss."

"You'd rather not say? And why is that?"

"I'd rather not say because I'd like to keep my job."

"Why would your finding me attractive cost you your job?"

"It cost me my last one. I found my last mistress attractive, too."

Severinna felt the sting of guilt over what she'd been plotting. "Well, I wouldn't want you to lose your job on account of me. Be on your way."

Danica spun around and grabbed the door handle. She couldn't, however, turn it whilst a question burned in her brain. "Pardon my boldness, miss. But due to the fact that you asked me if I find you attractive, well..."

"Well, what?"

"Well, do you find me equally so?"

Severinna's head rocked back as if she'd been hit on the chin. After all, how could a woman possibly find another woman attractive sexually? And even if she somehow did, how could the couple copulate with nary a cock between them? Her inner little devil's devious plan was working, whether she wanted it to or not though, so she went along with it and lied as best she could. "Why—yes, I do."

Danica bounded in her direction. "Oh, I'm so happy! I haven't stopped thinking of you since I first saw you!"

The maid's words reminded Severinna of the syrupy lies she'd used on poor Mirko to get him to rescue her from Zarko Granic and his gang. Danica certainly seemed to be telling the honest truth, though, as she groped Severinna's still stupendous stacks. She then led her mistress onto her mattress and went to work.

Severinna sighed with satisfaction. "So that's how it's done."

Danica was dumbfounded. "That's how what is done?"

"You know."

"You mean you haven't had sex with a woman before?"

"Heavens no!"

"Did you like it?"

Severinna didn't lie this time. She only exaggerated a bit. "I loved it!"

"Then you'd do it again?"

"Oh, of course!"

Danica pounced on her and gave her an open mouthed kiss. Severinna's lips parted as the maid's tongue forced its way between them and tangled with hers.

Danica threw her clothes back on and opened the bedroom door. "Until next time then."

"Until next time."

Bojan was making his way upstairs and heard Danica's parting words. While she rushed downstairs to her duties, he flung open Severinna's door. "What did she mean, 'until next time'?"

Severinna smiled and fingered her wet privates. "What do you think? I told you she liked me better than you."

Bojan scowled. "We'll see about that!" Then he slammed the door shut.

Severinna sighed. "I sure hope this works!"

Chapter Twenty-Five

A week after the courting couple's catastrophic carriage ride, Goran was leading Velina along a stone walkway leading up to his spacious home. His father, Zarko, and servants awaited them at the door.

"Now that you're presentable again, my delicate flower, you can meet my illustrious father."

Velina bit her tongue to keep it from lashing out at Goran like a whip. Who was he to reject her on the basis of looks considering how fat he was? His shallowness made her feel like turning on her heel and going home, but it was too late for that.

"Let me introduce my father, Zarko Granic, long standing president of the local government of our fair city and a man in whose footsteps I would gladly one day walk."

Velina curtseyed on cue. "Sir."

"And, dear father, this is Velina Vidovich, my intended."

Zarko gestured for her hand. She gave it to him and he kissed it.

Goran seethed with jealousy. He hadn't even gotten that far!

Velina was breathless over the sight of a long dining table laid out with enough food to feed a small army. She turned to Zarko. "Who else is dining with us?"

Zarko spread his hands. "Just the three of us, my dear."

Velina shook her head. "This really is too much."

Goran smiled. "It is impressive, isn't it?"

"No. I mean it's too much to eat. I can't possibly..."

Zarko gestured toward a chair that a servant had pulled out from under the table. "It will all be put to good use. Now have a seat."

Velina sighed as she sat. "That's a relief. I was always told to waste food was a sin."

Goran dug in without further ado. "Well, we don't waste food here at Granic Manor, do we father?"

Zarko followed his son's lead and started shoveling it in. "We certainly do not!"

Velina nibbled on this and that while the Granics did their very best to clean the table. After a while, Zarko paused long enough to comment on what little she'd consumed. "What is wrong, my dear? Is the food not to your liking?"

"I've never been a big eater," she admitted. "I've practically survived so far on cow's milk alone."

A servant was stationed behind her throughout the meal. Zarko gave him a look. The fellow read his master's mind and headed for the kitchen.

Goran had been made curious. "But I thought you said it was a sin to waste food. Do you not get in trouble for not cleaning your plate?"

Velina laughed. "Cleaning my plate has never been a problem, not thanks to Petar and Pasco. They've always eaten what I've not been able to. It's their one redeeming feature, I suppose."

She accepted a glass of milk from the servant with a nod of her head. "Thank you."

"Well I, for one, appreciate your lack of appetite," Goran said.

Velina licked milk from her upper lip, being careful not to cut her tongue on her sharp canines. "And why is that?"

"For it will allow you to keep your fantastic figure that much longer."

Zarko noticed Velina's milky white skin turn a light shade of red. "Goran! Your manners, please."

Goran's head drooped onto his chins. "Sorry, father, Velina."

The embarrassed dinner guest observed both father and son's eyes taking in her fine form and was eager to break their trance. She pointed at the portraits hanging upon the dining room walls. "Who are these people?"

Zarko gave her the tour. "Our illustrious family. Over there is my father, Branimir, who got me into politics. And there is my grandfather, Vlado, who first acquired our family wealth."

Velina spotted a portrait of Annica. "Who is the pretty young girl?"

"Ah, that would be my daughter, Annica."

Velina frowned. "Goran didn't mention he had a sister. Only that he had a brother who had entered the military."

Zarko normally held his head high. Now it sunk. "Alas, poor Annica was taken from us in the flower of her youth."

"Taken?"

The Granics spoke in unison, but were clearly not of the same mind. Goran said, "Cholera," while his father said, "Pneumonia."

Velina was miffed. At least one of them was lying, maybe both. If only she could read peoples' minds! "Well which was it, Cholera or pneumonia?"

Zarko stared off into space. "Truthfully, it was an ancient disease, a scourge which has been thoroughly and thankfully eradicated." He shook his head to clear it of the painful past and to make the most of the pleasant present. "It would be nice to have a lady in the house again."

Goran smiled. "Of course, that may take some work."

He and his father shared a chuckle between themselves. Velina was sure the joke was at her expense, but was otherwise without a clue. "What do you mean by that?"

Zarko gestured at Goran. "What he means is that if we are to take the girl out of the farm, we must first take the farm out of the girl."

Zarko stood among the white-pillared doorstep of his mansion, congratulating his son after their dinner with Velina. "Well done, my son. If I were a younger man..."

The object of their conversation waited on the walkway for the carriage to come around front to take her home. A thought struck the elder Granic as he admired her svelte figure. "Say, is that not the same dress she wore in church?"

Goran shook his head. "Seems every time I see her, she's wearing that dress. It's as if it's the only one she has."

Zarko turned so that there was no chance Velina could hear. "It may well be! These peasant types sometimes own only the clothes they wear on their backs."

Goran shuddered at the idea. "Surely not!"

Zarko put his fingers to his lips. "Shush! We'll have to rectify this situation. Here's what I want you to do."

The courting couple stood at the Vidovich's much more modest doorstep. Goran put his arm about Velina's waist and pulled her toward him. "Please! Just one kiss!"

Velina squirmed, but couldn't free herself. "If I do, will you let me go?"

"Yes, my love."

"All right then. Just one."

Goran was going to make this one count. He went straight for her luscious lips when, at the last instant, she turned her head and he got her cheek instead. He was poised to try again when—curse of curses—the door opened! He yanked his arm from Velina's waist and she retreated inside.

A suspicious Frieda knew what he was up to since so many young men wanted a taste of marriage before being committed. Ivan knew this also, since he'd been one of those young men once. Goran steered their minds off of the subject by putting his father's plan into motion.

Velina was heading for her room when she noticed the trio sharing a quiet conversation. It was the second time that night people were discussing her in hushed tones and it grated on her nerves, made her paranoid. If only she could hear what they were saying!"

Chapter Twenty-Six

Bojan was all business while his master was at home. As soon as the doctor had left for work, however, the butler put his professionalism aside to pursue the delectable Danica. He hovered over the mouthwatering maid at the base of the stairs as she polished the banister. "You polish long, hard things so well," he remarked.

Danica replied without emotion. "Thank you."

Severinna snickered at Bojan and his sexual innuendo as she passed. She looked over her shoulder as she ascended and saw Danica staring up at her astounding ass. She flipped her head in the direction of her room and Danica rushed up the stairs after her, feather duster in hand.

Bojan bellowed up at the maddening maid. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Duty calls!"

Bojan bounded up the stairs as silently as he could after her and came to a screeching halt at Severinna's bedroom door. He put his ear against it and heard a loud moan from his master's mistress. His pants pulled against his posterior as his penis filled with blood.

Severinna let out a loud sigh. "Ahhh!"

"You really seem to like it," Danica commented.

Severinna glanced at the door, hoping Bojan was there to hear her purposely-loud professions of pleasure. "Oh, I do! I do!" She then lowered her voice to a whisper. "But don't you long for a cock inside you?"

Danica shrugged. "Oh, I don't know. Men can be such beasts." She lowered her eyes. "My father was one. He..."

Severinna changed the painful subject forthwith. "Well, you let me know if you do. I can make it happen and I can make it quite pleasant." She still felt uneasy kissing another woman, but she smooched her suddenly sad lover on the lips.

Danica managed a smile. "Thank you, miss."

Moments after the maid had closed the bedroom door behind her, Bojan burst in. He saw Severinna smiling and not surprised in the least over his sudden appearance. "You knew I was at the door, didn't you?"

"I half suspected. Do you give up? Do you concede that she wants me and not you?"

"Yes! Yes, of course, you witch!"

"Be careful who you call a witch or I won't let you have her."

Bojan was nearly bowled over. "What?"

"If you're behave I may put in a good word for you."

Bojan squinted. "What do you mean, 'behave'?"

"Tis the same as before: You give me a letter from Frieda and you get some. But this time you get some of her!" She pointed at his protruding pants. "It looks like you have yourself quite a burden there. Would you like me to relieve you of it?"

Severinna lectured Bojan as he was straightening his tie after having been relieved of his below-the-belt burden. "If you desire the same treatment from Danica," she said. "Then you'll bring me the next letter you get from Freida."

Bojan staggered toward the bedroom door on rubbery legs. "The very next one!"

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Velina had barely slept a wink when dawn came. She dragged herself out of bed, slipped out of her nightgown, and put on her work clothes.

Ivan surprised her at the front door as she and Pasco were heading out. "Come back inside, Velina. No chores for you today."

She was surprised, but not as much as was Pasco.

"Why not?" he asked. "It's not fair!"

Ivan patted him on the shoulder. "And this little crybaby will do your work in addition to his own."

Velina was as perplexed as she was pleased. "Well what'll I do all day?"

Ivan smiled. "You'll see."

Ivan Vidovich looked out the front window of his house then at a grandfather clock. "Nine o'clock on the button. And here she is."

Velina sat upon the couch, twiddling her thumbs. "Here who is?"

Frieda shushed her adopted daughter and motioned for her to rise. Three sharp raps sounded upon the door. Ivan opened it and admitted a stern-faced lady in black. A tall hat was perched upon her head and a high collar covered her long goose neck.

"Miss Madunic?"

The lady presented a smile of sorts and handed Ivan her hat. "You presume correctly, Mr. Vidovich."

The farmer tried being friendly. "Oh, you can call me Ivan."

The lady's eyelids fluttered. "I think not." She looked Velina over with cold and discerning eyes. "This, I take it, is your daughter?"

Frieda made formal introductions. "This is indeed our daughter, Velina. Velina, this is Miss Madunic of the Madunic School of Etiquette."

Velina curtseyed. The lady's eyes fluttered even more than before. "Deplorable curtsey. I can see that we have our work cut out for us."

Velina made a face. "What work?"

"Sit up straight."

Velina obeyed Miss Madunic and put the whole of her back against the dining room chair.

"Now the napkin."

Velina took her napkin and proceeded to stuff it into the collar of her dress. Miss Madunic was appalled. "No! A lady neatly folds her napkin and places it in her lap."

Velina did as she was told, her lips drawn tight with rage.

Since it was impolite to point, Miss Madunic twitched her finger to the left of an empty plate placed before her pupil. "Utensils are used from left to right, beginning with the appetizer, moving onto soups and salads, and then to the main course."

Velina blew air from her loosened lips. "If I eat that much I'll blow up like a balloon!"

"And while you eat, take only small bites so that you can more easily respond to your hosts or to your guests." Miss Madunic's eyes darted toward Frieda then back to Velina. "I assume you've been taught, at least, not to speak while there is food in your mouth."

An infuriated Frieda folded her arms over her chest. "Of course she has!"

Velina watched through the front window as Ivan helped Miss Madunic into her carriage. "Whew! Am I glad that's over! She's worse than a schoolmarm!"

Frieda, too, was relieved. "For today, at least."

Velina jerked her head aside. "What?"

"Oh that imperious woman has barely begun her work."

Velina groaned and headed for her room. "I need to go rest my head. It's all fogged up."

As soon as she got into her room, she flung off her shoes then sat on her bed and wiggled her toes. "Ahh! Air at last! Enjoy it while you can, my little piggies."

"Hard day?"

Velina whipped her head toward her window. It was Petar!

"Don't you see what he's up to? You embarrass him the way you are. He can't marry you until he's made you into something you're not, whereas I love you just as you are. Tell me. Is that not nobler?"

Velina mulled over the matter a moment then wandered toward the window. "From anyone but you perhaps. But I know you. You haven't a noble bone in your body."

Quick as she could, she slammed the window shut, intending to guillotine Petar's fingers. He yanked them out just in time and yelled through the glass. "Don't forget! Time is running short!"

Velina locked the window and closed the curtains. Then she got back on the bed talked to her cramped feet as she massaged them. "Oh, if I could I'd have you carry me far from here." She fell back, stared at the ceiling, and wondered. Could she? Would she dare to just run away?"

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Miss Madunic sat with Zarko and Goran Granic over a cup of afternoon tea.

"Well, it has been a week now," the politician said. "How have you fared? Do you think you have sufficiently smoothed the girl's rough edges enough that she will not make a joke of our family name?"

Miss Madunic took a sip of tea with her pinky finger held high then gently placed her cup in its saucer. "Although there is still much ground to be covered you can rest assured that she will not embarrass you."

Zarko turned to Goran. "Well then I suppose I can give my blessing to this union, my son." He then nodded at Miss Madunic. "Many thanks for your help."

"Yes," Goran agreed. "Many thanks."

Miss Madunic flashed them each one of her rare small smiles and handed Zarko a slip of paper. "Here is the information you requested of the girl's mother."

Zarko took it and smiled. "Ah. Good. Now we can get her into something else besides that blasted blue dress."

Jakov, the dress shop owner, was working in the rear of his store when he heard his wife conversing with a customer on the other side of a curtain that led to the front. "Yes, Mr. Granic. We'll have it ready for you tomorrow if it takes us all night. Thank you, Mr. Granic."

She joined her husband and told him the great news. "This is wonderful! It will make our whole week!"

Her husband peered at a piece of paper that she'd been given. "What is it?"

"Why, it's only an order for a nearly complete wardrobe from Zarko Granic. And here are the measurements we'll need for a custom fit."

Jakov's eyes bulged at the numbers. "I've taken these measurements recently. They belong to that farm girl!"

"What farm girl?"

Jakov waved off his wary wife. "Oh, she and her mother were in here a short while ago to buy a dress. She's the one from church. You know. The one with the long, black hair."

Vesna sneered as she remembered her husband's reaction to the ebony-locked lovely. "Oh, that one. What would Zarko want with her?"

Jakov assumed that the councilman wanted the same thing from Velina as he did—sex! He chose the safe route, however, and answered by shrugging and pretending not to know.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Victor, the doctor, finished the last of his breakfast and set down the morning paper. He observed that his mistress, too, was reading. "A book on vampires? Where did you find such drivel?"

Severinna put it down. "At the library. I need to have something to do to occupy myself the time while you're out healing the masses or having your dinner parties."

His manservant mumbled something incoherent.

"What was that, Bojan?"

"Nothing, sir. Just clearing my throat. I'll go out and check on the mail now."

Severinna leaned toward the doctor. "What would you say if I told you that I've seen a vampire for myself?"

Milka the maid was in the process of clearing the table. She crossed herself upon the mere mention of the accursed creature of the night.

Severinna's cleavage was nearly falling out of her flimsy nightgown as usual. Victor tore his attention away from it long enough to answer her query. "Well, assuming that you are not joking, I would say that you were mistaken."

"Mistaken?"

"Yes. This person probably suffered from some medical malady, anemia perhaps, that caused you to think he or she was a vampire."

"So you think someone who is supposedly a vampire could be cured by modern medicine?"

"Almost certainly."

Severinna rested her chin on her fist. "Hmm."

Bojan strode toward the front gate while cursing Severinna under his breath. "You could occupy yourself convincing that little cockteaser, Danica, to fuck me!" He met the mail carrier halfway to the front gate and plucked the letters from his fingers. "Thank you."

He rifled through the correspondence, looking for a letter from Frieda Vidovich. His whole body quaked as he barely restrained a jump for joy. There was indeed a letter from Victor's sister! His eyes darted about in a search for witnesses to his transgression. When none were apparent, he slipped the article into his coat pocket.

As soon as his master was safely out of the house Bojan hunted down Severinna. He found her in the parlor showing Danica a drawing of a tiny negligee that was in a book stuffed with risqué renderings and patterns of Severinna's design.

"You said you like the things I wear," she said. "I created much of it myself to please the master. This little piece, I designed especially for you. Do you like it?"

Danica's dark eyes bulged. "It's so short!"

Severinna felt Danica's firm thigh under her drab dress. "Yes it is. So as to show off your marvelous legs."

"And it's so low in the front!"

Severinna massaged one of the maid's magnificent melons. "To show off your amazing bosom. Do you not like it?"

Danica hugged her mistress. "I love it!"

Bojan cleared his throat behind them and waved Freida's letter in the air.

Severinna slammed the thick book shut, stirring a breeze in the process. "Danica, would you excuse us?"

The maid curtseyed and left. Severinna sauntered over to Bojan and grabbed for the letter.

He raised it out of her reach. "You don't get this until I get Danica."

"But I need more time. She's not ready yet."

"You have until the master returns, for tomorrow this letter will be back in his possession, where it belongs, and then he will put it to the flame." He looked up at the open letter and read a small portion of it. "Oh, grand! You will want to read this particular letter for sure!"

"Why? What does she say?"

Bojan smiled and returned it to his coat pocket.

Severinna stomped her foot. "Oh, all right! Let me think of what to do!"

Danica was dusting the piano when she heard the bell to Severinna's room ring. She bounded upstairs, expecting sex. She got it once she opened Severinna's door. But it wasn't what she was anticipating. She forgot to knock in her excitement and interrupted Severinna with her head in Bojan's crotch.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" the mortified maid said.

Severinna held up her hand to dissuade Danica from closing the door. "I forgot to ask you. What color would you like your gown to be?"

"Um. Red!"

"Red! Good choice! You must get so tired of wearing black all the time." Severinna indicated a certain log-like portion of Bojan's anatomy. "This sure is good. Would you like some?"

Danica twisted with trepidation. "I don't know. It looks awfully big."

"Why, that's the best kind! Come! Enjoy!"

"Well..."

Bojan handed Frieda's letter over to Severinna. "Here you are."

Danica sat up. "What's that?" She shrugged when Severinna ignored the query. She noticed Bojan getting dressed. "Where do you think you're going? We're not done yet, you and I."

The bushed butler's eyes bulged with disbelief. He gave her all he had and still she wanted more? Perhaps he'd bitten off a bit more than he could chew.

Victor was in his office when he heard the most horrendous of sounds. It was that of several youngsters crying all at once. He opened his office door a crack and saw a fat woman leading a caravan of kids into his waiting room. There were five of them, no less, and from their relative ages he could tell that the woman had popped one out practically right after the other.

"Psst!" he went to his nurse.

She gave him a strange look then joined him in his office. "Yes, doctor?"

"I'm feeling a bit under the weather and have decided to go home for the remainder of the day. Would you please make my apologies and refer any remaining patients to Doctor Nemec next door?"

The doctor didn't deceive his nurse, for she knew him too well. She knew the real reason he was abandoning her. She sighed and said, "Yes, doctor." Then she left his office to face the boisterous brood on her own.

Severinna was poring over Frieda's letter while Bojan bored into Danica. The maid's constant moaning was beginning to interfere with her concentration.

"Quiet! I'm reading! It appears that Velina has found herself a man. The fellow's name is Goran Granic." She paused to ponder the name. "Granic. Now where have I heard that name before?" Then she remembered. "Granic! That was his name!"

Bojan was befuddled. "What are you going on about?"

Severinna was about to answer when Victor walked in after a quick rap on the door. "Bojan!" he yelled.

Big as the butler was, he almost fainted. He wanted to make an excuse, to say that it wasn't what it looked like, but it was all too obvious that it was what it looked like.

Victor shook his finger at his mistress. "How long has this sort of thing been going on under my roof?"

Severinna surprised herself at how little guilt she felt, for it wasn't as if the doctor didn't deserve it at least a little. "Ever since you wouldn't let me hear news of my own daughter."

Victor gasped at just how long a period it had been then reached into his wallet and threw its entire contents at her. "You're just a whore like the rest! Take my money and go! Go back to the streets!"

Severinna's first instinct was to refuse the recompense, but she thought the better of it. It was quite a sum, plenty enough to get her back to that vile little village so she could warn Velina.

Lest he forget, the doctor trained his finger on his horrified help. "And, by the way, you two are fired!"

Bojan had followed Severinna out of his ex-employer's townhouse wearing nothing but a pair of pants. "Where are you going in such a rush? We haven't even packed yet."

