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broken body.
Nea and Sabine grew closer since they shared the same death.
    There were many trying times the first decade Nea
was a Strega. Three months after her “death” she had word that Vlad
had been taken capture by a man they had both though that was their
friend, Matthias, who was a leader in Hungary. He was held for ten
years. Her children were raised by distant family and she had
nightmares about not being with them. Finally Sabine appealed to
the Goddess who granted Nea the right to use magic to free
Vlad.
    “Lesson 30, learn to bargain.” Sabine had stroked
her hand but Nea never did find out what Sabine had bargained
with.
    They cheered together in 1476 when Vlad took back
Wallachia with Hungarian support and Nea thought a new era had
begun for her husband and children. She felt like she could relax
into her new life, it was not to last however.
    One night only months after his regained glory,
Bendis came to tell her Vlad had died, Nea didn’t realize her heart
could break again. The rumors were he had been ambushed on his way
to Bucharest and beheaded. Nea had pleaded with Bendis for the
right to have her children come live with her. Bendis refused and
forbade Nea to even see her boys until it was time to turn
Mihail.
    A true friend, Sabine got her so drunk she didn’t
remember who Vlad even was. She slept with another man for the
first time in her life and in the morning she had a panic attack
over the possibility of being pregnant and following in her
family’s dark footsteps.
    “Lesson 35; Stregas cannot get pregnant, unless the
Goddess wills it.” Sabine told her, holding her hair while she
threw up. This statement was followed by a reminder of Lesson 20,
Stregas were not affected by curses (or whatever) put on them when
they were mortal.
    Their friendship worked both ways. Several times Nea
housed Sabine’s female lovers, hiding them, so they wouldn’t be
persecuted by family or so called friends. Watching Sabine with her
lovers Nea soon got over her aversion and realized that her faith
had been wrong to oppress those who loved differently.
    “Why don’t you stop until it’s socially acceptable?
You always get caught.” Nea said while watching Sabine pack up the
newest consort and moving out her things. They never lasted more
than six months and then Sabine relocated them, new life, new
identity and enough money to make up for whatever they had
lost.
    “I love women and men equally, why should I be
forced to choose? Remember Lesson 18, Stregas do what we want, but
we always clean up our messes and take care of what is ours.”
    Sabine also got bored easily. She had several houses
Bendis had given her, but was never content long, preferring to
travel and explore. She always brought Nea the best presents.
    After a trip she would relax at Nea’s house, eating,
drinking and stupping with whomever she chose and putting kinks
into Nea’s normal routine, but Nea liked it. Sabine told her it was
all about Lesson 6; “we are immortal, learn to have fun.”
    Sabine was staying with her the
night of Mihail’s 25 th birthday. Nea woke
with a horrible feeling, it was time, time to reveal herself to her
favorite son and ask him to join her. She had decided Bendis was
right, her son deserved power and a long life. She knew things had
been difficult since she had “died.” It was time to amend
that.
    Dressing quickly she went down
stairs and was not surprised that one of her Strigoi was waiting in
the foyer. It hadn’t taken her very long to figure out why Bendis
required a Strigoi every five years , those
turned into Strigoi often became power hungry and went bad, well
worse than they should have gone.
    When that happened they became the evil killers of
legend and it was a Strega’s duty to hunt and destroy rogue
Strigoi, before the humans did. Sometimes humans got a hold of a
rogue Strigoi and myths were created. Bendis didn’t care for that.
Nea had learned a lot about Strigoi; most of the same