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powers of the
Strega who created them, except they could only take solid form at
night
    She had made four Strigoi since she had been turned
and only two remained alive. Humans killed one and Sabine and she
hunted down the second. “Antal, it is good to see you, how do you
fare?” She asked, coming to stand before him. Unlike Sabine who
chose her Strigoi by their physical attributes, Nea chose them for
their background and education. Antal had been noble born, she
saved him after an almost fatal deer hunt.
    “Mistress, a pleasure as always, and well.” Antal
most often lurked in the woods and the libraries of religious
organizations, preferring to be the “devil on the shoulder” of
those he came in contact with and feeding on their indecision.
    “Not going to make me kill you this month?” Nea
teased him. His brown eyes crinkled in good humor. Antal was a
brutish guy, but sweet and soft spoken..
    “Not this month, Mistress.” His smile was brighter
than Nea had ever seen it before.
    Sabine sauntered out of the library a content
expression on her face, following her was Kinga, one of her
Strigoi, a beautiful and rather simple peasant girl who had been
raped and left for dead, she fed off anger.
    “Ah, travelling with Kinga right now?” Nea couldn’t
help the laughter that bubbled out of her, Kinga looked like a
fantasy come true, blonde over blue and curvy.
    “She makes me laugh.” Antal said.
    “Isn’t that what everyone wants?” Nea bantered.
    “Stop the chit chat, feed and then they have news,
do you not?” Sabine narrowed her eyes.
    Antal lifted a hand, perfectly cleaned. Nea took one
of his fingers into her mouth and began to suck, he drew in a
breath, eyes darkening. The emotions he housed for her tasted dark
and decadent, they filled her to the brim with power, a heady,
heavy thing. When she was done and withdrew, wiping her mouth, she
sat in one of the large chairs in the sitting room, everyone
following her.
    “You fed well since last I saw you.” It was a
compliment.
    “With only two of us I need to, you must make more,”
Antal chastised her.
    “I know, perhaps later this evening, now what did
you and Kinga want to tell us?”
    “There are stirrings in the dark, my ladies,” Kinga
whispered.
    “There is a creature that has taken up residence in
some of the old abandoned castles, it is said he feeds on the blood
of the living.” Antal told them.
    “A vampyre?” Sabine gasped, “Impossible. Bendis
would not allow it in her territory.”
    “It gets worse,” Antal’s eyes held forgiveness, “the
rumors say it is Vlad Dracul the Impaler.”
    “No, that’s not possible, they took his head. Vlad
would never damn his soul like that.” Nea sat back, the breath
having gone out of her.
    “It is a rumor they beheaded him, like some of the
other viscous gossip spread about him. Are you sure he wouldn’t
make a deal, for immortality?” Sabine asked tenderly.
    “If he thought it would have saved his people, but
only in dire need.” Nea closed her eyes for a moment, bringing up
Vlad’s handsome and dark image. She had loved him with a passion.
She had seen him grieve her death and knew the feelings had been
mutual; she would always mourn their loss time together. She would
always wonder what might have been. This was something she could
not dwell on, however.
    “Well, keep your eyes and ears open and tell me if
you hear anything else.” Nea dismissed them and the two Strigoi
left, quickly.
    “This speaks of trouble,” Sabine whispered.
    “It is only rumors, rumors in the dark.” Nea leaned
back and stared at the shadowy ceiling.
    “We’re not allowed to consort with vampyres Nea.”
Sabine warned.
    “I have never heard that rule.” Nea turned to her
friend, curious.
    “I been a Strega time out o’ mind, Hecate, she has
some harsh rules…Lesson 29, we stick to humans and our own kin and
kind.  If Vlad’s a vampyre, he is forbidden fruit now.” Sabine
stood up, in the