Severinna was squeezed into the first dress she could grab out of the closet. It was form fitting and cut so low that it barely contained her cleavage. She waved back at the house. "You go back and pack. I've got to warn Velina."

Bojan grabbed her arm. "You speak as if you won't be here when I return."

"I won't. Not if I can help it."

Bojan squeezed Severinna's arm. "What about us?"

She wrenched free of his grip. "What about us?"

"I lost my heart, -not to mention my employ, over you!"

Severinna's head dipped. "I'm sorry about that. Truly I am. But I must go."

Victor's driver hadn't garaged his employer's Brougham yet. The sight of it gave her an idea. She left the half-naked Bojan behind and headed straight for it.

The driver, Dimitar, had observed the exchange between the manservant and the mistress and had drawn the correct conclusion. He smiled as Severinna approached him while she all but fell out of the dress she'd grabbed on the fly. "Troubles, miss?"

Severinna ignored his insincere tone and got straight to the point. "Do you remember how to get to that farm where I left my baby?"

Dimitar put his finger on his chin and gazed up into the sky. "It has been a long time and my memory's not quite what it used to be."

Severinna showed him her money. "Would this jog your memory?"

Dimitar's finger went from resting on his chin to delving into the deep crack between her breasts. "It might, but I can think of something else that would work worlds better."

Severinna gritted her teeth. "Fine!"

Dimitar opened the door for her. "It's a deal then. I'll just tell the good doctor that I was duped into giving you a ride."

Severinna got in the carriage as fast as she could for she was afraid Victor would come running out of the house at any moment and put a halt to her plan. "Do what you must! Just get me out of here before it's too late!"

Victor had his head buried in his ex-mistress's pillow when the sound of raised voices outside his house brought him to the window. There he saw Severinna being let into his Brougham by his driver. "What the devil?"

As Severinna had feared, Victor came running outside. Only he was too late to prevent her escape. He slid to a stop next to Bojan. "Where is she going with my carriage and with my driver?"

"She was up in arms over something she read in that letter."

Victor clutched Bojan's biceps. "What, man? What?"

"I guess she had a problem with the man her daughter is about to marry."

Victor groaned and grabbed the white hair on his head. "Do you see now why I wouldn't let her read those letters?"

Milka, the older maid, stood by on her return from the market and had watched the drama unfold. She shook her white-haired head as she passed the dismayed doctor and the bereaving butler on her way into the townhouse. "Men!"

It wasn't just men. Before Milka could take her first step into the townhouse, Danica rushed past with tears in her eyes. She headed down the street in the direction of the employment agency she worked for. She hadn't made it far when a carriage pulled up beside her. Its door flew open and out popped her previous employer.

"Oh, Danica," Sanja said. "Please return to work for us. We want you back."

Danica was doubtful. "We?"

Sanja took the maid by the hands. "Yes. Andro and I both wish to have you back in our employ. Why, he's even come along to try and convince you."

A still disbelieving Danica directed her narrowed eyes toward the closed carriage door. "Why has he not disembarked then?"

Sanja opened the door and all but shoved the maid through. "You'll see." She told the driver to proceed then joined the couple in the carriage.

Danica sat opposite her former employers. Andro had a blanket laid across his lap. Danica studied it. Something seemed to be standing up in the middle of it.

Sanja rested her hands on her husband's shoulder. "Andro had a change of heart after you left. He realized that he'd been neglecting me and now he wants to make it right—for both of us."

A dumbfounded Danica cocked her head to the side like a dog. "How?"

Sanja yanked the blanket away. Danica's jaw dropped, for under the blanket Andro had a full erection.

"This is how. So, will you come back to work for us?"

A delighted Danica knelt before Andro and his tent pole. "Like I could refuse!"

Chapter Thirty

Pasco Vidovich pulled a clump of weeds from the garden then stood straight and stretched. "Oh, my aching back!" A carriage went by, stirring up loose dirt that clung to his sweat covered skin. "Say, isn't that the Granics' buggy?"

Petar straightened up. "I think it is. Let's go see."

They all but forgot how tired they were and jogged to the house where they saw Andrej handing their father a note. Ivan read it with some difficulty then looked up at his sons with a smile on his face. "Goran is coming tonight and I think he's going to do it."

"Do what?" Pasco asked.

"I think he's going to ask the big question."

"What question?"

Petar punched Pasco in the shoulder. "'What question'!"

It finally dawned on Pasco while Ivan and Andrej took a bevy of boxes into the house. "Oh that question!"

Petar massaged his dirty chin as he contemplated the situation. "I'm going to have to act fast!"

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. The grandfather clock in the Vidovich's living room seemed to move ever so slowly as Velina awaited Goran while fitted in one of her new dresses. In her hands she cradled the toy ship that had gotten her into such trouble as a child. "You had the right idea, Axel. Oh, if I could only do the same and sail away, far away."

Frieda was too engrossed with the happenings outside the house to hear her daughter's lamentations. She saw Ivan give his blessing to Goran and then the two shake hands. "I think your father just gave his consent." She sat by her woozy daughter's side to comfort her. "There, there. Just speak from your heart. Your father and I will support and love you whatever your decision."

The two men soon stood at the front door, being polite to one another.

"After you," Goran told Ivan.

"No, after you," Ivan told Goran.

"No..."

Velina couldn't take it any longer. "For God's sake, would somebody please come in so we can get this over with?"

Goran finally relented, went in first and, with considerable difficulty, kneeled before his intended. "Dear Velina. Your father has graciously allowed me to ask for your hand in marriage. Please say yes and make me the happiest man alive."

Velina put the toy ship aside and glanced at everyone who stood by awaiting her decision. Below her was Goran, a quivering mass who wouldn't be able hold his position for very long. To her side was Frieda, a look of concern frozen on her face. Outside the house, looking through the front window was Pasco who was mouthing the words, "No! Say no! Marry me!" And lastly there was Ivan, wringing his huge hands, hands that would probably wring her neck if she dared refuse.

She bowed her head in defeat. "Yes."

"Excellent!"

Goran struggled to his feet. In his effort to rise, he knocked the toy ship off the couch. Velina lunged for it and it just grazed her fingertips before it broke upon the floor. To make matters worse, Goran stumbled and stepped on it.

Velina picked up the pieces. "You broke it!"

Goran turned to Ivan and saw that he, too, was appalled. He didn't understand why such a fuss was being made, but he apologized nonetheless. "So sorry. I'll purchase you another."

Ivan forced himself to smile and pretended he didn't mind. "Oh, that's all right. It was just a tired old toy. Don't concern yourself with it."

Goran straightened his clothes and turned toward the door. "Well then. I'll start making marriage arrangements immediately."

Velina was still obsessing over the shattered ship while Ivan saw him out. "He broke it!"

Ivan turned on her after he closed the door. "Well, he wouldn't have if you'd left it on the mantel where it belongs!"

Velina's blue eyes bored into her foster father. "So now it's my fault?"

Ivan restrained his rage as he remembered that she would soon be rich and that he should remain in her good graces. "No, not at all. Why don't you hand it to me and I'll see if I can fix it?"

Velina knew it was beyond repair, but she gave it to him anyway. "May I go to my room now?"

Victor's Brougham pulled off alongside the road just shy of the Vidovich farm. Dimitar jumped off his perch to find Severinna half out of the coach already with one foot on the ground. He shoved her back inside.

"Now you wouldn't be trying to leave without paying the fare, would you my pretty?"

Severinna lied and said, "No. I just got a little ahead of myself and forgot about our, um, arrangement."

Dimitar slid down the top of her dress and manhandled her melons, which were half hanging out anyway. "Well, I haven't forgot. Nor have I forgot how damned big these were when they were so full of milk for that newborn babe of yours. They aren't quite as big as they were then—or as firm—but they'll do. They'll do nicely."

Dimitar toppled over into the seat opposite Severinna and lit his pipe. "Ye Gods, I've been wanting to do that ever since the good doctor plucked you up off the streets so long ago! So what are we doing all the way back here after all these years?"

Severinna reigned in her rack and drew her dress back over her privates. "Family business."

"Do you want me to wait?"

"No. This could get complicated. Go on back to your master."

"Well, good luck then!"

"Thanks. I'll need it."

Severinna squeezed her voluptuous figure through a fence surrounding the Vidovich property and skulked around until she saw Goran strutting to his carriage. She froze at first, thinking it was Zarko, until she saw he was too young.

She sighed with relief. It must have been his son. He looked awfully happy. Now why would that be?" She stiffened up again. Could it be that she was too late?

Severinna wasn't the only one watching the buoyant bridegroom depart. Petar was inside the barn that she stood beside. He glared at Goran through a crack in the door then began to rant at an aged Dora the cow. "If Velina won't have me, then tonight I'll have her!"

Severinna crouched at the sound of his voice, but dared not leave until he finished his speech.

"Once she sees how great a lover I am, she'll have to leave with me! Even if she chooses that fat oaf over me he'll surely kick her out of his house in disgrace when he discovers she's impure. She'll come to me one way or another!"

He was done. Severinna dove into a nearby pile of hay and held her breath.

Petar eyed the dry heap on his way out of the barn. "You remind me of Goran, so big and fluffy."

He grabbed a pitchfork and threw it like a spear. Severinna's breath escaped her as the sharp tines impaled the pile mere inches above her head. The sound was subtle, but Petar had nonetheless heard.

"Who's in there? Is that you, Pasco?" When he received no reply he pierced the pile with his hand and withdrew a golden head of hair. Attached to it was a sultry spy. "Who are you?" When Severinna didn't answer Petar practically pulled her hair from its roots. "Who are you?"

"I'm her mother!"

"Her mother? Whose mother?"

"Velina's!"

Petar dragged her into the barn by the hair and closed the door behind them. "Velina's mother, you say? What did you hear?"

Severinna smiled and pulled the top of her dress down. She didn't have to pull hard or far to release the rest of her rack. "I know that you want my daughter. But wouldn't you rather have a real woman, a woman well experienced in the art of making love?"

Petar's peepers bulged at her bosom, but he still looked down his nose at her. "You mean a whore? Velina's real mother is a whore? No wonder you gave her up!" His attitude did an about face as Severinna let her dress drop to around her ankles. "Well then, let's see what you know."

"Well?" Severinna asked. "How was that?"

Petar nodded his head. "Amazing!"

"Then you'll leave Velina be?"

Petar chuckled. "Do you jest? I want her more than ever now! She may take after you!"

"What?"

"You heard me."

That was the last Severinna heard for a time. Petar drew back a fist and...

Velina was packing her new dresses into an old suitcase. Goran wasn't going to destroy her dreams like he did Axel's ship. She snapped her fingers. She'd almost forgotten! She didn't need any unexpected visitors. She took a dining room chair she'd pilfered and got set to wedge it under the doorknob. She was, unfortunately, a little too late. Petar forced his way in and saw what she was up to. It put a smile on his face.

"Ah. I'm glad you're finally seeing reason. I'll pack a few things and be right back."

Velina huffed. "You're not coming with me."

Petar's eyes nearly popped from his head. "What is that you say?"

"You heard me. I'm going alone."

"And how are you going to survive without a man to take care of you?"

"I don't need a man to take care of me."

"Maybe not. But I'll tell you what you'll do if you don't have one to."

Velina ceased packing. Her interest was piqued for she had no idea how she'd survive in a man's world as a woman alone.

"You'll become a whore, a whore like your mother."

Velina tried to slap him, but he caught her by the wrist. "Take that back! You know nothing of my mother!"

"No? Well I happen to know she's in our barn, um, resting after having made sweet love to me."

"You lie!" Velina wrenched her wrist free and recommenced packing.

Petar unveiled every bit of the rage he'd inherited from his father and ripped the back out of Velina's dress. "Blame it! I'll show you! I'll show you that I could make you happier than that dratted Goran ever could!"

Petar rent her new dress into rags and forced himself on her. Like an invading army, he thrust his battering ram into her fur-covered fortress swiftly and without mercy, drawing first blood.

Severinna woke with a start. She rubbed her sore jawbone and noticed that it was now dark. "Why that scoundrel!"

She put on her dress and ran to the door. When she pushed on it and found it barred on the outside it reminded her of the last time she'd been locked inside a barn. "Not again!"

She remembered seeing a ladder leading to the loft when she'd entered with Petar. If she were lucky it would still be there. She found it by bumping her head into it. She climbed into the loft and peered down. In the light of the moon she could see the haystack in which she'd hid. She took a few steps back, ran, and jumped.

Those who were sleeping in the Vidovich home woke to the sound of someone pounding on their front door. Ivan lit a candle and he and Freida left their warm bed to investigate.

Pasco sat up and addressed his absent brother. "Who could that be? Petar?" He felt of Petar's bed and found it empty. "Now where did he go?"

Petar paused when he, like the others, had heard the pounding on the door. He then shrugged and carried on. "Too late to stop now."

Pasco's interest in what had happened to his brother vanished when the candlelight fell on Severinna's fantastic form. "I must be dreaming!" He grimaced as he pinched himself. "No, I'm awake all right!"

The flesh and blood dream was distraught. "Let me in! Velina's in danger!"

Severinna only got a step or two inside the house before Ivan clamped onto her arm with an iron grip. "Who are you? And how do you know Velina?"

"Let me go! I must save her!"

The pain in Velina's crotch had subsided to a degree, but it had been joined by a new, dull ache in her gums. She could taste her own blood as her unusually sharp canines extended to their true, full lengths for the first time. Everything was somewhat of a blur to her except for the side of Petar's neck where the veins that ran along it seemed to pulsate with life and strength. Her fangs—for now they were undoubtedly no less than fangs—reached for the beckoning blood vessels. It seemed only natural to bite. And bite she did!

Petar yelled in anguish as a torrent of his hot blood spilled into Velina's mouth. He tried to break free, but she had scissored her legs about him and the weaker he became the stronger was she. His very life and strength flowed into her as it ebbed from him.

In the midst of her struggles Severinna's breasts had fallen out of the dress that scarcely contained them. It was then, While Frieda was in shock and the men folk were mesmerized, that they heard Petar scream.

Ivan turned the would-be-intruder over to Pasco. "Keep her here."

Pasco rose on his toes over the titillating task. "Gladly!"

Velina couldn't see Ivan. But she could feel him, on the other side of her bedroom door. She didn't want him to open it, not until she'd finished feeding. She held fast to that thought as she sucked the last of Petar's lifeblood from him.

Ivan grabbed Velina's doorknob. When it didn't turn he put both powerful hands upon it, turned, and wrenched for all he was worth. But still it wouldn't budge. "What the devil?"

He was about to shove the entire door in with his shoulder when the knob gave way. He rushed in with Frieda hot on his heels. She shrieked at what she saw.

Velina was standing at the foot of her bed, her mouth and chest covered with blood. Her basically bare skin was flushed. The crystal blue eyes that she'd been born with clouded over and turned to black as if they were being injected with India ink. She was holding Petar aloft by the nape of his neck and was examining his fatal wound. She then flung his limp body across the room where it struck the wall and fell to the floor in a heap.

Severinna's struggles began anew when she heard Frieda screech. "Don't you want to see what's happening in there?"

Pasco was steadfast in standing his ground. He grinned while gazing at her glands. "Nothing could be more interesting than what I'm seeing right now. Besides, father will take care of everything. He always does."

Velina stretched as if waking from a deep sleep. "God, I feel good!"

She removed her rags, used them to wipe herself off, and then got another of her new dresses to put on. She held it before her and gave it a disapproving glance. "I think it's time for a little wardrobe adjustment." She ripped off the long sleeves and then tore the bottom of the dress like it was a sheet of paper. When she put it on it left all but the uppermost reaches of her legs bare.

"Well?" she asked her audience. "What do you think?"

Severinna ceased her struggles and grabbed her glands. "You like these?"

Pasco drooled at the sight of them. "Do I!"

Severinna wet her fingertips with her tongue and ran them over her nipples. While Pasco stood staring and drooling, her instep shot up from the floor, landing hard in his crotch.

Pasco doubled over then toppled to the floor. "Jezebel!"

Ivan knelt down beside his dead son and confirmed the terrible truth about his adopted daughter. "Y-You're a vampire! But how?"

Severinna shoved Freida aside and entered the room. "Because she takes after her father who himself was a vampire."

Velina looked at the two as if they were out of their minds. "You're both mad! There are no such things as vampires! If I were one would not my image be unseen in a mirror?" She stood before her looking glass. "See? Am I not reflected in it?"

Frieda gasped. "You are, but..."

Velina took a good look. She, like the others, witnessed her defined image blur until it was barely recognizable as human. She then looked at what was left of Petar and felt of her fangs with her fingers. "I am! I am a vampire! I always wondered why my teeth were so sharp. Now I know!"

"A half vampire," Severinna said. "I suppose that's why your reflection didn't completely disappear."

The fear Ivan felt faded. "Only a half vampire, eh? And a female one at that!"

He rushed Velina. To her eyes he appeared to be going in slow motion. It was easy to dodge the ungentlemanly punch he threw at her face. She caught him by the wrist and squeezed. Crunch! His forearm bones snapped like a couple of dry twigs.

She drove him to the floor. "I'm still more than a match for you! So how do you like it? How do you like someone stronger taking advantage of you, lording it over you?"

Pasco joined his mother at the door. "What's going on in here?"

Velina hissed at the sight of him. "Scarf stealer!" She leapt, practically flew, over to him. She clutched him by the throat and squeezed until he turned blue.

Severinna saved his life. "Velina! Release him!"

She didn't. "And why should I listen to you? You're not my mother."

Severinna put a hand on the vampire's shoulder. "Actually, I am."

Velina dropped Pasco and studied Severinna's face. As she did, she saw a vision in her eyes, a vision of baby Velina suckling her breast and looking up at her with her bitty blue eyes.

Velina growled at her newfound mother then threw both Ivan and Pasco into the closet and jammed the dining room chair under the knob hard enough to splinter it. "See how you like it in there!" She pointed at Severinna. "That's the last time I do your bidding. I'll never have to answer to you or to anybody ever again!"

Severinna nodded. "Very well. But shouldn't we be on our way?"

"On our way? Where?"

"We need to go someplace safe, away from this place and from the Granics."

Velina was taken aback. "The Granics? What's so bad about them? I mean besides their being big, fat bores?"

"It's a long story."

Velina spun her mother around and pushed her toward the door. "And you're going to tell me all of it!"

On their way out Velina noticed Frieda cowering in a corner. She was mumbling prayers of protection and making the sign of the cross over her chest.

Velina may have become a creature of the night, but she could still hear that still, small voice, the one that was always telling her to do the right thing. She attempted an apology. "I'm sorry, Frieda, sorry for any anguish I've caused you when you've never treated me as anything but your own flesh and blood. I'm—sorry."

Velina and her newfound mother passed through the gate surrounding the Vidovich home. The former was looking all around. "I can see! I can see almost as if it were the light of day! So where are we going?"

Severinna pointed down the road. "Far away from here. To the city."

Velina went into the barn and came out riding an old gray mare bareback.

Severinna was worried. "Is that our only transport away from here?"

Velina patted the mare. "I'm afraid so. Ivan's been saving up for a new horse to replace Mirta here." She reached down and pulled her mother up like she was weightless.

Once she got her breath back Severinna snapped her fingers. "On my way here I passed a new coaching inn situated at a crossroads. Perhaps we can catch a stage there. It's not too far away."

Velina nodded. "I know of the place. They built it a few years ago for weary travelers on their way to someplace actually worth being."

Mother and daughter dismounted Mirta the mare in front of a three-story structure appropriately called the Crossroads Inn. Velina put her head against that of the animal. It turned around and headed back the way they had come.

Severinna was amazed. "You can communicate with animals?"

Velina shrugged. "I don't know. I just pictured home in my head and that's where she went. Call it what you will."

Severinna nodded toward the inn. "Well, I'm going inside to see if I can arrange transport. You wait here."

Velina wasn't at all satisfied with the setup. "Why can't I go with you? I've never seen this place on the inside."

"They'll be looking for you. The fewer who see you, the better."

Velina put her hands on her hips and huffed. "Fine!"

Severinna was having trouble procuring transportation. "It's vital that I make it to the city tonight. Is there no one to take me?"

The innkeeper she spoke to was adamant. "Not at night, miss. It isn't safe, what with evil spirits roving about and all."

Severinna rolled her eyes. "Well then may I at least have a room for the night?"

The innkeeper smiled under his bushy white moustache. "Why, surely!"

"I need a room at the rear."

The innkeeper took a key from a hook on the wall behind him. "Here we go. Top floor."

Severinna was taken aback. "Top floor? Don't you have anything ground level?"

"Not on the backside. I have several roadside."

Severinna shook her head. "That won't do. I'm a very light sleeper. I suppose I'll take it."

She reached for the key in his hand, but he drew it back. "Pay is in advance." His shaggy white eyebrows rose as Severinna pulled a roll of bills—and a few straws left over from the haystack she jumped into—from her bosom.

"How much?"

Velina occupied herself by reveling in her heightened senses. "I see everything! I hear everything!" She sniffed the cool night air then pinched her nose as she picked up the scent of the nearby stables. "I smell everything!"

Her mother stomped toward her with a key in her hand. "Superstitious fools won't drive about at night. I had to get a room."

Velina wasn't nearly as upset. "Well, I'm not in that much of a hurry to leave anyway. You still have some explaining to do."

Severinna showed her the key. "I got a room in back, but it's on the top floor."

"The top floor?"

"It's all I could get! You wait out back and I'll try and make you a rope out of the sheets."

Velina was doubtful. "Does that work in real life?"

Severinna shrugged. "I don't know, but we can't have that innkeeper seeing you."

Velina sighed and headed around back. "All right. Whatever."

What seemed like a long time later she noticed her foot was naked as she tapped it on the ground. In all the excitement she'd forgotten to slip on a pair of shoes. Oh, well. She thought her feet looked better than any shoes she had anyway. She looked skyward at a window that was open and had a light on within. She rubbed her chin as she vaguely remembered flying across her bedroom at Pasco. "I wonder." She jumped. She stifled a scream that tried to escape her throat as the third story window rushed toward her. She reached the top edge, grabbed it, and swung in.

Severinna was pulling tight a knot she'd made between the bed sheets. "There. That should do it." She turned to the window and clutched at her heart when she saw Velina standing beside it with an arrogant grin on her face. "Velina! How did you get in here? Did you fly?"

"Practically!" Velina's grin vanished as she got on with business. "Now you will explain."

Severinna settled herself upon the bed. "Will you have a seat?"

Velina was too stirred up to sit. "I'll stand."

"First of all let me say that I never meant for my life to turn out the way it did, to hurt you so."

Velina crossed her arms. "Well you did a pretty good job of it, considering."

"I just wanted to live a normal life with my new husband and raise a family, but it all went terribly wrong practically from the start."

Velina went through the entire gamut of emotions as Severinna related her tale of woe. She'd plopped down beside her mother by the end of it. "I think I need that seat now."

"So you see why we must leave this village as soon as possible. It's an accursed place."

"Where would we go?"

Severinna had already thought up a scheme. "I was thinking that we would go back to the city. Perhaps your condition is actually medical in nature and Victor knows of a cure or could find one."

Velina shot up from the bed. "What if I don't want a cure? I feel in control for the first time in my life. No one can tell me what to do, how to dress, or what to say."

"That's your choice, of course. But wouldn't you like to know if there is a cure? Are you really prepared to live the life of a vampire; sleeping by day and feeding by night?"

Velina felt of her fangs, which were now withdrawn. "Feeding! I forgot about that!"

"You will have to do it again and again to survive. Kill again and again."

It wasn't until then that Velina realized the full scope of what she'd done, of what she had become. She willed her canines to extend and they did, almost painlessly this time. She wanted to see what she looked like, fangs and all. The mirror wouldn't cooperate, however, so she smashed it to bits. Following her maternal instincts, Severinna rushed to her daughter's aid. It wasn't necessary, though, as the wound healed itself before their very eyes.

"I'm a monster! Just like my father!"

Severinna corrected her. "Not just like your father. Only half. The other half is of me."

Velina threw her arms up in disgust. "Great! I'm half vampire, half harlot!"

Severinna's face flushed. "I mean half human. You have a human conscience. I saw it back there at the farm when you apologized to Frieda. Monsters don't apologize. They don't have consciences, for the voice of God is absent from their minds."

Velina gazed up at the ceiling. "Then He, too, exists? He's not just another fairy tale?"

Severinna chuckled at her daughter's disbelief. "Your conscience is proof of it. Proof of His existence is all around, at least to those with open minds and eyes to see." She didn't reveal her suspicion that He hated her for some reason. That she couldn't explain.

Velina relented. "All right. We'll go see your whoremonger doctor and see what he has to say."

Chapter Thirty-One

A mortician gave Zarko Granic a look at the late Petar Vidovich before loading him into his hearse.

A wide-eyed look of horror was frozen on the politician's pale face. He pointed at the mortician. "There'll be no word of this to anyone, understand? We don't want to start a panic."

The solemn-faced mortician nodded. He then replaced the sheet over Petar and took him to his hearse.

Zarko turned to Ivan who sported a splint on his wrist. "Why didn't you report this sooner?"

"First, I had to break out of the closet. Then our mare, Mirta, went missing for a spell."

Zarko wasn't his usual calm self as, for the second time in his life, he'd been face to face with a bloodsucker. "You said Velina did this? How can this be? She cannot be one of the undead! I kissed her hand, myself! It was warm! And she had been out in broad daylight, for God's sake!"

Ivan shook his head. "I've stayed up all night wondering myself. She's always been strange. She's never liked the sun and burned very easily. Then there were her teeth."

"Her teeth?"

Frieda jumped into the conversation. "Poor little Velina used to constantly cut her tongue on her teeth until she learned to keep from doing it."

Zarko formed a hypothesis based on what he'd heard. "Then perhaps she was always some sort of lesser, living vampire with latent powers just waiting to be unleashed by something—her age or something else perhaps. Did anything unordinary happen last night prior to her turning?"

Frieda bowed her head in shame and Ivan couldn't look him in the eye.

"Something did happen!" Zarko said. "What was it?"

Ivan finally answered. "Our son, Petar, forced himself upon her just before..."

"Then it was self-preservation! Something still puzzles me, though. That still doesn't explain why she is a vampire in the first place. Were there unusual circumstances surrounding her birth? Is it possible that someone put a curse upon your family?"

"No one put a curse on this family," Ivan said. "As for 'unusual circumstances', we don't know."

"You don't know? Why wouldn't you?"

Freida explained. "We adopted Velina."

"She was adopted? Why am I just now hearing of this?"

"Because she was—is my daughter," Freida said with pride. "I raised her and loved her, which is more than that harlot ever did!"

"Harlot? What harlot?"

Now it was Pasco's chance to chime in. "The most beautiful wench you'll ever see. With udders out to..."

Pasco had his hands cupped far out in front of his chest. An embarrassed Ivan forced them down with his good arm.

Zarko's eyes were now almost as wide as Petar's. "Had she hair of gold?"

Frieda was stunned. "Why yes, as a matter of fact! You've seen her?"

"Not in years. Not since she escaped with the demon child within her womb."

All, save the typically clueless Pasco, went numb with the realization that Velina and the so-called demon child had to be one and the same. The first to free his tongue was Zarko.

"God save us all!" He then ran best he could to his carriage and ordered Andrej to speed away.

Velina woke to the sound of dripping water. She sat up and saw her mother in all her glory, wringing a wet rag over the washbasin. "And I thought mine were big!"

Severinna turned to face her dumbfounded daughter. "Pardon?"

"Your udders! I mean, they're huge! I'd hate to have to lug them around all day."

Severinna made a pained face as she put a hand on her lower back. "Breasts. They're called breasts. And, yes, they can be a burden." She put her dress on and looked down on it in disdain. "I would have to snatch this dress out of the closet in my haste to see you. It was never meant to be worn outside Victor's house. It'll be a chore not to attract attention in it."

Velina couldn't help but nod in agreement. Even she found her eyes naturally gravitating toward her mother's massive mammaries. She swung her feet around toward the floor when Severinna headed for the door. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to get us a ride on the next stage through and you something else to wear."

Velina snorted. "Surely you don't think what I'm wearing is inappropriate."

Severinna pointed skyward. "It's not that, necessarily."

"Then what is it?"

"It's the sun. It's up and already having an effect."

Velina looked herself over. "What are you talking about?"

"Your eyes."

"Yes? What of them?"

"They're blue again."

"What do you mean, 'again'?"

"They were black last night."

"They were?"

"Yes. Black as ink, like your father's."

"Hm!"

Severinna handed her a shard of glass from the broken mirror. "Look."

Velina beamed. "I can see myself again!"

"That's right. Your powers are as good as gone. Thus, you are vulnerable."

Velina's felt a lump form in her throat. "You mean they can get me now?"

"That's why I have to get you a disguise." Severinna blew her a kiss. "Be back soon."

Velina plopped back on the bed. "Great. Now what am I going to do while I wait? Oh, I know!" She sucked on a couple of her fingers and eyed her black bush.

Zarko Granic's carriage arrived at a farm several times the size of the Vidovich's. He disembarked and was met by a particularly plain-looking farmwoman.

"Mr. Granic. To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?"

"Ah, if only it was for pleasure. "I am here to see your husband on urgent business."

"Karlo? He's out in the field with the workers. If you want I'll get him for you."

"Please."

Karlo was no longer young. He was in his thirties and busy commanding a quartet of laborers when his wife approached.

"Karlo!"

"Yes, Franka?"

"It is Zarko Granic."

"Yes? What of him?"

"He is here."

"Here? What would he..." His eyes bulged as he recollected the last words he'd said to the councilor and the pledge he'd made. He dropped what he was doing and wasted no time in leaving the gargantuan garden. "Come men!"

Zarko was closing his gold watch as Karlo and his four-man crew emerged from the field. He pulled Karlo aside and got right to the point. "She, Severinna, has returned."

"I feared as much," Karlo said. And she's brought her demon-child with her?"

"The child has been among us all along."

"What?"

"It is a long story and we have little time."

"Is the town council going to summon the rest who were there?"

Zarko shook his head. "There is no time to convene the council. And the others are all old men now, like myself, and not likely up to the task." He took stock of Karlo's men. "Unlike these young, strapping fellows. Do you think they would help?"

"Let's see." Karlo addressed his men. "Fellows. How would you like to be heroes?"

"Heroes?"

Zarko stepped in. "An evil force has fallen upon our fair community."

"Evil force?"

"A vampire."

"A vampire?"

Some were alarmed. Some were amused.

"Vampires? There are no such things!"

Zarko stood by his strange statement. "While they are mostly an extinct race, a few exist still. One has just killed young Petar Vidovich."

A worker drew a knife. "Petar? I knew of him! If someone or something killed him I want in!"

Another drew a knife of his own. He was identical in appearance to the other, except that the part in his hair went in the opposite direction. "I too!"

Zarko added further incentive. "I will see to it that you are all compensated well for your trouble."

His tempting words motivated a couple more, less enthusiastic workers. "Where do we sign?"

While Zarko went on his way after having rounded up his new army, Karlo gave his men the remainder of the day off. "Rest yourselves. And arm yourselves."

He was about to head for his house when his wife snatched him by the arm. "I thought she was killed by the vampire long ago."

"She wasn't."

"You knew of this and you didn't tell me?"

"I and the others made a pledge not to tell anyone."

"And why are you putting yourself in this danger now?"

"Because I made another pledge."

"A pledge to whom? Was it to Zarko or to your precious Zinka, the only woman you ever really loved?"

Karlo freed his arm and walked away. "To Zarko, of course. And does it matter to whom it was made? A pledge is a pledge."

Franka followed not far behind. "What of your pledge to me? Do I not matter at all? What if you go off and get yourself killed? What will I do then?"

A confident Karlo consoled his worried wife. "I won't get myself killed. It is I who will do the killing."

Severinna was shaking with nervousness. After all this time there was still only one dress shop in this terrible little town whereas the city had dozens! He couldn't still be there, could he? She peered in through the front window as a precaution and just saw a young clerk folding clothes. No Jakov. She went in and braced herself for the typical tongue-wagging to begin. Nothing. The clerk looked at her like she was just another customer.

"May I help you?"

"I, um, need a dark dress and a scarf to match."

The clerk gave her fabulous figure a quick once over and shook his head. "We don't have anything that'll suit you at the moment. Something could be tailored to fit, perhaps. I'll get the owner and..."

"No!" Severinna put her fingers over her loose lips and hoped whoever was in back hadn't heard her outburst. "The dress isn't for me." She pointed at an ebony ensemble hanging nearby. "I'll take that."

The clerk couldn't believe her choice. "But that's a..."

"That's what I want. Wrap it up."

The clerk sighed and shook his head. "Very well. The customer is always right."

Jakov the shopkeeper was in the workroom of his store pumping the treadle of his sewing machine with his foot when he heard the doorbell ring upon Severinna's arrival. He got up in time to see her on her way out. Hair of such luxuriance, a bustle of such beauty he hadn't laid eyes on since... He ran to the window. "My God! Could it be? It is! It has to be!"

The clerk joined him at the window. "What?"

"Not 'what'. Who!"

"Then who?"

"A wench who is supposed to be long dead. A wench who, if she survived, could spell disaster for all of us." Jakov put the 'closed' sign in the window. "Follow her. Watch where she goes and report back here. And whatever you do, don't let her see you."

The confused clerk watched Jakov put on his hat and head for the door. "Where are you going?"

"To see a very important man. Now get going and don't lose her!"

Severinna traveled as discreetly as she could, being a walking hourglass and all. The clerk noticed that she was on the lookout as if she were scared of something and he almost got himself caught here and there, but on each occasion he managed to duck out of sight barely in time.

He breathed a sigh of relief when she entered the hotel, thus ending his disagreeable mission. "Finally! The things I do for that lecher of an employer of mine!"

Zarko Granic was in his office in the town hall. His fingers were almost a blur as he wrote a letter that could wind up saving his life. A gentle knock sounded upon his door just as he finished.

"I said I was not to be disturbed!"

His secretary, Teodor, stuck his head through a crack in the door. "I think you'll want to see this gentleman, Mr. Granic."

Zarko put the letter in an envelope. "Well, let him in. And see that this correspondence reaches its destination in the shortest possible time."

"Yes sir, Mr. Granic."

Zarko frowned at his visitor. "What is it, Jakov? I paid you for your services in full."

"It's not that, sir. It's her."

"Her who?"

"Severinna."

"Severinna! You mean the Severinna? The one who..."

"Yes. The one who is supposed to be dead. She's returned somehow." Jakov gasped. "If she's not dead then neither, perhaps, is her demon-child. My God! Do you think the two of them have come to exact revenge?"

Zarko dared not answer. "Where did you see her?"

"She was in my store just a little while ago. I have my clerk following her as we speak."

Zarko shot up from his desk and shouted at the door. "Teodor!"

His secretary popped in with his coat draped over his arm. "Yes sir. I was just leaving for the telegraph office."

"Yes. You do that. But first send for Karlo."

"Shall I have him come here?"

"Yes. No wait!" Zarko glanced about as if the town hall possessed unfriendly ears. "Have them await me at the dress store."

"Yes sir."

Jakov helped Zarko on with his coat. "You mean we're going to do the same again? We're going to bait yet another vampire using the wench?"

"If it becomes necessary. Now all we need is some locale central to town." He shook a fat fist. "Ah, I have it! We'll use the same place I found that wretched female in the first place!"

"The Wolf's Bane? But will Dragan play along?"

Dragan, the barkeep, had no customers at the moment so he was occupying his time attempting to woo his latest barmaid. "Come on. One kiss. What could it hurt?"

His latest pretty little thing pushed him away. "My reputation!"

Dragan snickered. "Reputation? What reputation?"

The barmaid didn't answer. She curtseyed instead, looking past him as she did.

Dragan twisted his wrinkled, balding head around and saw Zarko and Jakov standing behind him. "Zarko Granic! The last time I had the pleasure of your company was when you went and got my all-time favorite barmaid killed."

Zarko nodded at the bewildered barmaid. "Excuse us, please."

The girl curtseyed again. "Yes sir, Mr. Granic."

Zarko waited until she was out of earshot to continue. "She is not dead."

"Not dead? How can that be? Did the vampire not kill her?"

"No. And she has indeed returned to plague us, her and her evil offspring."

Dragan's legs suddenly failed him. He clutched the bar for support. "And you've come to tell me that she, that they have come for me!"

A slight, sly smile appeared in the corner of Zarko's mouth. "Yes, yes they have come for you, Dragan."

The barkeep clutched the councilor by his lapels. "You'll protect me, won't you? I pay my taxes! I helped the town buy that shiny new fire engine! You have to protect me!"

Zarko wrenched himself free. "Yes, I will protect you, but I will need your help to do it."

"What? What do you want me to do?"

"Send your help home for the night and close your tavern until I return."

Dragan's jaw dropped. "Close? But what of my customers, my paying customers?"

Zarko was indifferent to his pecuniary predicament. "I should think you would not mind sacrificing a little money for the sake of your very life."

Dragan shook his head until he had it on straight. "You're right. Of course you're right. I'll close as soon as you leave and await until you return."

Zarko nodded goodbye to him and left with Jakov. The latter turned to him as the tavern door closed behind them.

"Are they really coming for him?"

Zarko shrugged. "I have not the foggiest idea. They may be. Either way we have our trap. Now we must acquire the bait."

Jakov whistled at the councilor's cunning. "No wonder you've been town council president for so long!"

Zarko paid him no heed and headed straight for his carriage. "Andrej! To the dress store!"

Velina's let out a satisfied sigh and looked at the door. What was taking her mother so long? She sat bolt upright as a terrible thought entered her head. Had she been abandoned again? She rushed over to the window and opened the curtain a crack. "Ow!" A thin shaft of sunlight had alighted onto her forearm and burned it like a red-hot poker. She looked at the lesion and noticed that it wasn't mending itself, as had her cuts from the night before. "Heal, damn you! Heal!"

Severinna slipped into the room and sniffed. "Is something burning?"

Velina displayed her blistered wound. "I am! I've been sunburned pretty badly before, but this is ridiculous! And why isn't it healing?"

"Like I said, it's daylight. It doesn't exactly agree with your kind. That's why we must leave here as soon as possible."

Velina surveyed what her mother had brought back for her to wear. "Isn't that a, a funeral dress?"

"Not just that," Severinna said. "Also a matching hat and veil and a pair of long gloves. The dress itself should be long enough to cover your feet."

Velina stomped on the floor. "But it's a funeral dress!"

Severinna was getting peeved at her daughter's display. "And a perfect disguise that'll keep you from burning!"

Velina took another look at her reddened forearm and ceased complaining.

Severinna handed the ensemble to her. "Put it on. The innkeeper said that there's a stage scheduled to come through within the hour. Not a minute too soon for me!"

Velina noticed her mother staring at the door as her self-made mini dress dropped the floor. "Are we really in such danger?"

"There was only one place I could get that outfit for you."

Velina gave her a knowing nod. "The dress store."

"Yes. And if that lecher, Jakov, ever managed to catch sight of me it'd be curtains for us both."

Velina covered her curves with the dark dress. "You don't think he did, do you?"

"No, thank God."

The handsomest of Karlo's workers was uneasy. He didn't like the admiring way Jakov's clerk was looking him over from his head to his toes. "How long will we have to wait?" he asked.

Zarko's carriage pulled up outside.

"Here he is now," Karlo said.

"Good!"

The clerk took his eyes off the good-looking laborer long enough to fill in his employer. "Sir, I hope you don't mind my letting these fellows into the store. They said the town council summoned them here. Now why would the town council..."

Jakov had no time for lengthy explanations. "That's fine, Nino. Where is she?"

The keeper of the Crossroads Inn heard the sound of several sets of feet entering his establishment almost as one. He shot up from his stool behind the front desk. "What's the meaning of this?"

Karlo and his men parted in the middle so Zarko Granic could pass. "You have two female guests in one of your rooms. One is top heavy, with hair of gold. The other with black hair and blue eyes."

The innkeeper recognized Zarko and saw that all those with him were armed to the teeth so he decided to cooperate without question. "Aye, the first you mentioned I do have on the register. But the second I've not seen."

Zarko put out his hand. "Let's have the key." He passed it on to Karlo. "Just because he has not seen her does not mean she is not up there. Be careful."

The innkeeper gaped at Karlo and his men as they crept up the stairs. Zarko caught him by his moustache.

"In the interest of public safety you will tell none of this."

"Yes, sir, Mr. Granic. Not a word."

"And if this does not go as planned I have something for you to do."

The innkeeper felt faint. "Me?"

"Well? How do I look?"

Severinna looked over her black-as-night daughter. "Well protected."

Velina gasped under her veil.

"What is it?"

Velina flung the veil from her frightened face. "I may be weak, but still, coming up the stairs. So much hatred! So much danger! I can feel it!"

Severinna employed a trick she'd used before and shoved a chair under the doorknob. "Quick! Help me!"

Velina heard a key ever so gently slide into the keyhole as she helped her mother move the bed under the window. The key turned slowly while Severinna tied the bed sheet rope to the foot of the bed.

Her mother kissed her on the forehead. "Hide my love, while I try to buy you some time."

"Aren't you coming?"

Severinna replaced Velina's veil over her face. "There's no time. Go!"

Velina looked like a shadow cast against the wall as she descended. "I—feel—so—heavy," she said between labored breaths. As soon as her feet hit the ground she dove into the woods.

The chair Severinna had thrust under the doorknob shattered as strong shoulders rammed the door in. A half dozen armed men rushed into the room, weapons at the ready. All but one of them were held still by Severinna's spell.

Karlo alone was unaffected, as he'd known more of what to expect. He ran for the window and spotted the dangling bed sheet rope. He spun around. "She's escaped!"

Zarko Granic walked into the room. "It's all right, Karlo."

Severinna gnashed her teeth at the sight of him. "You!"

Karlo pointed his rifle toward the window. "It's all right? But she's gone!"

"She will come back."

"Now why would she do that?"

Zarko smiled at Severinna. "Because we have something she wants."

Severinna's anger-reddened face went pale. "No! Not again!"

"Bring her!"

Velina ran until she could run no more. Her lungs were afire and her bare feet throbbed. She collapsed and sat with her back against an evergreen that provided plenty of shade.

She looked back in the direction of the inn. "I'll come back for you, mother, when I'm strong again."

Her harried head drooped as she fell off to sleep.

Severinna was struggling against having to go to the last place she thought she'd ever find herself: the Wolf's Bane. A sign on the door said the place was closed, but it opened wide for her. And who else was it there to greet her? Her old boss, Dragan!

"Ah, if it isn't my favorite old serving wench. Time's been kind to you, I see. Come in!"

Zarko brought up the rear. "Release her."

Severinna pointed her finger at Dragan as if it were a sword. "You keep that devil away from me!"

Dragan put his hand to his chest. "I? You're the devil with your demon-child, come back to do me harm."

"Nonsense! Where did you get such a fool idea? All we wanted was to leave this vile village."

It was Dragan's turn to point fingers and he pointed one at Zarko. "You told me they were coming for me!"

Zarko cleared his throat. "As long as the vampire lives all our lives are in jeopardy."

"Well I expect to be reimbursed, at least, for my loss of income."

Zarko sighed. "Very well. I will see that it is done." He turned to Karlo while keeping at least one eye on Dragan. "Keep her here. Keep her safe until it is over."

Severinna made a final appeal to the councilor. "Just let us go. Velina and I just want to leave and never come back."

Zarko was unmoved. "That, my conscience would not allow. She and her kind have wreaked too much destruction upon myself and unto others to be simply 'let go'."

Severinna tried to scratch his eyes out, but was held back. "Conscience! What conscience? Velina was only defending herself!"

"As am I," Zarko said. "As am I."

The door had scarcely closed behind the councilman before Dragan was circling Severinna like a wizened old vulture. "Time's been kind to you. I see no gray and what wrinkles you have are few and shallow."

"Unlike yours!" Severinna retorted.

He yanked her dress down and kneaded her breasts like they were enormous piles of dough. "And these lovelies sag scarcely at all! If only old Nicholaus were still alive to see this!"

Severinna appealed to Karlo who sat nearby with his rifle resting across his knees. "Get this cretin away from me!"

He was as indifferent to her plight. "You made your bed, whore. Now lie in it."

"But Zarko said..."

Dragan's evil grin stretched from one side of his face to the other. "Ah, but Zarko's not here. The sun's not due to go down for hours now. What do you suppose we do to occupy our time until then?"

Karlo's men licked their lips as Dragan twiddled Severinna's nipples. They looked to their leader for the go-ahead to do what they all had in mind.

Karlo didn't have to be a mentalist to know what they were thinking. Fearing his men might mutiny if he refused them, he pointed upward. "You're lowlifes, the lot of you. Take it upstairs and out of my sight."

Severinna collapsed to the floor. Dragan thought, as did the others, that she'd fainted.

"Oh well," he said. "I suppose an unconscious harlot is better than no harlot at all."

Severinna's eyes jerked open. She glared at him, but she didn't move.

Dragan saw. He drew back a hand to slap her. "Get up!"

Click! Karlo had cocked the hammer on his rifle. "Now there'll be none of that. Did you really think she'd be willing?"

Dragan dropped his hand. "It's been nigh on twenty years since you deprived me of my birthday present, whore. Now you're going to give it to me, willing or not!" He motioned at the hunters and they hoisted Severinna on their shoulders.

Karlo had some last words of advice for them as they ascended the stairs with her. "Don't be wearing yourselves thin, now. You'll all be needing your legs under you tonight."

Severinna had planned to offer passive resistance to the hunters. She was going to lie on the bed like a rag doll while they did their worst. Karlo's words, however, called for a change of plan. Although she was outnumbered five to one, she would do her very best to weaken them before their encounter with Velina. She hoped with all her heart that her daughter was far away, never to be seen anywhere near there again, but just in case...

The hunters carried their comely catch into an upstairs room and tossed her onto the bed within.

Dragan closed the door behind them. "Recognize your old room, harlot?"

To everyone's surprise, the rag doll disrobed herself. "Yes, I do. Now may we get this sordid business over and done with?"

Dragan laughed. "I always knew you were a whore!"

Zarko Granic signed the bottom page of a small stack of papers in the presence of a solemn-faced man.

"That's it then," the man said. "All signed and legal." He shook Zarko's hand and took his leave.

Goran met the man at the door to his father's study and said goodbye with a nod. Zarko saw him and waved him inside.

"Was that not the family lawyer?" Goran asked.

"Yes it was, my son. Sit."

Goran took a chair and, unbeknownst to his father, watched him as he turned the dial to a large safe. He mouthed the first two numbers to the combination. He knew them already. Then he nodded in satisfaction as he finally found out the third. He sat back and averted his eyes while Zarko put his copies of the official papers in the safe, closed the door, and spun the dial.

Goran grew concerned at the paleness of his father's face as he turned around. "What's the matter?"

Zarko took a deep breath. "Do you remember what happened to your sister?"

"Why, yes. How could I not?"

"And of what was done concerning the matter?"

"Yes. You had the beast destroyed."

"I indeed had it destroyed, but the story didn't end there. The girl we used to lure the creature survived with its demon seed within her and she bore its evil. The evil is here now and seeking revenge."

Now Goran began to blanch. "On you?"

"I can only assume so. I summoned our lawyer here to make sure the family papers are in order in case my latest efforts are not successful."

"What efforts?"

"A trap has been laid at the Wolf's Bane and if that does not work, I have sent for your brother."

"Josip?"

"Yes." Zarko leaned forward in his seat and looked Goran straight in the eye. "Now for the most startling part of the story."

"More startling than what you've already told me? How can that possibly be?"

"Brace yourself."

Goran found himself unconsciously gripping the arms of his chair until his knuckles went white.

"The demon seed, the evil offspring of the creature is none other than Velina Vidovich, your intended."

Goran's jaw sagged while his brain processed what he'd heard. Once he came to his conclusion he sprung up from his chair with his teeth clenched. "If you really didn't want me to marry her you could've just said so! You didn't have to invent such an outlandish story! Even going so far as to include Josip! I know how he feels about you!"

Zarko's head made a regretful nod. "That I am the vampire, feeding off the less fortunate through my position in the local government."

"And he thinks little more of me," Goran added. "He joined the army just to get away from us and our 'wicked' legacy."

"Be that as it may, before Josip left he promised me that if ever another creature such as killed your sister passes this way he will return to aid in its destruction."

Goran mindlessly mussed his thinning hair. "Well, perhaps I'll believe you if and when I see him. Until then..." He stomped out of the study, went up to his room, and sulked the rest of the day.

A military messenger saluted a superior officer. "Lieutenant Granic? And urgent telegram for you from your father."

Lieutenant Josip Granic, an officer in the Austro-Hungarian Cavalry turned to meet his messenger. He only vaguely resembled his father, Zarko. He was tall, solidly built, and sported a handlebar moustache under his nose.

"Thank you, Corporal."

The more he read of his telegram the more his moustache twitched. It read:

Dear Josip. Stop. "V" threat anew. Stop. I am primary target. Stop. Require immediate assistance. Stop.

Josip lit a match to the message then began packing.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Velina's head snapped up. Something was growling. It was a wolf! And it wasn't alone! It clamped onto her calf.

"Ow! Bite me, will you?"

She returned the wolf's favor and bit it on the neck. It whined and tried to break free, but Velina held fast. Another wolf attempted to save its brother, but was sent flying into the night with a swift kick. The rest of the pack scattered into the forest, whimpering as they went.

Velina sucked the animal dry. She felt its strength flooding into her veins. Despite the darkness she saw both the burn on her forearm and the wound on her calf disappear.

She stood up and looked over her voluminous, dark ensemble. "I can't very well fight in this."

Velina's bared arms and legs were a blur as she flashed through the woods as fast as any wild animal could. In a fraction of the time it had taken her to flee to her hiding place she was back at the inn. She walked right in through the front door in what was left of her funeral dress and made her way to the front desk.

The innkeeper's bushy eyebrows rose with surprise, although he was actually expecting her. "You have black hair, as I was told. But your eyes are far from blue. And I certainly wasn't told that you'd be half naked!"

Velina's eyes narrowed. "Told by whom?"

"Why by none other than the president of the town council, Zarko Granic. He told me to give you a message."

"And that would be?"

"He said that if you'd like to pay your mother a visit, you'll find her at the Wolf's Bane."

"At the what?"

"The town tavern." Curiosity got the better of the innkeeper. "If you don't mind my asking, what's this all about?"

Velina smiled. "Why, don't you know? They're out to kill me."

"Why, whatever for?"

"Because I'm a vampire."

The innkeeper chuckled. "Surely you jest. You don't look like a vampire to me."

Velina latched onto one of his shaggy eyebrows and pulled his face close to hers. "Are you sure?"

Her sharp incisors grew a half an inch in length right before the innkeeper's eyes. He was just the messenger and a relative innocent so she let him go. As she was leaving, he crossed himself and ducked behind his desk.

The current crop of vampire hunters carried Severinna back downstairs as they had on their way up. Now, though, it was all they could do to stand upright on their rubbery legs.

Karlo banged his fist on a table. "I warned you not to spend yourselves! Now what good are you?"

Dragan brought up the rear, as he was the oldest and the wobbliest of the bunch. His knees buckled and he almost fell down the stairs. "They won't need to be at full strength. This Velina is only a half vampire at best and a just a girl at that." He waved a crucifix in the air. "I bought this little item this afternoon just in case, but I probably won't even need it."

Severinna was propped up in a chair in the center of the room. Her risqué dress was ripped to shreds and its remnants used to bind her. She was tied to keep her from falling off the chair as well as to prevent escape, for she was limp as a rag doll for real this time.

Karlo headed up the stairs with his big rifle, while the others hid behind the bar.

One of the hunters turned to Dragan. "What are you doing back here? Are you going to help us fight?"

"Me? No!" He pointed at the bottles of liquor that were well within their reach. "I'm just here to keep you from helping yourselves to my drink."

More than one hunter scowled at him, for that was just what they'd had in mind.

Velina made her way to the Wolf's Bane and saw only a faint light emanating from a lower window. She made toward it and peered in. A low growl emanated from her throat as she saw the condition her mother was in. Severinna was sitting in the middle of the room with her head bowed and without a stitch on. The light of a barely burning lantern was placed at her feet.

Velina couldn't see anyone else, but she wasn't duped. She could feel the presence of others in the tavern besides her mother. It was a trap, obviously. So what was a vampire to do? Go in like a charging bull or...

Velina went around the building and spotted a balcony a mere couple of stories above her. She made the jump with ease. She felt no one inside the room so she stole in.

She opened the door a crack and surveyed the trap that had been laid for her. A small army was huddled behind the bar. Karlo lay in a prone position upstairs. He was armed with the latest of breech loading rifles, but Velina didn't discern that. She just knew that he had a dangerous weapon pointed at her mother. He had to go first.

The vampire crept behind Karlo in the darkness so without sound that he didn't hear her until she allowed him to. "Expecting company?"

Karlo reacted as Velina hoped she would and swung the barrel of his weapon in her direction. She caught the barrel before he got a bead on her and yanked it from his grasp.

"I'm kind of new to this vampire thing. Let's see how strong I am, shall we?" She broke the rifle in half without too much effort and was duly impressed with herself. "Not bad!"

A weary Severinna raised her head like it was made of lead. "Velina! Flee!"

Velina yelled over the banister. "Not without you!"

One of the hunters swung a musket toward the stairs. "She's up there! Give me some light!"

While Dragan fumbled with lighting a lantern, Karlo's hand wrapped around a long hunting knife. Velina grabbed his wrist with one hand and his privates with the other. Karlo roared in pain.

The musket-wielding hunter below caught sight of a shadowy figure flying toward him. Boom! Despite his near point blank shot, the dark form kept coming and crashed into him.

Dragan got the lantern lit and shone it on the two fallen figures beside him. "It wasn't the vampire! It was Karlo!"

Indeed, Karlo lay across the crushed hunter, a bullet hole having been bored through him. Dragan placed the lantern on the bar then hunkered down and clutched his crucifix. The others rushed out from behind the bar. With the increased light they could plainly see Velina perched upon the banister like a monkey on a limb.

"Velina, please," Severinna pleaded. "I can't bear to be responsible for your death too!"

"You won't be!" Velina assured her.

She leapt from the banister and completely over her mother's head. The twins already had knives in each of their hands. They flung them all at her, virtually at once.

To Velina, the knives looked like they were coming at her in slow motion. She slapped one blade and then another aside as they came at her. But there were two more and they sunk deep into her flesh. She fell at the twins' feet.

Severinna was mortified. "Velina!"

Dragan popped his head up from behind the bar at the terrified tone in her voice. "Is it done?"

"Not quite," said a hunter with an ax.

He braced a foot on Velina's shoulder and raised his weapon high overhead. Before he could bring it down, however, the vampire grabbed hold of his leg and twisted it out from under him. Crack! He fell to the floor with a broken knee.

Velina got to her own knees and grimaced as she pulled one knife from her stomach and the other from her thigh. "Lord that hurt!"

The twins witnessed the gash in her bare leg seal before their eyes and decided they'd had enough excitement. They ran for the door, but Velina tossed a thick wooden table at them and bowled them over before they got there. The vampire, at the least, could hear some of their bones breaking from the impact.

She felt the chill of evil at her backside, spun around, and saw the barkeep was no longer lingering behind the bar. He was behind her mother! In one hand he had a crucifix. In the other was one of the knives she'd slapped away and it was at Severinna's throat!

Dragan looked over Velina's luscious, long legs. "Like mother, like daughter. Beautiful!" He remembered how sweet it was bedding his old barmaid at last and wondered what it would be like to do the same to her sexy spawn.

Velina looked into his eyes. In them she saw what he was remembering. In them she saw her mother under him the same way she'd been under Petar. She bared her fangs and snarled like the fiercest beast.

"You will leave this place," Dragan said.

He shoved the crucifix in Velina's direction as if it would speed her on her way. She felt a strange urge to draw away from it as if it were a snake that was out of striking range, but it wasn't threatening otherwise. She was more concerned about the knife. She backed up a step.

Dragan was feeling confident in his newfound power over the voluptuous vampire. "But before you go, lift your dress and give us a little look."

The crippled ax wielder couldn't believe his ears. "What, are you mad? Drive her away!"

It was Severinna's turn to speak. "Listen, Velina. Through the years I've come to believe that God hated me; that He took my husband and ruined the life I thought I was supposed to lead. But if He hadn't taken my husband I would've never bedded the vampire. If I hadn't bedded the vampire, then I would never have had you." She glanced at Dragan. "And if I hadn't had you, then who would there be to punish the likes of him?" She bit down hard on the barkeep's wrist.

Dragan roared in pain and, without thinking, slashed. The knife dropped from his numb fingers. "Oh, now what have I done?"

Velina's eyes turned red with rage as her humanity faded into oblivion. "You have signed your own death warrant."

Dragan turned and ran, but he didn't get far. Velina hoisted him and slammed him onto the bar.

"I would bite you, but the thought of putting my lips to your flesh sickens me." She snatched a mug then inspected the long nail on her index finger. "Thank you, Goran Granic, for giving me the opportunity to avoid my chores for a time and grow this."

She used it as a knife and slashed into Dragan's jugular. The barkeep thrashed about in a desperate attempt to escape. A descending, rib-cracking fist hammered the fight out of him.

"Stop your squirming! I'm thirsty!" The vampire filled a mug with the warm red stuff and chugged it down. "Ah, refreshing!"

Velina's eyes began to clear as the blind rage that had driven her to murderous mayhem subsided somewhat. It was then that she noticed the man who'd held the ax had hobbled over to the front door, endeavoring to make his escape. Unfortunately for him the table and the twisted twins beneath it barred his way.

Velina placed her bloody mug on the bar. "Tell me, ax man. Did you have your way with my mother too? Because if you didn't I might just be tempted to let you live."

He turned to face her. "I didn't! I swear!"

Velina looked into his eyes and saw the truth. She saw Severinna pleasuring him from his point of view. "You really shouldn't swear." She pounced on him from across the room, grabbed hold of his bad leg, and twisted it even further. "And you shouldn't lie!"

He screamed in agony then fainted from the pain as she all but tore his leg off at the knee.

Velina left him and knelt beside her mother and wondered what would happen if she left her there? Would she be buried in an unmarked grave like some penniless peasant? Or, worse yet, might the townspeople cut off her head in case she was a vampire too?"

The vampire felt the warmth of the nearby lantern on her calf and it sparked an idea in her head. She took the oil from that lamp and every other fuel source she could find and doused the Wolf's Bane as thoroughly as she could. "That should do it."

She paid a last visit to Dragan, who still lay upon the bar. His hand was clamped to his neck in a feeble attempt to retain what little blood he had left in him.

"Farewell, you old scoundrel. You and your den of iniquity are about to leave this world." She took a lit lantern and threw it against a wall where it smashed and ignited a tapestry. "And the world will be a better place for it!"

A couple of chronic alcoholics wandered toward the Wolf's Bane and saw bright orange light shining through the windows. "Fire!" yelled the less inebriated of the two. "I'll sound the alarm!"

Velina was finding it hard to leave her mother. "I know you can't hear me, but please forgive me for failing you."

Her ears caught the sound of a ringing bell through the roar of the flames. It roused her from her reverie. Fire had surrounded her. How was she to escape without being burned?

As if to answer her question, her body became as light as air. Through a strange mist she saw the flames pass her by without burning her. Then the very wall of the tavern became unsubstantial and let her pass.

The drunk who hadn't gone to sound the alarm stared at a bottle he was carrying when a plume of smoke poured from the tavern and solidified into a bare legged beauty. "Damn, this is strong stuff!"

By that time several onlookers had joined him. "It's not the drink, brother," said one. "We saw it too!"

The mist that surrounded Velina vanished and she felt as if she had weight again. "Well, I'll be!" she said. She was the mist!

Clang! Clang! Clang! A shiny new steam-powered fire engine was pulled to the tavern by a pair of horses. A team of firefighters alighted and approached the burning building with the tools of their trade in hand.

Velina met them with clenched fists. "Stay away! This is my fire!"

The fire chief dismissed her demented demand. "The smoke must have affected her mind and the flame burned off half her dress." He took Velina by the shoulders. "Here. Take her."

Velina grabbed him in response and hurled him backward. He soared through the air and bowled over the other firefighters. They weren't hurt badly, but they stayed put for the sake of self- preservation.

Velina turned toward the tavern. She sighed with satisfaction at what had come to serve as her mother's funeral pyre.

A considerable crowd had congregated. Velina directed her attention toward them, studied their faces, felt their emotions.

"Why do you look at me like that? Are you afraid of me? You should be!" Drunk with power, she shook her fist at them. "I could crush you all like the bugs you are!"

Velina could tell that many of the men were more consumed by their lust for her in her half-there dress than by fear of her. She remembered what their kind had done to her and to her mother and advanced with her weapons drawn. "In fact, I think I will! I will crush you!"

There was a collective gasp as the crowd saw Velina's fangs and realized her true nature. While some ran screaming into the night, the remainder of the group parted way for one brave soul to advance. It was Mother Mirta.

"You will not harm these people," she said matter-of-factly.

Velina couldn't help laughing. "What makes you think I'll obey you or anybody ever again?"

"Because I know you. You would not harm innocents."

Velina snorted. "There are no innocents. Isn't that what your religion teaches? Besides, even I don't know myself anymore."

Mother Mirta stood steadfast. "Nonetheless, you shall withdraw."

Velina snarled. Now the old woman was just making her mad. It was one thing to be brave, but she was being downright foolish. "How are you going to stop me?" she asked.

The Mother Superior emitted a mournful sigh. "I'd hoped to reason with you, that I wouldn't need—this."

She reached under her cloak and brought out a crucifix. It was the second time in one night someone had intended to use it against her. In the first instance, Velina had just felt vaguely uncomfortable. Now she was falling to pieces! Her body quaked to the bone while her mind was seized by a debilitating fear that came from out of nowhere.

"What's happening to me? It's just a, a piece of metal!"

Mother Mirta taught the vampire a hard lesson. "Not in the hands of a true believer, it isn't. There is a far greater power in the universe than you could ever possess, the power of the almighty living Christ. Now begone!"

Velina had no choice but to run off. She snarled like a wild beast, her humanity gone. The Mother Superior was congratulated and thanked for her service, but she would have none of it.

"This is no time to celebrate," she said. "A soul has been lost here tonight."

Dragan's newest barmaid was enjoying her night off—atop her lover. "If that lecher tries to kiss me again," she complained, "so help me I'll kick him right where it hurts men most!"

Her lover looked up at her as she gyrated above him. "You're so good tonight, Bojana. Why, you're positively radiant!"

She looked down upon her titillating torso and found that it had a strange orange hue to it. Turning her eyes to the window, she saw the reason why. "Oh my god! It's burning! The Wolf's Bane! It's burning!"

A thirtyish blond fellow with bushy sideburns arrived at the scene of the fire by carriage and accosted the idle firefighters. "What are we paying you loafers for? Why aren't you dousing the fire? Is there something wrong with the new engine?"

"It's not that, Mr. Bubalo, it was..."

Bojana bounded across the boulevard in her nightgown. "Oh my god! I could've been in there!"

One of the drunks that first found the fire gawked at her heaving cleavage. Then he asked, "And why weren't you? Why wasn't the Wolf's Bane open tonight?"

"It was Zarko Granic's doing. He ordered it closed on this night and had me sent home. Now I'm glad he did!"

Mr. Bubalo clenched his teeth and glared at a hill that overlooked the town. "Zarko!"

The Granic estate sat on the same hill that Mr. Bubalo was looking upon with such hatred. Zarko stood outside his house, observing the fire that burned unchecked below.

Goran joined him. "I heard the town hall bell ringing and came right down. Is that the Wolf's Bane?"

"So you are speaking to me again?"

Goran shrugged. "For now."

"Yes, then, it is."

"What does this mean?"

"I am not sure, but I fear it does not bode well for this old soul."

Velina ran through the village streets like a scared stray dog. She was a monster that everyone wanted to kill. She had to find refuge, but where? She looked up at the full moon and silhouetted by it was the town hall bell. Shortly, she was scaling the town hall wall like a spider climbing a web. She reposed atop the massive beam from which the bell hung.

So this was the price of power. She could put an end to it. She could let the mob have her and it would all be over. Velina clenched her fists. But then they would still be out there, those who had a part in mother's murder. They and countless others of their ilk would be left to roam free. She couldn't have that. Someone had to be an instrument of justice. Someone had to do something about them. And who better than she?

The vampire scrutinized her funeral dress. Its seams were ripped and it smelled of smoke. But not before she got herself a new dress!

Chapter Thirty-Three

While Velina slept over their heads, the town council was gathered for a tribunal. Mr. Bubalo, who had berated the new fire department the night before, now had the old president in his sights.

"What were you thinking, Zarko Granic?"

The object of his remonstrations was unapologetic. "I was thinking as I always have. I was thinking of the public safety."

"The public safety? How can you say that? You are directly responsible for a fire that destroyed one town structure and threatened others! Your actions have resulted in loss of life!"

Zarko remained unrepentant. "A setback, I admit, but the vampire must be destroyed at all cost."

Bubalo threw his arms up in the air. "Vampires? There is no such thing!"

Zarko smiled, for he had proof to back his absurd claim. "There are numerous witnesses who would attest to the contrary."

Bubalo rebutted with a rational explanation. "Mass hysteria brought on by the fire! The fact remains that of your own volition and without council approval you have acted against a personal enemy and, in fact, put the public in jeopardy."

Zarko scanned the occupants of the room. Except for the aged, stick thin councilor who sat snoring in his seat, those in the room were comparatively youthful and new to their posts. "I had to act decidedly and alone," he said. "I did not have time to justify my plans to an assembly of unbelieving young upstarts."

Bubalo snorted. "Well, if this 'unbelieving young upstart' has his way, the days of your heavy-handed dominance of this institution are at an end. And thus I put it to a vote as to whether or not you retain your post as president."

Zarko stood up and pointed at him. "You don't fool me! You are just using this as an excuse to gain my position!"

Bubalo turned a deaf ear to the accusation. "Those in favor of Zarko Granic's removal from office raise your hands."

The younger council members raised their hands unanimously and without hesitation. One of them nudged the old councilor into consciousness. When he saw everyone else's hands were up, he raised his own in response.

Zarko Granic pounded his fist upon the table as he had at the outset of his vampire dilemma almost twenty years prior. "So this is how it ends! I, who have devoted my life to this community, am being thrown out into the street!"

Bubalo strained not to smile, for he indeed lusted after Zarko's post.

The former president finally conceded defeat. "She will come for me next. Will I at least get special protection?"

Bubalo shook his head. "You know as well as we that your greed and that of past councils has left the town coffers nigh empty. Our resources have been strained to the limit. As a result, you will receive the same consideration than would an ordinary citizen, no more, no less."

"But I am no ordinary citizen," Zarko protested. "I was in government before some of you were even born. You owe me. You all owe me!"

"Yes," Bubalo agreed. "We all owe you for our present predicament. Thank you very much, Zarko Granic."

The council was quite relieved when he stomped out of the room. He was still powerful and intimidating to be sure, but his era was over. It was their time now.

The old councilor had fallen asleep again. He jerked awake again at the sound of the chamber door slamming shut and observed that the president's chair was empty. "Did Zarko leave?"

"Yes," Bubalo said. "And good riddance."

Bats had been clinging to the underside of the beam below Velina. She woke to the sound of fluttering wings as they flew off in search of food with the setting of the sun.

She patted her empty stomach. She could use a little something to eat, herself. But what? Or, rather, whom? She snapped her fingers. She knew. But how do she go about finding him?

Velina was padding along the village streets in her bare feet when she heard heavy footsteps. She ducked into an alley and let an armed citizen's patrol pass by. While being careful to avoid the patrol and others like it that were stomping about, she concentrated on her intended prey. She could feel his presence as she had the hidden vampire hunters in the Wolf's Bane the night before. Eventually she reached his home. Now she knew where he lived. But how would she get him to come out? Would she just call to him, ask him to come out to play? Maybe she would!

Jakov, the dress shop owner, lay beside his wife in bed. While she slept soundly, he cowered under the covers.

"She's coming to get me," he whispered. "She's coming to get me."

"Jakov."

"Yes, Vesna?"

His wife barely budged at the sound of her name. She was still asleep! Then who had spoken?

"Jakov."

It was someone else! Someone outside the window! Jakov gathered up just enough courage to look and see who it was.

"Jakov, come to me."

It was she! The vampire! And, although he didn't see her mouth move, she was still calling to him. All the while she was scarcely dressed!

"Come to me, Jakov."

He looked at his wife's huge hips nestled under the covers. Whereas they rarely offered him an open invitation, a beauty beckoned below. Gradually his fear faded.

"And bring your store key."

Jakov woke with a shiver. He looked down at his feet and saw his exposed toes. "No wonder!" Taking in his surroundings, he realized that he was in his store while dressed only in his nightshirt. "How did I get here?"

"I called you."

Jakov jumped at the sound of the voice he thought he'd heard in a dream. It was the vampire!

She grabbed him by the throat. "You told them where to find my mother! I should kill you for that! But I need you to do something for me."

Jakov could barely reply through his squashed vocal cords. "What is it? I'll do anything!"

Velina released him. "That's better." She took hold of the uneven hem of her dress. "I need a tailor. This is torn and smells of smoke."

She took a pen and paper, leaned over Jakov's work desk as he sat beside her, and reconstructed a rendering that her foster father, Ivan, had burned years before. She was so caught up with her creation that she didn't notice her abbreviated funeral dress had slid up her ripe, round rump. Her vexing vulva was visible and so close to Jakov's nose that he could practically smell it. He, in fact, had to resist a powerful urge to take a sniff.

Velina put down his pencil. "There we are."

The vampire observed that Jakov was holding his hands firmly in his lap in a valiant effort at self-control. She laughed and handed him the drawing. He took it with one hand while keeping the other stationed in its place.

Velina sat on the desk with her long legs dangling off the edge. "Well? What do you think?"

Jakov's eyeballs bulged at the risqué rendering. "You really want me to make this?"

"What's wrong with it?"

Jakov sighed. "Oh, nothing. You can, uh, pick it up tomorrow."

Velina had a hearty laugh at his expense. "What, so that you may set yet another trap for me?" Her hand flashed out like a little bolt of lightning and she made a nick in his neck with her fingernail. "What kind of fool do you take me for? You'll make it now."

Jakov's eyes kept fixing on the vampire's bewitching bare legs so he trained them on his work desk. "I'll get right on it."

Velina slid off her perch and held her arms out to her sides. "Do you need to take my measurements again?"

Jakov shook his head. "No. I have them committed to memory."

Velina snorted. "Of course you have. I should have known."

"How does it look?"

Jakov's troublemaking eyes were glued to a thimble he was fingering. But Velina was insistent.

"I said how does it look?"

The shopkeeper sighed and shrugged in resignation. "Oh, well. You'll probably kill me anyway."

Her new, curve-clinging dress was dark blue in hue. It had thin shoulder straps, a plunging neckline, and a high hemline.

Jakov tugged on it here and there, but he had no complaints. "Perfect, if I do say so myself."

Velina was all smiles. "I agree. You do fine work for a dead man."

Jakov lowered his eyes from her fabulous form and the dress that hid so little of it. Then his head jerked up as he was struck with an idea. "Do you not have further need for me? Could I not be of further service as your tailor, your personal tailor?"

Velina put her finger to her chin. "Hm! You make an interesting proposition." She stuck a fingernail in the cut she made earlier and twisted. "But I'm not sure the sentence fits the crime. I feel I should demand more of you."

Jakov clenched his teeth in pain, but remained silent. He was afraid to ask what more she might want.

Velina contemplated a moment it and said, "As long as this store stands you will always have a dress ready for me where I can find it easily."

"Agreed! Anything else?"

"Just one more thing."

Velina extended her fangs.

Chapter Thirty-Four

The dress store owner was in his workroom, stretching his latest creation over a dress dummy when his wife, Vesna, walked in. "It's getting late, Jakov. We'd best be getting home before dark."

A slight smile came across his lips. "I'm not worried."

"You're not worried? How can you not be with that, that monster out there?" Vesna pointed at the dinky dress he was handling with a snarl on her face. "And whatever is that vulgar thing?"

"This 'vulgar thing' is why I'm not worried."

"What?"

"It's what is keeping me alive, my dear."

"What are you talking about?"

"This is for her, for whenever she has need of it."

"Her? Her who?"

Jakov pointed at the nick on his neck. "For she who did this."

Vesna frowned in disbelief. "You did that yourself. You cut yourself shaving this morning."

Jakov rolled up a sleeve, revealing a bandage that was wrapped around his forearm. "No, I didn't." He unwrapped the dressing. Two bruised fang marks were evident. "And I didn't take a bite out of myself, either!"

Vesna put the back of her hand to her forehead and swayed on her feet.

"It could've been worse," Jakov said. "It would've been worse if I hadn't done her bidding. It will be worse if I don't continue to do as she says."

While Vesna mentally digested what she'd heard, the clerk entered. "Is it all right if I go now so as to beat the curfew, sir?"

"Yes, Nino. But before you go listen closely to what I have to say." Jakov placed his hand on the dress dummy's shoulder. "This garment is my penance for defying the vampire. As long as this dress shop stands, it or something akin to it must always be here, ready for her use."

Nino gasped. "Rumor has it that a member of the undead is among us. But I didn't believe it. Now you're telling me it's true?"

Jakov rewrapped his wound and patted the dummy. "Just remember..."

Velina was jealous. She bellowed at the bats as they flew off in search of prey. "Be glad you're able to hunt without the burden of a conscience!" she yelled at them. She patted her growling gut. So what was she to eat?" She looked past the town, into the trees beyond. A wolf maybe?

Velina had barely begun to prowl the woods for game when she heard hoof steps pounding upon the ground. She crept toward the sound, being careful not to break even the smallest twig with her feet. On a knoll that overlooked the town there sat a soldier atop a white steed. It was Josip, son of Zarko. But Velina didn't know that—not yet.

"So tall," she said with a sigh. "So handsome."

Her hand homed in on her crotch without her thinking of it. The longer it remained there and the more she stood admiring the soldier, the wetter became the crease between her legs.

Josip's moustache twitched as he mumbled to himself. "Never thought I'd find myself here again. Oh, well. Duty is duty. I have a vampire to kill." He was ready to spur his horse on when he heard a feminine voice emanate from out of the gloom.

"Now why would you want to do a thing like that?"

The soldier and his horse were both startled by the beautiful being that had materialized from out of nowhere. Josip jerked back on the reins. "Steady, Dinko! Steady boy!" He whipped out his army issue Gasser Revolver and pointed it at Velina. "What are you, some sort of wood nymph?"

Velina laughed. "Not quite."

Josip's eyes roved over her moonlit legs and half bare bosom. "A whore then! Do you not know that it's unsafe to be out in these parts at night? Do you not know that there is a blood-sucking beast lurking about?"

Velina stroked her hair back, revealing her fabulous face in full. "I rather thought of myself as more beauty than beast."

It was at that moment that Josip realized he'd been conversing with the cursed creature all along. He wasted no time in firing his weapon, but still he was too late. Velina had already sprung upon him, knocking him from his saddle. Whereas Josip was jarred by a hard landing, causing him to drop his revolver, Velina alighted on her hands and feet like a cat. She kicked the loose weapon out of his reach.

Josip rose to his feet and drew his secondary weapon, his saber. "I'll have your head!"

Swish!

"My, you're graceful for a man," Velina said.

Swish!

"But you're no match for the elegance of a woman."

Swish!

"And you're fast for a human."

Swish!

"But not fast enough."

Velina snagged Josip's wrist and squeezed hard enough to make him drop his saber, but not cause him any great damage. She threw him to the ground, knocking the wind out of him. While he gasped for air she disrobed and draped her dress across his horse's haunches.

Her stripping stunned Josip more than the fall did. "What do you think you're doing?"

Velina leapt onto him, pinning him to the ground. "Whatever I want." She ripped open his blue tunic, sending its gold buttons flying. Then she did a curious thing and sniffed his hairy chest like a dog. "You smell of Granic! How can that be?"

"I am Josip Granic," the soldier said, "of the Royal Hapsburg Army and younger son to Zarko Granic."

Velina ran her fingers through his forest of chest hairs. "But you're nothing like Zarko or Goran!"

Josip grunted. "Nor do I wish to be. They've grown soft off the toils of others."

Velina smiled. "Good for you. So you're here to slay me you say?"

"That I am."

"And there's no changing your mind?"

"None."

Velina could see in the depths of his brown eyes that no amount of mind meddling on her part would keep him from his quest and sooner or later he might actually succeed. She sighed. "That's too bad."

She began kissing him all over. "Maybe I can make your last moments on this earth pleasant ones."

Josip snarled. "I doubt it."

Velina snapped at him. "I can try! I admit I've only had love made to me once. But I wouldn't call that love, not when it was forced upon me."

"And what would make this any different? Are you not forcing yourself upon me?"

The vampire smiled. "Well, yes. But I could make sure you enjoyed it."

Gazing upon her great beauty, Josip couldn't help licking his lips at the thought of it. What a way to go it would be!

Images of what her mother had done to the vampire hunter back at the Wolf's Bane were still fresh in Velina's mind. "I'll bet that would make you happy," she remarked.

"What would?"

Velina commenced to show him.

It was a sullen-faced vampire who hoisted Josip's flaccid form onto his horse. "What a waste. Well, at least he died happy."

She made him look as presentable as possible by straightening his uniform, holstering his revolver, and putting his saber in its scabbard. She then used the reins to secure him to the saddle so that he wouldn't fall off.

She put her head to that of the horse and recalled where Zarko's home was situated. "Take him to his father, Dinko."

Chapter Thirty-Five

Zarko Granic woke with a start and put a relieved hand on his heart. "Made it through another night." He went downstairs while still in his robe and slippers and met his butler. "Still nothing of Josip?"

"No sir."

Zarko breathed a thoughtful sigh. "We should have heard something by now."

As if to grant his wish a wild-eyed maid came running in from outside. "Josip!" she said, panting. "Josip!"

Zarko grabbed her by the shoulders. "Josip? What of him? Is he here?"

"Josip!"

Zarko shook her. "Gather yourself, woman! What of him?"

"I went to fetch the paper and..."

She collapsed into a dead faint. Zarko handed her over to the butler and headed for the wide open door. Standing in the middle of it, he saw that Josip had indeed arrived. He was perched upon his horse at the front gate.

Zarko went out to meet him, all the while trying to convince himself that everything was all right. "Don't know what she is so on about. He is a bit slumped in the saddle, but he has had a long journey. He is a trifle pale, but..."

When he saw that the only thing holding his son onto his horse were the reins that bound him to it he finally accepted the truth. Josip was dead!

Goran Granic descended the stairs amidst sheer bedlam. In the hall below the household help was gathered in a huddled mass.

"He's dead!" said one of them.

"This house is cursed!" said another.

A third ran down the hall and out the back door. "I'll not spend another day in it!"

Goran shoved his way to the front door. There he saw his grieving father clinging to his dead son's saddle. To his rear the rest of the servants abandoned their posts and left the "cursed" house.

He didn't try to stop them. Instead, he nodded in accord. "Not altogether a bad idea."

Goran rushed to Zarko's study and turned the dial to the safe within. He never understood why his father wouldn't share the combination with him in case of emergency and the current situation definitely qualified. It took him a year of spying to ascertain the first number, two years to get the second, and yet another for—the dial fell upon the last number. Goran opened the door, spotted a sizeable stack of currency, and made a quick withdrawal.

Andrej, the Granic family's longtime driver, was brushing down a horse in his employer's stable when Goran rushed in, dragging a trunk behind him.

"Help me with this, Andrej. Let's put it in the buggy."

"Are you going on a trip, sir?"

"A trip. Yes, I'm going on a trip."

Andrej took hold of his end of the trunk but stood still, stupefied by his boss's boy. "Why don't we take the carriage then? It, at least, has decent storage space."

Goran disregarded Andrej's logic and nodded his head toward the buggy. "We'll put it in the passenger's seat."

"But there's hardly enough room for it and for the two of us, sir."

Goran's voice was getting louder the longer it was taking him to leave, for he was afraid his father would find out and put an end to his flight. "There doesn't need to be room for it and for us! I'll be doing the driving!"

Andrej's left eyebrow raised high. "You, sir?"

"Yes, me! Now let's be on with it! And ready me a fast horse!"

Andrej headed for the house as Goran sped away in the family buggy. He went in the back door and saw that, at the end of the long hall, the opposite door was standing wide open. His voice echoed as he asked, "Where is everybody?"

He traversed the hall and stood in the doorway. Zarko had found the strength to return to the house and there he met his driver.

"Ah, Andrej. Would you be so kind as to retire Josip and his horse to the stable while I get Dado to summon the authorities?"

Andrej tore his eyes from the mounted corpse. "Dado is gone, sir, as it seems are all the servants."

Zarko didn't act surprised or upset by the mass exodus. His emotions had already been spent on Josip. "Goran, then. Get Goran for me."

Andrej swallowed hard. "Goran is gone, too, sir. On a trip, he said."

Zarko's eyes glazed over as he gazed into the great beyond. "Et tu, Goran? Et tu?"

Rudi Bubalo, new president of the town council, was at the mortuary. He was bent over, inspecting the fang marks on Josip Granic's neck. "If I weren't seeing it for myself I'd have never believed it!"

"It's just like the other one," the mortician told him. "Just like the Vidovich boy."

Bubalo straightened up and tugged at one of his sideburns. "This could actually work in our favor."

"How so?"

"I'll wire his unit straight away and see if we might procure aid against our enemy, military aid." Bubalo took a last look at Josip. "So he was telling the truth!"

"Who was?"

Late in the afternoon Zarko Granic sat in his study, smoking a pipe. He was still dressed in his robe and slippers from that morning.

Andrej, playing the part of impromptu butler, entered the cloudy, acrid-smelling room. "Mr. Bubalo is at the front door, asking to see you, sir."

Zarko replied with a listless wave of his hand.

Bubalo soon entered with his hat held respectfully in his hands. "I'm sorry for your loss, Zarko Granic. I truly am. And I'm sorry that it took the death of your son for me to see the light."

All he got in reply was a heavy sigh.

"Josip was a good man and an admirable soldier. I saw what was done to him and now believe what you have said is true."

Still, he got no response.

"I want you to know that I'll have men stationed about your grounds until this situation is resolved." Amidst Zarko's continued silence, Bubalo took his leave.

The deposed town council president was left with his devoted driver. He put his pipe in an ashtray that was full to overflowing and finally spoke. "This situation will be only resolved with a death, Andrej, whether it be mine or that of the beast. You should leave as the others have. It is too dangerous to be near me now."

Andrej was loyal to the last. He spun the cylinder of his revolver. "I'd like to stay, sir."

But Zarko would have nothing of it. "No, Andrej. You are dismissed." He handed him an envelope. "The funds within will tide you over until you find employ elsewhere, which I have no doubt you will do since I have also supplied a sterling recommendation. Now, if you do not mind, I must make preparations for my guest."

Velina observed the Granic mansion from the bell tower. No light shone in the windows. It made her wonder. "If you've run from me, Zarko Granic, I'll find you. Wherever you've gone, I will find you."

She leapt off the bell tower and onto a nearby building. She leapfrogged from rooftop to rooftop until she was at the outskirts of town. Then through the treetops she went, like a magnificent monkey, until she got to the clearing in which Zarko's mansion stood overlooking the town below.

Velina was about to leave her tree perch when she noticed a man standing directly below her. She fell on him and took his rifle away. "Another trap, eh?" She bopped him on the bean with the butt of his gun and took a little life sustaining bite out of his leg.

She gauged the distance she was from the house as she licked her lips of nourishing blood. It was too far to jump. She then took in her surroundings with her sixth sense. There were too many gun-toting hunters skulking about for her to just walk right up. Her eyes rested on the unconscious one lying at her feet. Or maybe not!

An armed man hiding in the trees raised his weapon at the sight of someone walking across the street towards the Granic mansion. He lowered it when he saw it was one of his fellow rifle-wielding cohorts. If it were daylight he would've noticed that the fellow's clothes were baggy and his pants entirely too long.

The hunter with the ill-fitting clothes went onto the estate grounds and immersed himself in a hedge. There, he became a she. He became Velina! She shed herself of her man-sized clothing and shot up into the sky.

Two sets of fingers clutched the eave on Zarko Granic's two-story house. The thin, yet powerful arms they were attached to propelled the vampire onto the roof.

Velina saw smoke curling out of only one of several chimneys. She walked nearer to it, placed her palms on the roof, and felt for any human presence below. He was down there, waiting for her. She looked at her hand. It was shaking. He was just one man. So why was she frightened? The smoke rising out of the chimney reminded her of the feat she'd accomplished in escaping the flames that engulfed the Wolf's Bane.

"Now how does this work?" she asked herself. "Ah, yes. Don't make it happen. Let it happen."

A portion of the smoke within Zarko's chimney defied the laws of physics and descended rather than rising. It came completely out of the fireplace, accumulated into a vertical column, and then solidified into a voluptuous vampire.

Zarko sat in front of the fire with Josip's revolver in his hand. But he didn't shoot. Over his heart was a bloodstain.

Velina grasped him by his lapels. "You killed yourself? But why? Why would you deny me the pleasure?"

Lub-dub. She knew that sound! Lub-dub. It was the sound of a heart—a beating heart!

Blam! Blam! Blam! The vampire fell to the plush carpet, precious blood pouring from a toxic trio of bullets that tore through her stomach.

Zarko stood up, perfectly alive. He shoved the revolver in his pocket and took a hammer and a stake from between the cushions of his couch. "Now I end this, you monster!"

He fell on the vampire, put the stake to her chest, and raised his hammer. He brought it down hard, but halfway to its target it stopped.

Velina still had the strength to halt it, but not before it broke her hand. She kicked Zarko away from her and he landed on his face a few feet away. She lifted her dress and watched her stomach wounds stitch themselves up. Once her hand bones had solidified she leapt upon her dazed opponent and sniffed. "That's not human blood! What is it?"

"It is the blood of a chicken," Zarko replied.

Velina wrapped her hands around his neck. "Yet another of your infernal tricks! And you're the monster, by the way! You destroyed my whole family! For that you must die!"

Zarko's face turned a deep shade of red as he choked. "Your infernal family is to blame!"

"What?"

"You and your kind destroyed mine first! First Annica, then Zora, and Josip..." He couldn't finish, for his wind was all but gone.

Velina looked into his bloodshot eyes and saw images of the loved ones that had been taken from him. She viewed the valiant Josip dead on the saddle. She watched Zora Granic wither away and die of a broken heart. She beheld the lovely Annica lying naked on her bed, drained of blood. Standing over her was one whom Velina had never before seen, but nevertheless knew—her father! She released Zarko as his face color was changing from red to blue.

Velina heard footsteps outside the study. As Zarko lay on the floor, gasping for air, she flung the cumbersome couch against the door. She then headed back for the fireplace.

Zarko was mystified beyond measure. "Why stop now? Why stop when you are so near your goal?"

Velina shook her head. "I almost don't believe it myself. But you're actually right. You have been wronged first. You've been seeking revenge, perhaps even justice for what has been done to you. You're not so unlike me. You've been in a quest for vengeance, but what, I ask, has it gotten you in the end? Nothing!"

While the vampire's appetite for destruction had waned, she watched Zarko raise his gun yet again. "Will you never give up?"

"Not until one of us is dead."

"Well, you can't kill me."

"No," Zarko agreed. "But you can kill me."

Velina's eyes bulged. "You sound as if you want me to kill you!"

Zarko pointed the gun at his head. "I would do it myself, but then..."

"But then," Velina said, "you'd be denied your funeral rites and be damned to hell."

"Or worse."

"Worse?"

"Or become one of the very creatures I have despised for so long."

"Oh! Well we can't have that! I couldn't stand the competition!" A perplexed look came over Velina's face. "But how..."

Zarko pointed at the blood he'd smeared on his chest. "How do you think the chicken died?"

Velina nodded. "Ah, yes. That would work." She grabbed his head and twisted until his neck gave way with a loud crack. "Farewell, old foe."

The men that Rudi Bubalo had sent to guard the Granic estate burst through the door just in time to see the vampire's fine form fade into a fog. Their bullets bored through it, through her, rather, knocking chunks of stone out of the fireplace.

Velina stood on the freshly filled grave of Petar Vidovich, talking to the tombstone. "You were the first evildoer to feel my wrath. And now the last of my enemies has been vanquished. So tell me, why do I not feel like celebrating?"

When she didn't get an answer she squatted and urinated on the loose earth. "Ahh!"

"Velina!"

The vampire spun around to face her admonisher. "Mother Mirta! I was just paying my disrespects to poor Petar."

The Mother Superior wasn't amused. She rolled her old eyes. "So what have you been up to, besides dishonoring the dead?"

Velina rested her haunches on Petar's tombstone. "Well, I just finished destroying the devil directly responsible for the deaths of both my parents."

Mother Mirta shook her head in sorrow. "So now what will you do?"

"Perhaps I'll do what I always wanted to. Perhaps I'll travel to the far reaches of the earth."

"And what will you do when you get there? Feed on foreigners?"

The vampire stood up and scowled at the wizened woman she towered over. "Don't mock me. I'll feed, all right, but only on those who deserve to die."

Mother Mirta shook her head. "Who does or does not deserve to die is not your decision nor mine to make."

Velina pointed at Petar's tombstone. "He deserved to die! That scum in the tavern deserved to roast! All evildoers who cross me will meet the same fate!" She calmed herself with a thoughtful sigh. "Like my mother said just before she died; maybe I was given these powers so that I could punish the evil that runs so rampant in this world."

The Mother Superior brought out her crucifix again. "Have you forgotten so soon the evil which resides in you? Did you forget how the symbol of hope for all mankind, which should empower you, instead fills you with quaking fear?"

Velina's knees buckled. She leaned for support against a tombstone marking the grave of Frieda Vidovich's mother whom she was named after. "It's coming back to me."

"Until you cease relying on your own powers and surrender to the Son of God you will never truly be free. All must learn this lesson eventually or suffer eternal torment. So, too, must you. For until you do, despite all your great power, you will forever remain a slave to the Evil One."

Velina's fear finally subsided as the old woman shuffled away with a heavy heart. Her panicked panting became even breaths. But her mind was still in turmoil. With a beastly roar, she kicked Petar's tombstone and broke it in half.

She was still weak! She jumped to her feet and destroyed several more tombstones with her unnatural strength. Still enslaved! Once her vexation was vented she licked the crimson from her knuckles as they healed. "Waste not, want not."

The vampire whipped her head around, searching for what it was that was making her feel weak and afraid again. Was it another crucifix? Then she noticed the stars were becoming dimmer as the dreaded dawn approached. She knew that she should head for the bell tower straight away, but she'd grown quite weary of sleeping in belfries with bats."

Not far away stood a bulky burial chamber. She jogged over to it. Above its heavy metal door a family name was chiseled into its frontage.

Velina put her hands on her hips and smiled. "Well, what do you know?" It was none other than the Granic family tomb!

The vampire's ethereal form misted its way under the locked door and solidified in the center of the burial chamber. The stone crypts surrounding her reminded her of the first Granic supposedly killed by a vampire. After a brief search she found Annica's casket. She opened it and saw dried garlic cloves stuffed into the dead girl's mouth. It was a precaution against her turning into a vampire herself and physical proof that Velina's side had indeed begun the family feud.

She whipped her head toward the door. She heard the mumbling voices of at least two people approaching the mausoleum. Her eyes roved over the chamber and spotted a crypt that was earmarked to hold Goran's remains one day. Despite her fear of enclosed spaces, Velina hopped in and closed the lid over her. She wasn't a second too soon, for a ray of early morning sunlight hit her fingers and burned them.

A gravedigger sniffed and turned to the mortician. "You smell something?"

The mortician looked at him as if he were stupid. "Well, it is a tomb."

"No. I mean like something burning."

The mortician took a whiff. "No."

Velina lay in the crypt with her fingers jammed into her mouth. Her action achieved the dual purpose of cooling them off and of helping her to repress a scream.

"But we'll let it air out a bit," the mortician continued, "then seal it in perpetuity once the rest of the family is enclosed."

The gravedigger shook his head. "Imagine. The entire illustrious Granic family line dead, finished off by vampires."

"Not exactly," the mortician said.

"Eh?"

"There's one left, another son by the name of Goran, but he ran for parts unknown and won't likely return."

"I don't blame him," the gravedigger said. "I'd probably do likewise, myself, what with both his brother and his father meeting the same cruel fate in the span of a single day."

The mortician put his hand on the gravedigger's well-muscled shoulder. "Well, let's be on. There will be a double funeral tomorrow and we have much to do to in the meantime."

Surrounded on all sides by cold, hard stone, Velina lay in her own personal hell. Her fingers were throbbing. She felt like she was about to suffocate. And then there were the Wee Ones Petar had warned her about. She began to scratch herself with her good hand. Perhaps they could bore into the skin of vampires as well as humans! She had to wonder. Was this her punishment for her brutal actions and for those of her father before her?

Chapter Thirty-Six

Josip Granic's commanding officer gaped at the sight of the puncture holes left in his former lieutenant's neck. He turned to Rudi Bubalo. "When I received your wire, I thought you mad. Nevertheless, I wished to come and investigate Lieutenant Granic's death. He was an excellent soldier and a good friend."

"I was as in disbelief as were you, Captain Cavar," Bubalo said. "Yet here we are, as I stated in the telegram, in need of your assistance."

The captain made his right hand into a fist and pounded it in the palm of his left. "And, by God, you'll receive it!"

The Granic family mausoleum door was finally closed a short time before sunset. Velina flung the crypt lid off as soon as it was safe and leapt out like a scared cat.

She looked at the scratches that covered her arms and legs. "Damn you, Wee Ones! Damn you, Petar!"

The scratches began to fade and her fingers to heal now that it was nightfall and Velina's powers were at the full. Her stomach, on the other hand, was empty and voiced its displeasure with a deep growl.

Velina smiled when she saw a skimpy dress stretched over a dress dummy in Jakov's workroom. The storekeeper was keeping up his end of the bargain so far. She placed her bullet-riddled, bloodstained dress on his desk and squeezed into her new one. "I guess I'll let the lecher live—for now."

A three-man citizen's patrol was making its rounds through the village when one of its members began to lag behind. His mind had become so muddled that he found it difficult to put one foot in front of the other. He eventually stopped altogether when the link between his brain and his body had been severed. The two who walked ahead of him kept on walking. They were either unconcerned or unaware that he was no longer part of their number.

The next thing the lagging patrolman was aware of was a voice, a bodiless voice calling his name. "Ivo. Come to me, Ivo."

In a particularly dim patch of night hung a pair of floating eyes, floating red eyes. The voice that called to him emanated from that same dark patch. The patrolman's feet began to work again. They took him to Velina, to the vampire.

She held a hand to her aching head. "Whew! I didn't know if I could do that or not; make your friends forget all about you while you came to me." She pored over her prey. "I was right. You are the handsomest one of the lot." She yanked his pants down to make a more private inspection. "Not bad. Make love to me, my Ivo!"

The trio that had left the patrolman behind blinked and shook their heads as the vampire's spell wore off. "Where's Ivo?"

They ran back to the last place they remembered seeing him and found him standing in a nearby alley, his pants about his ankles. Blood ran from a wound in his thigh.

A patrolman took pains to avoid Ivo's bare member and shook his shoulder. "Ivo! What happened?"

Ivo regained his wits—and his modesty—and pulled up his pants. "Red eyes she had!" He shook his head. "And a body, oh what a body!"

"I'd say it's pretty obvious," a patrolman said.

"What is?" asked the other.

"Our vampire longs to make love as much as she lives to drink blood!"

Velina was back in the bell tower when the bats returned to roost. "Greetings, good fellows. Don't get used to my being here. As soon as they inter Josip and Zarko I'm moving into the mausoleum for good." She sighed, fondly remembering her successful foray into town. Maybe the vampire's life wasn't so bad. She didn't absolutely have to kill anybody to survive. She rubbed her hand in her suddenly hot crotch. And she was free to make all the love she wanted!

Chapter Thirty-Seven

A couple of farm laborers were already hard at work shortly after dawn. "Did you hear about Ivo?" one asked the other.

"No. What of him?"

"The vampire got him last night."

The second laborer shook his head. "Poor Ivo."

"But Ivo's not dead."

"What?"

"Ivo's not dead! He's wounded, for sure, but he's not dead."

The second laborer put his hand to his heart. "It must have been awful!"

"Not the way he tells it."

"What? How does he tell it?"

"Well..."

Jakov and his wife, Vesna, were opening their shop when they heard a high-pitched scream. They rushed into their workroom and found their clerk, Nino, biting his nails and pointing at the dress dummy.

Vesna gasped. "It's gone!"

Nino redirected a free finger toward the worktable. "And look!"

While Vesna almost fainted at the sight of Velina's old battle-worn dress, Jakov sighed with relief. "See what I told you? Now I suggest we get to work on another dress for our most important customer."

The terrified twosome agreed with him and got right to work.

Teodor, Zarko Granic's old secretary, poked his head into the office of the new town council president. "Mr. Bubalo?"

Bubalo looked up from a document he was drafting. "Yes?"

"There are some gentlemen out here who want to volunteer for the citizen's patrol."

Bubalo shoved his ink pen into its well and released a sigh of consternation. "I might as well see them, considering I'm not having much luck with this blasted paperwork that I've inherited."

"Very good, sir."

A glazed look came over the president's face as a flood of aspirants filled his office. "What is this, a joke? If so then..."

"Is no joke, sir," said one. "I want to do my part."

"As do I," another agreed.

"And I!"

Crowds lined the streets as twin hearses carried the bodies of Zarko and Josip Granic through town. A column of carriages carrying councilors and prosperous personages followed them to the church where the funeral mass was held. The caskets were carried to the cemetery where the priest performed the funeral rites. They were then lowered into their crypts and the lids closed.

The mortician waited for the funeral procession to disperse then put a shiny new padlock on the door. "And thus ends this family saga."

"Good riddance to them if you ask me," the gravedigger said.

His employer slapped him on the shoulder. "Zan! Watch your tongue!"

The gravedigger gestured toward the departing funeral goers. "At least mine isn't forked like theirs, what with their pretending to miss that old bloodsucker and all."

A much younger and better-looking bloodsucker woke to the sound of fluttering wings for the last time. She waved at the bats as they flew off into the night. "So long, old friends! I move into better accommodations tonight!"

Velina scaled halfway down the bell tower then sprung onto the roof of an adjacent building. She skipped from one roof to another until she spotted a citizens patrol chatting below.

"So which one of us will it be tonight?"

"I hope it's me!"

Velina gasped. Now they wanted their blood sucked?

"Ivo said she was beautiful."

"She is beautiful! I saw her in church when she was just Velina Vidovich. She was a feast for the eyes then as I'm sure she is now."

"I hope it's me," a third patrolman said. "The missus hasn't seen fit to give me any since the baby was born."

His complaint drew a marked reaction from one of his companions. "But didn't she just give birth a couple of days ago?"

"Well, yes, but I'm still horny."

Velina was taken aback even more than she was a moment before. "They want to—they think they can just..." She stepped out of the darkness and stood under a gaslight pole across the street from the patrol. "Oh, boys!" She slithered her slinky body over and around the pole as if it were a giant phallus. "I'm hungry. And I'm so—what is it you say—horny?" She put up her hands when they approached. "Oh, but I'm afraid of guns. They make such loud noise."

Two of the three fellows leaned their rifles against a nearby wall. The third wasn't so quick to disarm.

"Are you dolts forgetting what she is? She killed Petar and Zarko and burned our beloved Wolf's Bane to the ground!"

As the pair grabbed for their guns, Velina lifted her dress and fondled herself. "Well, if you don't want any of this then I'm sure I'll find someone else who will!"

The one with the new baby let go of his weapon. "She's sure right about that!"

The others, even the uncertain one, couldn't help but follow suit upon viewing the vampire's vulva. "Well, there are three of us," he reasoned. "It should be safe."

Velina had never purposely tried being sexy before. She just was. She could've used her vampire mental abilities on them, but her powers of seduction were nearly as potent. She jiggled her jugs free of her flimsy dress on purpose as she jogged toward the patrol. "Oops! Sorry about that."

A patrolman grabbed her by the glands. "Oh, we don't mind."

Velina's willpower began to wilt as he massaged her melons. She was tempted to give herself to them right out in the street. But no! She wasn't their plaything. They were hers! She kicked the patrolman between the legs. He rose fully a foot into the air before landing in a curled heap. The other patrolmen dove for their guns. Velina grabbed them by their collars before they could get to them and banged their heads together.

She glared down at the patrolmen as she restored her rack to its rightful place. "Let that be a lesson, you whoremongers! I'm no harlot you can just pick up on the streets!" She kicked the new father for extra measure. "And you with a wife and newborn at home!" She spitefully bit and drank from of each of the three until she was spotted by another patrol.

"Look! It's the vampire!"

An explosion resounded through the streets. A bullet flew over Velina's head. She snarled like a wild beast, sprung onto a rooftop, and disappeared into the darkness.

Velina was venting her anger upon one who couldn't hear her. "A whore!" That's what they think I am! A whore!"

She hefted Zarko Granic out of his oversized casket and stuffed him into the oldest of the crypts, atop the bones of his long dead grandfather. "They're lucky I didn't kill them!"

Her mood lightened as she ran her hand along the mahogany casket that was to be her bed. She jumped into the unoccupied box and the silk velvet interior made her sigh with pleasure. "Ah, Zarko. You never did settle for anything less than the best."

She settled back into the thick cushions. "Yes. This will do very well. I'll just keep the lid open to keep the Wee Ones away." She waved at her dead companions before falling off to sleep. "Good night, all!"

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Townspeople gawked as the cavalry rode into town, waving the black and yellow flag of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. They made their way to the front steps of the town hall where they met the council and its president.

Rudi Bubalo was ecstatic. "Captain Cavar! You don't know how much we appreciate your coming here!"

Cavar gestured to those behind him. "These men served under Lieutenant Granic and they, like myself, would like to see justice done here."

"As I'm sure it will be, Captain. A local coaching inn has been obtained for the exclusive use of your troops."

Cavar bowed in appreciation. "Now, if you please, I should like to learn what it is you know of our common enemy."

Bubalo stepped aside and gestured up the town hall stairs. "Surely, Captain. After you."

Shortly Captain Cavar was in the town council chambers and doing his best to remain calm. "Surely, gentlemen, you jest. Surely a half-naked young girl isn't to blame for Lieutenant Granic's death."

"She may be a half-naked young girl to see her on the outside," Bubalo said, "but on the inside she is a monster! There are eight citizens dead by her hand and five more injured. You, yourself saw the marks she left on Josip. No, captain, we kid you not in the least."

Cavar looked over the long-faced councilors and bowed. "My apologies, then, for doubting you. I had just expected to be going up against something, well, something more."

"Don't underestimate what it is you're up against," Bubalo warned.

"Don't worry," the captain assured him. "Now, I suppose, I shall address my men."

The Austro-Hungarian Army platoon was assembled in a large public hearing room within the town hall.

"Men," said Captain Cavar, "it is not just our duty to fight wars. It is also to protect the public citizenry from all threats: inside and out, natural and unnatural. Which brings us to our current mission. All evidence points to the murderer of our Lieutenant Granic as being nothing short of a flesh-and-blood vampire."

The soldiers couldn't help but fidget in their riding boots and mumble amongst themselves.

"Silence!" their leader said. "I know how ludicrous this may seem to some of you, but it is nonetheless our mission to dispose of this creature. We will bunk during the day and patrol the city streets at night." He took a deep breath. "Any questions?"

A bespectacled soldier spoke up. "Sir, if it is indeed a vampire we seek then why don't we raze the graveyards during the day when it's weak rather than confront it at night when it will be at full power?"

The captain nodded. The suggestion was logical. But it was moot, according to his information. "It is my understanding that the one we seek is not dead. She would not be found reposing in the earth."

More mumbling ensued.

"She's not dead, sir?"

"No. She is only half vampire, which should make our task that much easier."

"It is female, sir?"

"Yes. A local girl from what I understand, which should make our mission easier still."

The soldiers began to relax, some even to smile. Their alert commander noticed and stomped his foot on the floor.

"Attention!"

The platoon straightened up.

"Just because our enemy is female and just because she is only half a vampire does not mean we can become lax in our duty. She has killed no less than eight men already, including our Lieutenant Granic. He was as good a soldier as any and better than most of you. Yet he, too, fell."

The full seriousness of the situation finally sunk in. The platoon sobered.

Cavar stepped down from the podium. "Now let's be on."

Captain Cavar addressed his men outside the Crossroads Inn. "All right, men. Get yourselves a good day's sleep. Beginning today we are to live like the very beast we seek to destroy."

The innkeeper gave out key after key until the only soldier remaining was the commanding officer. "As per our new council president's order, I saved my very best accommodation for you, Captain."

Although Cavar was pleased, he didn't smile. "Thank you, citizen." He noticed the innkeeper shaking his head as he led him to his room. "What is it, citizen?"

"I just don't know why it is you're here is all."

"You don't know?"

"I know why you're here. I just don't know why you're needed here."

"And why is that?"

"I've seen her. A little thing she is. If it weren't for those dreadful fangs... I just don't see why it requires a whole army to defeat her."

Cavar snorted at his ignorance. "A platoon is hardly a 'whole army'."

The innkeeper opened the door to the captain's room. "A platoon then. I don't see why it should take an entire platoon to defeat her."

Cavar looked over the room and nodded his approval. He then stood nearly chest-to-chest against the innkeeper. "Eight dead by her hand. Eight dead and five wounded, including one of my best soldiers. Is that reason enough for you?"

The innkeeper took a step back. It was more of a stumble, actually, as he felt a little faint thinking of how close to calamity he'd been the night he met the vampire. "That will do!"

"How could you do it, Velina?" Frieda Vidovich asked. "How could you kill your brother, my son, after all I've done for you, after I've loved you as my own?"

Velina was unrepentant. "He attacked me! What else was I to do? Lie there and let him have his way with me?"

"You killed everyone I ever loved," Zarko Granic said.

Josip Granic pointed his sword at her. "You killed me."

"But you would've killed me!" Velina protested.

Mother Mirta pointed a crooked finger at her. "Murderer!"

Severinna, unlike all the others, had a smile on her face. But it was a wicked smile. "You became what I was before you let me die."

Mother Mirta's finger showed no mercy. "A whore!"

"No!" Velina sat up in Zarko Granic's casket. She looked around. No one was there save the corpses surrounding her. She sighed with relief. It was just a dream, thank God! Looking up at the ceiling, she let loose a laugh. "Ha!" Imagine her, the evil vampire, thanking God! She hopped out of the casket. She had to get some air.

Velina was engrossed in thought as she strode through the cemetery. She was thinking that she should leave town like she'd planned on in the first place and then maybe her dreams wouldn't haunt her. She was too preoccupied to notice several soldiers skulking nearby. They moved perpendicular to her path, positioned themselves behind tombstones, and took aim.

The focused minds of the soldiers woke Velina from her reverie. She whipped her head in their direction. "Who..."

The roar of the cavalry's carbines resounded through the graveyard. Velina collapsed as high caliber rounds tore into her flesh. She crawled behind a tombstone to avoid the soldiers' continued fire. Leaks had sprung from her legs and body. There was a whole army out to get her! She couldn't fight a whole army!

The firing ceased. Velina heard the sound of the soldiers attaching bayonets to their carbines. As they rushed in for the kill she stood up from behind the bullet-pocked tombstone.

She clutched her wounds and proclaimed, "You have killed me! And so—I die!"

The soldiers stopped in their tracks as the vampire screamed in agony and disappeared altogether in a puff of smoke. Then they celebrated. The vampire was dead!

The soldiers would've been shocked at the sight of the reconstituted vampire bracing herself with the polished brass handle on her bed. She didn't dare go back out until they were gone. But how long would they stay? And if she reappeared after they left, what was to keep them from returning? Her little feat of legerdemain couldn't possibly work a second time.

Her stomach growled. She was hungry. Maybe she could sleep it off until it was safe to go out. She scratched her head. How long could she sleep it off? She hopped into the casket and decided to give it a little try.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Captain Cavar and Rudic Bubalo shook hands.

"Thank you for your service," the town council president said. "But are you absolutely sure the vampire has been vanquished?"

"Quite," the soldier responded. "But I'm prepared to stay the remainder of the week just in case. My superiors are under the impression that I'm here to conduct maneuvers for that period of time."

Bubalo gave a knowing nod. "Ah, I see."

"Now, so as not to make a complete liar of myself, I shall proceed in attending to those maneuvers."

Bubalo bowed. "If there is anything I can do to help, you have but to ask."

Cavar returned the president's bow. "I'll be sure to."

Jakov's clerk rushed into the dress store workroom. "Have you heard? The vampire is dead! The troops have killed her!"

Vesna breathed a sigh of relief then frowned at the dress dummy with the little dress stretched over it. "Thank God! Now we can get rid of that atrocious thing!"

Jakov placed himself between the dress dummy and his wife before she could lay a hand on it. "It stays."

Vesna was beside herself. "What?"

"In case the vampire yet lives, it stays."

Vesna settled down. "You're right. We should be sure first."

Jakov wasn't finished. "So long as this store stands, it stays."

Vesna's face reddened. "What?"

"That was my promise to make amends for what I did to that poor girl and to her mother."

Vesna pointed at her husband. "Now see here!"

Jakov grabbed her outstretched finger and squeezed until she winced in pain. "It stays!"

For once he had won an argument. Vesna fled from the room with tears in her eyes.

The skinny, ex-highwayman, Vladmir, leaned back and stretched. "Oh, my aching back!" He sighed at the sight of a pungent pile of horse manure before him. "What an ignominious end we've come to. To have to spend the rest of our days shoveling shit!"

Konstantin, his constant companion, growled at him. "Just keep shoveling!"

Vladmir nodded in the direction of a muscular white steed standing nearby. "How long until those dratted soldiers and their precious Lippizaners leave us?"

"They're supposed to be gone by the first of next week." Konstantin raised his shovel in a threatening manner. "Now get shoveling!"

Chapter Forty

The platoon of Austro-Hungarian cavalrymen paraded through the middle of town. They were leaving as heroes. A chorus of cheers and a shower of flowers sent them on their way back to their home base.

In the waning hours of the afternoon a fetching young filly with cascading straight blonde hair sat on a windowsill, staring out into space.

Her well to do father, judging from his expensive dress, approached and placed his hand on her shoulder. "What is it, Valerija?"

"I'm bothered about Bojana having to spend the night down there in that common stable with those, those other horses."

Her father rolled his eyes. "Honestly! You treat that animal as if it were a person!"

Valerija jumped up from the window. "May I go down and check on her, father?"

"Really! It's late. It'll be dark soon."

Valerija took her father's hands in hers and knelt her nubile young body to the floor.

Her father looked down into her sad blue eyes and, as usual, caved in to her whim. "Oh, all right. But we'll both go."

The giddy girl shot up from the floor and kissed him on the forehead. "Thank you, father!"

Konstantin and Vladmir were putting their shovels up for the day when Valerija and her father entered the stable. Vladmir was about to comment on the comely component of the couple when Konstantin placed a dirty hand over his mouth. The two of them stood silent in a shadow, watching the wispy young thing stroke her beloved horse. It, like she, was pale with a soft blonde mane.

"Oh, Bojana, you're such a beautiful horse. You shouldn't have to stay in here with these mangy beasts."

Konstantin took his hand from his friend's mouth and put it between his legs. He gaped at the girl's bewitching backside as it twitched with every brush stroke. He could almost feel it pressed against his loins.

Valerija shrunk back as her horse stirred. "What is it, Bojana?"

Whack!

Her father fell to the ground. The same hand that had covered Vladmir's mouth clamped over hers.

Konstantin, his new bushwhacking stick in hand, nodded down at her feet. "Make this one a gag."

Vladmir tore a piece off the hem of Valerija's fancy dress and jammed it between her jaws.

Konstantin nodded in the direction of the stable door. "See if anyone's around."

Vladmir checked outside. "I don't see anyone."

Konstantin slung a squirming Velerija over his shoulder. "Good. Let's go."

"Where are we going?"

"Out into the wild to tame this frisky filly."

Vladmir looked scared. "But it's as good as dark now."

Konstantin snarled at his companion's cowardice. "The cavalry accomplished its mission. All is safe now."

Vladmir didn't appear becalmed.

"All right then. Bring along the lantern. But don't light it until we're safely away." Konstantin nodded down at Valerija's father. "And don't forget this fellow's purse!"

Velina sat up in her casket with a smile on her face. She hadn't had any bad dreams and it felt safe now somehow. As her feet hit the floor her stomach let itself be known right off with a deep growl. She had to get something to eat. But what? If she started eating villagers again they'd just bring the army back. And this time they might finish the job!

She put her hands on her hips and sighed. "Well, I guess I could head out into the woods to hunt." She crinkled her nose. "The smell has got to be better out there than it is in here. Goran! Josip! You stink!"

The long walk into the woods in the fresh outside air gave Vladmir time to think. "Should we be doing this, Konstantin? I thought we'd gone on the straight and narrow."

Konstantin was panting from the exertion of carrying Valerija through the forest draped over his shoulder. "No, we shouldn't be doing this and yes we'd gone straight, but I have to teach this little cockchafer she shouldn't tease an old man so." He dumped Valeria on the ground and took the gag from her mouth.

Valerija exercised her lungs post haste. "Help! Help!"

While Vladmir cringed and looked all around, Konstantin smiled. "Go ahead and yell. No one will hear you way out here. But in case someone might be able to, I have something that'll shut you up!"

Valerija's big blue eyes bulged in horror as the ruffian massaged his crotch. What was in there? And what was he going to do with it? Whatever it was, it couldn't be good.

"Someone help!"

Valerija's father woke. Whereas there was still some light the last he knew, now it was completely dark. He felt of the aching bump on his head and then felt around where his purse should have been. He gasped. "Gone!" He fumbled around, feeling for it, when he thought of something else of value that had gone missing: his daughter!

"Valerija?" he called. "Valerija?"

Velina sensed something utterly unexpected out in the middle of the dark woods. There was someone nearby! Now what would anyone be doing way out there at that time of night?

It didn't take long for her to find out. She came upon a couple of cads who reeked of horse dung, shoving a delicate young thing back and forth between them while ripping the clothes off her back. The now naked little nymph was like a fairy princess being defiled by evil ogres in the Enchanted Forest. A deep growl emanated from the vampire's throat.

Konstantin snatched up his stick. "What the devil?"

Vladmir, like Konstantin, saw a pair of red eyes floating ever nearer. "It's a spook!" He hid behind his barrel-chested buddy.

Velina stepped out into the open. "Not exactly."

Konstantin strained his eyes to make her out in what little light the lantern afforded. "You look like that vampire was supposed to."

Vladmir commented over Konstantin's shoulder. "But that can't be. She's dead! Done in by the soldiers!"

Konstantin slapped his new stick in the palm of his free hand. "Apparently not."

"Let's get out of here!"

"I'm staying put."

"What?"

"This is the most excitement I've had in a while and I'm going to see it through. You go. Go back to shoveling shit!"

Vladmir took strength from his nearly lifelong friend and stood his ground—from behind, of course.

The vampire smiled, took a few steps in their direction, and then froze in her tracks. "I know you! I know you from that ride in the country with that idiot, Goran, obviously. But I know you from—before that!"

Konstantin looked over her luscious long legs that were bare, save the first few inches at the top. "Well, I don't remember you. I think I'd remember one so fair."

Through time and space Velina's mind raced, to a time and a place when these two had assailed her mother dear. She saw them through the eyes of Severinna, whose memories had been imprinted upon her brain. "Do you recall a golden haired, top-heavy girl you robbed and raped?"

Konstantin beamed and held his hands out about a foot from his chest. "Were her teats out to here?"

"Yes," Velina said with a hiss.

"How could I forget? It was the highlight of my career!"

"She was my mother!"

With a leonine roar, she leapt. Her speed was such that Konstantin had scant chance to use his new weapon. Under the force of her powerful grip his forearm bones snapped just as Ivan's had.

Vladmir had had enough. He bolted as Velina retrieved the fallen stick.

"So you like hitting people over the head, do you?"

Whack! Konstantin was down, but not out. Whack! Velina was prolonging his pain by not hitting him hard enough to knock him out. When she'd seen enough of the fear in his eyes she ended it with a skull-caving blow.

The vampire ran a finger over the highwayman's gore covered head, being careful to avoid the exposed brain matter, then sucked it clean. "Delicious!"

Valerija viewed the whole terrible tableau through glazed-over eyes. Velina took advantage of her trancelike state and bored her black orbs into Valerija's big baby blues. "Two men abducted you, it is true, but you saw no one else. What saved you from them was—wolves. Yes, that's it! A pack of wolves came out of the woods, killed your attackers, and you fled back to the inn."

Velina helped Valerija onto her feet. The girl's ritzy dress had been rent to rags. The vampire hung what little was left of it on her slim form, handed her the lantern, and pointed her in the direction of the coaching inn. "It's that way."

The vampire sunk her fangs into Konstantin's neck and sucked out some sustenance then turned her eyes to the spot where the second scoundrel had dived into the darkness. "So much for the appetizer. Now for the main course!"

Sweat stung Vladmir's eyes as he ran an aimless race through the forest. In his fright he thought every leaf that rustled was the spook and each low hanging branch was a claw reaching out for him. He finally collapsed against a gnarly old tree. "Surely I've lost her by now!"

As he struggled to regain his breath he reminisced about old times with his good buddy, now dead. "Ah, Konstantin, old friend, whatever will I do without you?"

"You won't have to worry about that," a disembodied voice informed him. "You'll be joining him soon enough."

Like before, red lights came out of the gloom. The highwayman backed up against the old tree like a child retreating into the arms of a parent. Velina clutched him by the neck and, without undue effort, raised him completely off his feet.

"Don't kill me! I have a wife and ten children to feed!"

"Ha! I'll bet!"

The vampire hurled him against a different tree and he broke in several places.

"He made me do it!"

"Right."

He broke in a few more places when he slammed into yet another tree.

"Please!"

"Oh, all right. I'm tired of hearing you whine." Velina drew her fangs and drank every ounce of his blood that she could hold.

Valerija arrived back into the coaching inn just as a search party had been organized to look for her. Her father threw his coat over her to cover her near nakedness.

"Valerija! What happened?"

With a far off look on her face she said, "Two men from the stable dragged me off into the woods."

"You mean Konstantin?" the innkeeper asked. "Konstantin and Vladmir?"

"Konstantin. Konstantin and Vladmir," Valeria repeated.

"We'll skin them alive!" yelled a member of the search party.

"Then wolves killed them."

"What's that you say? Wolves?"

"Wolves killed them and I fled back to the inn."

While the crowd milled about in disbelief, Valerija's father took her upstairs.

The innkeeper had a suggestion for the search party. "Why don't you fellows come back in the morning? You can check the girl's story when it's safer to go out."

"Seems reasonable," a search party member said. "We'll look for what's left of those two hooligans tomorrow."

Velina dragged the bodies of Konstantin and Vladmir further into the woods. "Where is a wolf pack when you need them?" She stuck her nose in the air and sniffed. Ah! They were nearby!

Sure enough she found it. The creatures cowered at the sight of her.

"Don't be afraid." She tossed the deceased highwaymen in their direction. "I bring a peace offering."

When she backed up to what the Alpha male thought was a safe distance it sniffed the gift then howled at the rest of the pack. They rushed in and proceeded to tear what was left of the terrible two apart.

Velina was sneaking back to the burial chamber through the church graveyard. She was full, bloated even. She felt like a fat cow!

The mist that was Velina solidified inside the Granic family mausoleum. She'd finally dispatched all of her enemies. She burped and patted her stomach. She could sleep a long time with a belly so full. She wondered how long? Perhaps she should see? She would see. And when she woke perhaps everyone would have forgotten about Velina the vampire and leave her be. She shuddered at the thought of being completely sealed up. She wrested a stone loose from the inner wall of the tomb then plunked down into Zarko's oversized casket and nestled herself deep into the silk liner. She closed the lid on the stone, thus leaving it open a crack.

"That should be enough to keep the Wee Ones at bay," she said.

And then she slept.

Chapter Forty-One

The shiny new padlock on the Granic family crypt had become old and rusty. It was no match for the crowbar that was set upon it. Before long the big metal mausoleum door creaked on its hinges as it opened briefly before closing again. Two figures rushed inside. Then a flashlight clicked on.

A girl whose black hair had blue highlights spoke to a young man with a shaved head. "You think we'll find anything of value in here, anything we can sell?"

The young man shrugged. "How do I know? We'll just have to see."

The girl wore a somewhat loose fitting tube top through which her stiff nipples poked a good half an inch. She crossed her arms and shuddered. "This place gives me the creeps."

The young man put down his crowbar and pulled a plastic bag out of his pocket. "What you need is some candy."

He poured some cocaine powder out onto a crypt. The girl wasted no time inhaling it through her nostril. While the young man wedged the crowbar under a stone lid she lightened up in more ways than one. She pulled the tube top off up over her head, revealing the remnants of a once ravishing rack that had suffered in size due to her habit of sacrificing food for drugs. She lost four inches in height by stepping out of a pair of lofty wedge sandals. Last to come off was her miniskirt, which she placed on a crypt. She sat on the skirt and spread her gangly legs apart. While her finger and toenails were painted to match her blue hair, what was left of her mostly shaved bush was still its natural black.

"You know," she said, "we've never done it in a mausoleum before."

Clang! The crowbar dropped to the floor. So did the young man's leather pants.

Velina had been floating in an ocean of black ooze. For how long she didn't know. A bell of some sort signaled the time for her to end her long slumber. A dim light shone through the crack she'd left in her casket. She looked through the crack and gasped at a wholly unexpected sight. It was a strange looking young couple making love atop Josip's crypt! The vampire licked her lips with lust and began easing the lid aside.

The girl whipped her blue-haired head in Velina's direction. "Did you hear that?"

Her lover picked up the flashlight and shone it in the direction of the grating sound they'd both heard. It revealed a set of thin, pale fingers sliding aside the lid of a crypt.

The girl screamed. "A ghost!" She dashed for the door, shoved it open, and ran out of the mausoleum without taking the time to collect her clothes.

Velina climbed out of the coffin and stretched her surprisingly stiff muscles. Rip! Her dress came apart at the seams and fell around her ankles onto the cold stone floor.

The young man secured the crowbar to defend himself. But he didn't run. "Please tell me you're not a ghost. You look too good to be a ghost."

Velina smiled and opened her mouth. She meant to say something, but her vocal cords, like her muscles, were taut from disuse. She cleared her throat and tried again. "I'm no ghost."

"A vampire then! Please tell me you're a vampire!"

Velina was astonished at his attitude. "Why would you want me to be a vampire?"

"Then you could let me drink a little of your blood and I could become one of the undead."

"Why would you want to—oh never mind. What are you doing here, anyway?"

The young man hesitated then shrugged in resignation. "Well, I guess you'd know if I was lying. Truth is me and my girl were hoping to lay our hands on jewels or something we might use to score some "C"."

"'C'?"

"You know. Coke."

Velina shook her head. She had no idea what he was talking about, whether he used slang or not. She walked toward him, taking pains not to appear as weak as she felt. "So, you want to be a vampire, do you?"

"Yeah. Me and my girl, if you would."

Velina smiled. "All right. I need some of your blood first. This might hurt a bit."

The young man smiled. "I can take a little pain." He stuck out his tongue, exposing a ring that was riveted to it.

Velina recoiled in surprise and disgust at the sight of the peculiar piercing then regained her composure as the fellow offered her his neck. Her fangs extended of their own accord. She sunk them into his flesh and began to drink.

After a while the young man began to worry and to struggle. "I'm feeling faint. How much more do you have to take?"

Velina, on the other hand, was strong again. She held fast to him. "Enough to be the end of you, I'm afraid. Even if I could make you like me, I wouldn't."

He struggled harder to no avail. "What? Why not?"

"Because you're a would-be thief, an evil-doer. I couldn't in all conscience allow you to wield such power as I possess."

"No!"

Velina drank until he was pale as a ghost and she was flushed from the infusion of his hot blood. She tossed his carcass aside and got hold of his strange little lantern. It burned bright, like a flame, yet there was no flame. She'd never seen anything like it, not in her time!

She rested her now rosy rump on the edge of a crypt and gathered her thoughts. She must've been asleep a long time the way her dress rotted right off of her. She inspected the girl's clothes. Was this is all women are wearing these days? She felt of her ebony tresses. Did they all have blue hair, she wondered? Her head whipped toward the door. On the topic of women, the one that ran off was liable to alert whatever authorities existed in that time. She couldn't have that!

Velina tossed the young man, the crowbar, and the strange lantern into the casket she'd inhabited for so long and sealed it up. She examined the clothes left behind by the fellow's frightened girlfriend and decided to appropriate them so she'd fit in. Actually fitting into the emaciated girl's clothes proved difficult. Velina had to yank the miniskirt up over her curvaceous hips. The tube top just barely reined in her rack. She slipped on the girl's platform sandals and walked a few wobbly steps. Thankfully, her supernatural powers allowed her to master them within seconds.

The scantily clad—but clad at least—vampire stepped outside and closed the mausoleum door behind her. The lock lay on the ground. She put it back on the door and squeezed as hard as she could so that a blowtorch would be required for it to release its hold upon the door.

"Good!" she said, admiring her handiwork. "That should pass anything less than a close inspection."

"Police! Help!"

Two law enforcement officers were sitting in their patrol car when a naked girl came running up to them. It was the girl from the mausoleum.

"A ghost, officers! I saw a ghost!"

The officers got out of their car. Neither of them appeared to be overly alarmed.

"Have you been snorting again, Ivana?"

An officer took her by the chin and shone his flashlight onto her face. It was still smeared with semen. Remains of cocaine powder was rung around one of her nostrils.

He nodded. "I thought so. Turn around."

"But there was a ghost!"

One officer prepared to put the cuffs on her while the other got a blanket to cover her bony body with.

"Sure there was."

Ivana gave the cop cuffing her a curious look. "Don't, don't I know you?"

"Sure," the cop said. "Sort of. I mean we went to school together."

"I thought I recognized you. Listen, you don't really want to take me in, do you?"

The officer tapped his badge with a finger. "It's my job."

"Listen, uhh..."

"Officer Capan, Blago Capan."

Ivana fondled the policeman's privates. "Listen, Blago. I'd do anything for you not to take me in."

Blago beamed as he put her in the squad car. "Anything?"

His partner pulled him aside. "Don't tell me you're actually thinking about it!"

Blago pointed at Ivana as she flashed a breast at him. "Listen, Zulim. That bitch sitting there was the prettiest girl in school. I asked her out once and do you know what she did? She laughed! She laughed at me! Now who's laughing?"

"But still..."

Blago opened his door. "But still nothing! Now get in the car!"

Ivana smiled at the cops through the car window. It appeared as if she'd gotten herself off the hook.

Velina took a tour through the cemetery. "Ah, the Vidovichs. May you all rest in peace. Even you, Pasco." She paused before one tombstone in particular. "Mother Mirta. So you finally passed. Maybe one day I'll do as you said and bow to a mightier power." She stood straight and looked toward town. "But until then I have some wild oats to sow!"

Velina trod down a sidewalk in her platform sandals. She squinted up at a streetlight. "What makes you so bright?" She stuck a finger in her ear and wiggled it. It must have had something to do with the buzzing sound she heard. It was everywhere! She'd have to do her best to ignore it, lest it drive her mad.

A parked automobile got her attention. She decided that it was some sort of modern day carriage. She went around to the front and put her hand on the bumper. "I guess this is where you hitch the horses." She took a whiff of the night air and didn't smell a single one of the beasts of burden or of their excrement. Where were they being kept?

The auto's owner and a couple of his friends staggered out of a building across the street. "Hey! Hands off my car!"

"Car?" Velina said. "Ah, yes! Car! Short for carriage!"

"Hey, look!" said one of the men. "It's a whore! And a hot one at that!"

Velina smelled drink on the group. She looked across the street and gasped in shock at what she saw. "The Wolf's Bane! It's back!"

"Yeah," a drunk said. "Legend has it the first one was burned down by a vampire."

He and his friends laughed. Velina laughed right along. That is until someone lifted her miniskirt, exposing her pale, round butt cheeks.

"So, whore, do you offer group discount rates?"

Velina slapped the hand away and jerked the tight skirt back over her buttocks. "I'm not a whore!"

The group guffawed.

"Who do you think you're fooling, hanging around outside bars at night, dressed like one?"

A drunk nodded at her foxy footwear. "And what about your Fuck-Me-Shoes? What else are we supposed to think?"

"Yeah," the car owner agreed. "What else are we to think?" He reached for her.

Velina got hold of him first and body-slammed him onto the hood of his car like he was a limp rag. She glared at the Wolf's Bane. "I should burn it down again!"

A drunk's jaws dropped. "What are you talking about, 'again'?"

"It was I who burned it down in the first place!" She let her fangs hang out and hissed like a cat. The drunks dispersed and ran in all directions. Velina shook her head at herself. "I shouldn't have done that." She sneered down at her modern ensemble. She knew there was something she didn't like about the clothes she was wearing. Then she cast her gaze down the street. "If the Wolf's Bane still existed, then maybe..."

On the same cobble-stoned side street in which Anja, the prostitute died at the hands of the vampire a hundred years before, two police officers zipped their flies. They shoved Ivana, bereft of the blanket that had covered her nakedness, back into their car.

Officer Blago Capan was finally satisfied after all the intervening years since high school. "Ahh! Now that's what I call justice!"

Velina was wide-eyed with wonder at what had been the old dress store. Now it was a gleaming new boutique. In the windows stood mannequins wearing dresses every bit as short as the one Jakov had made for her. Some were even shorter!

The vampire forced open the door and headed straight for the workroom. There she found a little red dress that was stretched over a mannequin in the back of the store. She took it off the dummy and studied it. It was a new version of her old dress made of an even sheerer material and of a different color—red. Jakov had kept his word. She wasted no time stripping off the coke addict's clothes and slipping into the dress of her design.

On her way out, a pair of scarlet sandals caught her eye. Although they had high heels, they were not of the platform type and matched her dress perfectly. She slipped them on. "Ah, much better!"

The town cops watched a worn out Ivana wobble toward her front door, dressed only in the blanket they'd given her. Her sad looking mother opened the door and let her in.

Blago shook his head. "Oh, how the mighty have fallen."

Officer Zulim pressed hard on the accelerator in anger, causing the cop car to dart down the street. "No thanks to us!"

Blago shook his finger at Zulim. "Now don't you forget it was she who brought up the idea!"

"Yeah, but we didn't have to take her up on it!"

Blago looked past his perturbed partner to a store that should've been unoccupied at that hour. "Stop the car."

"What is it?"

"Stop the car!"

Velina was about to head out in her new scarlet ensemble when she was distracted yet again. This time it was by a nail polish display. She took a close look at a photo of a model and marveled at how far photography had come since her time. She scowled at the condition of her nails in comparison to those belonging to the model. "I'm going to have to do something about these," she commented to herself.

Her eyes jerked from the display to the front door. Something was wrong! Officers Capan and Zulim burst into the store.

"Put your hands up!"

Velina found herself staring down the barrels of two menacing modern handguns. It had been a while since her last experience with them, but she hadn't forgotten the exquisite pain bullets afforded. She raised her hands.

"Hands on the table!"

Blago positioned himself close behind the pretty perpetrator and pointed his pistol toward the workroom. "You check the back for accomplices. I'll see if she has any weapons on her."

Zulim motioned at Velina's miniscule mini dress. "What's she going to hide in that little number?"

"Just do it!"

Velina stood up straight when Blago's hand probed under her "little number". "That's the second time tonight someone's had his hand up my dress without my permission and I don't like it!"

Blago sunk his middle finger deep into where it didn't belong. "So what are you going to do about it?"

Despite the fact that the policeman was taking advantage of his position of authority, not to mention her, Velina felt a primal urge to let him poke more than his finger into her. She resisted it with a shake of her head and spun around toward him, her elbow leading the way. "This!"

Officer Zulim swept the dress shop workroom and found no one. He found some thing, though. He gathered up the tank top and miniskirt Velina had discarded and returned to the sales floor. "Say, look at this." He dropped the coke addict's clothes and drew his weapon at the sight of his buddy lying unconscious on the floor, blood streaming from his broken nose.

Velina paused outside the dress store and placed her hands on her hips. The terrible little town spelled trouble for her, as usual. She'd have to head in the only direction she felt halfway safe. She vaulted skyward, turned a back flip, and then landed on the store roof an instant before the Officer Zulim burst out of the store and onto the sidewalk below.

Despite the fact that she was wearing high heels Velina traveled from one rooftop to another until she felt she was safely away from the pursuant police. She was about to return to ground level when a metal object begged for her attention. What the devil was it? There was one like it on most every roof!

An older Croatian couple was sitting up in bed watching television when static appeared on the screen.

"Turn the antenna," the curler-wearing woman said. "I don't want to miss the evening news."

The man turned the knob on a controller that went to a motorized antenna on the roof. Instead of the reception improving as he thought it would, it went out altogether.

"What'd you do to it?" the woman complained.

"I didn't do anything to it!" the man shot back at her. "I just turned the knob like you asked!"

Velina yanked the antenna from the roof on which she was standing when it started to rotate via a small electric motor. She bent it out of shape and tossed it aside. "Scare me, will you?" She dropped down from another roof at the edge of town and commenced her trek to parts unknown. "Farewell all. I've had quite enough of you. It's about time I made that trip I planned so long ago."

She didn't make it far, though, before it came. A malicious monster bore down on the vampire, its blazing white eyes emitting a blinding light.

Velina turned to meet it, head on. "Do your worst, whatever you are!"

She stood her ground, fists clenched. She was ready to fight, but before the two night creatures could collide the larger of the two veered aside, nearly smashing into the trees.

"Coward!"

Velina ran after it then slid to a stop when she saw that the monster wasn't a monster at all. It was one of the futuristic carriages she'd seen earlier. The doors on both sides squeaked as they opened.

A chubby man got out of one side. "You all right?"

Velina ignored the question and ran her hand over the carriage's metal body. She drew it away when she touched the hood. "Oh! It's warm!"

"Miss, are you all right?"

A much thinner man emerged from behind the steering wheel. "I think maybe her hearing's hurt."

Velina finally spoke. "Where's your horse?"

"Ain't got a horse."

"Then how does your carriage move?"

The men shared a laugh.

"Truck. It's a truck. And we sometimes wonder that ourselves!"

The fat guy eyed her striking stems. "Aren't you cold, walking around at night clad only in a mini dress?"

She glanced down at her short skirt. "Is that what it's called? A mini dress?"

"Well, yeah! Are you sure the cold hasn't affected your brain?"

She frowned at his insolence, but decided to let it slide for the present. She needed him alive—for the time being at least. "Yes, I am. Take me for a ride."

The men smiled at each other. This was their lucky night!

"Oh, I think there's room for one more," the fat one said. "Don't you think, Zan?"

"Yes, I do, Medo," the thin one replied. He held the passenger's door open for Velina. "After you, miss."

The two men slid across the well-worn seat until they were situated on either side of the vampire. Zan turned the ignition and, after a sluggish start, his vehicle sputtered to life.

Velina jumped. "It's alive!"

"Just barely," Zan said. "Just barely." His hand brushed against her thigh as he reached for the shifter. "Oh, sorry."

Velina frowned at him since she was sure that he'd touched her on leg purpose. Her anger was quickly quelled by her curiosity. She observed his driving. Once she had a rudimentary knowledge of how he operated the vehicle she closed her eyes and took a little nap. The passing scenery was amazingly familiar despite the passage of time and held no great fascination for her. Besides, she was only interested in new sights and new adventures.

Medo kept himself-awake at that late hour by viewing the vampire's bosom as it bounced whenever there was bump in the road. There were plenty of potholes, but not enough to satisfy him. He pointed at one at the edge of the road ahead. Zan steered straight for it. They both smiled at the effect it had on their hitchhiker's hooters when the truck tires hit it. As entertaining as the show was, it eventually got old. Zan pulled off the road.

Velina woke right up. "Are we there yet?"

Zan and Medo again shared a chuckle over a joke that she didn't get. They soon stopped laughing, though, and began to run their hands up and down her silky thighs.

"This is as far as we go on charity," Medo said. "Now it's time you gave us something for our trouble."

Velina grabbed their hands. She squeezed hard enough to make the truckers wince, but not enough to break their fingers. "All right. But let's go outside. I don't care for tight spaces."

Almost before she knew what was happening, the vampire found herself squatting outside the truck, a cock in each hand, ready to dive right in. She'd been horny ever since she'd seen the cocaine-loving couple copulating in the crypt and had lost control of herself. "I'm surprised!"

"What?" Zan asked. "At how well-endowed we are?"

She laughed. "No. I'm surprised at how excited the likes of you two have gotten me. I must need it badly, very badly indeed!"

She made Medo mad. "What do you mean, 'the likes of us'?"

"I mean the likes of two who would take advantage of a poor, defenseless girl."

Zan opened and closed his sore fingers. "Somehow I doubt you're that defenseless."

Velina chuckled. "You're right." Then she yanked—and yanked hard. She got to her feet as the truckers fell. "You're so right!"

She hopped in the vehicle as the deformed duo writhed in agony upon the ground. She got it started easily enough, but stalled it out several times before she got it really rolling. With a gnashing of well-worn gears, she puttered on down the pavement.

Velina was crawling along in second to avoid having to change what was left of the gears. She read a roadside sign then looked up at the lightening sky. A place called the Port of Pula was only a few kilometers away, but she doubted that she'd make it at her current pace. She went a little further and looked skyward again. Now she knew she wouldn't make it!

She jammed on the brakes and slid to a stop in the middle of a bridge. Leaping over the edge, she got under the structure just in time to beat the first rays of dawn. She breathed a sad sigh. "Ah, the glorious life of a vampire. I wonder what that bald headed grave robber would have thought of this."

Chapter Forty-Two

Velina jerked awake as a tractor-trailer rig passed overhead, rattling the bridge as it did. It was just as well. It was dark now and time to get moving.

She crept out from under the bridge and crouched behind one of the uprights until another rig approached. Then, when it was close, she leapt and latched onto the trailer.

A few miles down the road Velina marveled at the ruins of a Roman coliseum known as The Arena as she passed. She dismounted the tractor-trailer rig when it reached its destination at the docks. She smoothed her windblown hair and crinkled her nose at the smell of salt water and dead fish. "Well, now I know what the ocean smells like."

She looked out over the water. It was the ocean! She could finally set sail! For America even!

She smiled as she spotted a drunken man stagger out of a waterfront bar. She knew she really shouldn't begin her long journey on an empty stomach. And what better place to find someone worth eating?

A heated arm wrestling match was in full swing when Velina entered the bar. She sat on a stool before the bartender and watched.

"What can I get you?" he asked.

The vampire raised his ire by paying him no heed. The match held most of her attention.

"Look. I don't mind whores in my place, but you'd better buy at least one drink or I'll throw you out on your tight little ass."

Velina shot him a look that chilled him to the bone. "I'm not a whore!"

"Hah!" boasted a big, bald arm wrestler. "Ulfo wins again!"

Velina took her evil eyes off the frightened bartender and watched money change hands. A particularly handsome fellow frowned as he paid up after betting on the wrong guy. His face lit up as the vampire caught his eye.

He wasted no time in sitting on the stool beside her. "Can Drago I buy you a drink with what little money he has left?"

Velina squirmed in her seat as she became wet between the legs. She was still horny and his handsomeness didn't help. "That depends. Would you be Drago?"

He bowed before her beauty. "I would."

"Then I suppose he could."

"What'll you have?"

Velina shrugged. "Oh, I don't know. I guess I'll just have what you're having."

Drago and the barkeep shared a chuckle at her expense.

"I don't think you have the legs for it." Drago felt of her knee. "Nice though they are."

Velina squeezed his hand. "I can handle it."

Drago broke free with some difficulty and held up a couple of stiff and sore fingers. "All right then. Make it two."

The barkeep shook his head and poured two glasses of the handsome gent's brand of poison. "Damned foolishness!"

Drago tipped his glass in Velina's direction. "Don't say I didn't warn you!"

The vampire smiled and chugged it down, all of it. No problem. Drago was dumbfounded, as were several others who had gathered around and witnessed the feat. He tried the same and practically burned a hole in his throat after drinking only half of it.

Coughing and hacking, he pointed at the bartender. "You watered hers down!"

The bartender slammed the bottle of poison down on the counter. "I never water my liquor down! Well, hardly ever. Anyway, you saw me pour the drinks. You all did!"

The onlookers all nodded in agreement.

"That's right," one said. "His hands were visible the whole time."

Velina further verified his veracity by downing the other half of Drago's drink and smiling afterward.

The bartender beamed. "See?"

"I take it you like it," Drago said.

Velina shrugged. "It's all right, I suppose. I'll tell you what I'd really like, though." She hopped off her stool and spoke loudly enough for all to hear. "I'd like to arm wrestle Ulfo."

Ulfo still sat at his table in the center of the saloon. He waved Velina in his direction. "Come here little girl. Ulfo will hold your hand."

"For money," she added.

Everyone laughed.

"Who would bet on you?"

Velina looked to Drago for support. "You would, wouldn't you?"

"Well, I..."

"I tell you what," Ulfo said. "I make personal wager. You, Drago, you bet on your whore. She wins, I double your money. I win and she is mine for the night for free."

Velina stomped her sandaled foot. "I'm not a whore!"

Ulfo smiled with his half a mouthful of bad teeth. "Either way..."

Drago pulled Velina aside. "Are you mad? You can't beat him! Do you want to lie with him?"

"Just put your money on me," Velina assured him. "I'll win. And I won't lie with him. I'll lie with you!"

Drago was determined. "I won't do it! I won't waste a single dinar on this madness!"

"Yes you will," Velina said.

He went blank as he gazed into her hypnotic eyes. "Yes, I will."

While he put his money on the table Velina positioned herself for battle, her elbow on the table. "It's a bet then."

"Come. Hold Ulfo's hand." The giant exerted little force, figuring that was all it would take to beat the girl. When nothing happened he exerted a little more. Still nothing. "What is this?"

Velina's tiny arm tensed and Ulfo suddenly found himself three quarters of the way to losing. "All right! Ulfo is done playing with you!"

He put everything he had into getting himself halfway up, but he could do no more. He put his other arm into action, pushing Velina's little hand down just a trifle.

Drago objected. "Hey, that's cheating!"

Velina pinned both Ulfo's arms in response then tore free from his grasp. "I hate cheaters!"

Ulfo was speechless for a time and stared at his arms, wondering where all their strength had gone. Most everyone else was laughing.

"You let a girl beat you!"

Ulfo silenced the gaiety by crashing a meaty fist down on the table. "Rematch!"

Velina stood up and reached for the money. "No. I need to get on with my long belated journey."

Ulfo seized her by the forearm. "Rematch!"

Velina responded by flinging him backward. His chair upset. He flailed about on the floor while the room reverberated with laughter.

Velina took Drago by the hand and dragged him toward the door. "Let's go, handsome."

Drago pointed at a nearby building as he strode the city streets with Velina. "I have an apartment in there. Do you still want to..."

Velina gave his hand a gentle squeeze this time. "Of course I do. I have a long ocean voyage ahead of me. Who knows when I'll get another chance?"

"You! Stop!"

The two turned around.

"Ulfo!" Drago said. "What do you want?"

"Your whore embarrass me! I come to take her from you, to teach her lesson!"

The daring Drago drew a knife and positioned himself between the vampire and the brute.

Velina barred him with her arm. "Wait! I'll go with him."

Drago nearly dropped his blade. "What?"

She pointed toward a dark alley. "There."

Drago protested. "No! You mustn't!"

"Don't worry. Wait here for me. I'll be all right."

Ulfo scooped Velina up in his arms. "Hah! You can have what is left!"

The vampire pinched the brute's biceps as he carried her into the alley. It was big and hard. She couldn't help wondering if his manhood was the same. She soon found herself in the same situation she'd been in the night before with the truckers—on her knees. She gave her head a violent shake. "Wait! What am I doing?"

Ulfo uttered the obvious. "You are about to make Ulfo very happy."

"And why would I want to do that? Why would I want to make a big bully like you happy? I despise bullies! I must be getting really desperate!"

A dejected Drago sat sulking on the curb. "'I'm not a whore', she says!" He wrenched his head around when he heard a guttural scream. It sounded like Ulfo!

He ran into the alley and saw the big lug lying on the ground with his manhood stretched all out of proportion. Velina was kneeling beside him, kissing him on the neck—or so it seemed.

"What happened?"

Velina replied through blood-drenched lips. "I told you to wait!"

Drago surveyed the scene and drew his conclusions. Then he drew his knife! "So that's how you beat him! You're a..."

"A what?"

"A vampire! In this day and age!"

Velina straightened and walked toward him as he backed up. "Surely you must be mistaken."

Drago turned and ran. But he didn't get far. Velina took one long leap, grabbed him by the collar, and lifted him into the air. "Where do you think you're going? I thought we had a date!"

"I'm canceling!"

Drago took a stab at the vampire, but she caught him by the wrist and squeezed until he dropped it. She set him down. "'In this day and age', you said. Does that mean there's no longer a belief in vampires?"

Drago nodded while massaging his sore wrist. "It's pretty much the stuff of movies these days. At least it was."

"Movies?"

"Yes. You know. Motion pictures."

Velina's face went blank as if she had no clue as to what he was speaking of—which, of course, she didn't.

Drago groaned. "Never mind!"

"Well if people no longer believe," the vampire finally said, "then I should try to keep it that way for my own sake." She cut Ulfo on the neck with Drago's knife. "This way it looks like a common knifing." She frowned down at Ulfo's deformed dick. "Except for that. Now I wish I hadn't gone and done that."

"But that's my knife!" Drago said. "They might think that I killed him!"

The offending object disappeared from sight as Velina threw it as far as she could into the bay. It splashed down at least a hundred yards away. "Is that better?"

Drago gawked at the strength of her throwing arm then breathed a sigh of relief. "Much!"

Velina spun him around and pointed him in the direction of his apartment building. "All right then! Let's get going!"

Click! Drago turned on the overhead light in his small apartment. Click-click-click! The first thing Velina did was to commandeer the switch and flip it up and down like an excited child playing with a new toy.

Drago frowned. "Must you?"

"How does this work? How does this thing cause the room to light up or to go dark in an instant? Does it have something to do with that strange humming sound I keep hearing?"

"First you look like you never heard of movies and now you act as if you know nothing of electricity," Drago said. "Where have you been the last, oh, ninety years?"

Velina shoved him onto his single bed. "Napping, if you must know. And I have a lot of catching up to do." She got naked then sat beside him and put her hand in his crotch. She frowned when she felt not the slightest hint of hardness. "What's wrong? Don't I excite you?"

"Hell, yes," Drago said, "but you frighten me that much more!"

Velina unlimbered his member then stroked it like it was a cat. It started to come to life despite his dilemma.

"Oh, don't be that way!" she said.

"How can I not, considering you'll just kill me afterward?"

"Oh, I don't think that will be necessary."

Drago finally smiled. "You don't? Well then..."

He threw off his shirt and kissed Velina in a manner in which she'd never been kissed. She broke her lips free.

"What kind of a kiss was that, what with your tongue and all?"

"It was a French kiss. Didn't you like it?"

Velina grabbed him by the nape of the neck and forced a French kiss on him. "Maybe I should sail for France instead!"

Velina rose from her languid lover and peered out of his apartment window. "So many ships to choose from. How am I to know which one to sneak onto? How do I know if any of them are even sailing for America? Not that I can spot a single sail among them."

Drago pointed a shaky finger at the window. "The Severinna."

Velina whirled around toward him. "The what?"

"You want to head to America? Get on the Severinna. She embarks for America in the morning."

Velina's jaw went slack for a second. "There's a ship named the Severinna and it's sailing for America?"

"Yes, there's a ship named the Severinna, but it's not a sailing vessel, per se. Why do you look so surprised?"

The vampire became misty eyed all of a sudden. "Severinna was my mother's name. She brought me into this world. And now I suppose a ship bearing her name will take me to another."

Drago nodded his handsome head in agreement. "Weird!"

Velina turned her face back toward the window so he wouldn't see her moisture-laden eyes. "But how do you know all this?"

"I'm a stevedore."

"A stevedore? What's that?"

"A stevedore loads and unloads freighters. And I helped load her, the Severinna, this afternoon."

Velina smiled. "Then it's the Severinna for me. And, since you know so much, just how long does it take to cross the Atlantic these days?"

"Oh, it should take about a week."

The vampire put a hand on her flat stomach. "A week? I hope I can hold my hunger that long."

"What do you mean?"

"Meaning that I'd prefer a peaceful voyage, one without a panicky crew to pester me." She put on her dress. "Now there's the little matter of you and what you know."

Drago's eyes bulged. "What do you mean, 'what I know'?"

"You know too much."

The stevedore shrunk away from her. "No! You said you wouldn't kill me!"

Velina grabbed him by the head. "I know what I said. But still you know too much."

Drago struggled, tried to resist, but the vampire's hands were like clamps on his temples. She didn't bite him, though. Instead, she stared into his eyes. The longer she did, the less he fought until at last he went limp.

"If anyone asks, I'm just a girl you picked up at the bar. You took me home and had your way with me, whereupon I left for parts unknown. Nothing else of note happened. Nothing!"

Drago repeated her parting words in a far off tone. "Nothing else of note."

Velina searched for and found the Severinna at the nearby docks. She craned her head up and whistled in wonder at the sheer size of it. After making sure no one was watching, she slipped off her sandals and ran up a mooring line like a squirrel skittering along a telephone cable. On deck she found a hatch, opened it, and peered down the dark hole. Despite the vastness of the hold, it was crammed tight with crates.

The vampire shook her head in dread. "It looks awfully cramped down there," she said with a nervous sigh. "Oh, well. Here goes."

The hatch closed behind the vampire as she descended into the hold. She found a space between the crates just big enough for her feline frame to fit into and nestled in. If all went well she'd be able to sleep through the voyage and the hunger both. Then it would be on to a new life and new adventure in America. Her eyelids grew heavy and she drifted off. She might not have if she knew what lay ahead, for there was far from smooth sailing in store for Velina the vampire!

###

From the Author

While Velina the Vampire is the second book I've published at Smashwords, it's the first story I ever wrote. I hope you enjoyed it. There's more Velina to come!

Also by the Author

Wright and Wong

Where to Contact

http:twitter.com/ArthurRobeson

