“Ahhhh!” Radu cried as he got control over his body again. His skin and bones felt stiff, and brittle. It was like he was going back into hibernation. He was playing a dangerous game, letting his heart and his emotions do his thinking for him. It had nearly ended in disaster, but after nearly eight hundred years, it had felt good to act like a young man again.

Radu burst through the pile of sticks and dirt that Carrie had heaped in front of the door. She had been very thorough, and blocked out all the light, but they had been too late. Sunlight had touched the old vampire’s body, and his long hibernation had made his skin particularly sensitive.

“I need to get to Carrie. I need to get to the cathedral.” Radu was trying to talk his body into moving properly, but it was a struggle. Breaking through the pile of sticks and mud felt like it had taken every bit of strength and energy he had. He just wanted to lie back down and stay there for a few weeks. “I’m getting too old for this.” Radu was feeling dismayed and disappointed, especially after regaining so much of his strength and power in the past few days.

He started moving down the mountain, leaving the solitude and cool protection of the cave. It was hard for him to keep walking, each step feeling like he was being stabbed. He sat down on a rock to get a better look at his feet. He hadn’t worn any footwear since he moved into the monastery, and his feet had been the first place that the sunlight hit as it moved into the cave. His feet were cut, long deep tracks running from heel to toe. There was no blood of course, and he didn’t need to worry about infection, but they did make it very difficult to walk.

He stood up again, “Ooo…ah!” Radu was putting his feet down slowly and carefully. He could feel the stems of the dead leaves and the ends of sticks poking around inside of his foot. Each step made his skin feel like it was going to rip right off. Radu took a deep breath and started moving faster, trying desperately to ignore the pain in his feet.

Radu stood still for a moment as his foot sank into the soft soil at the bottom of a puddle. It was cooling his skin and it was the first step that hadn’t been filled with pain. The former prince looked around at the trees of the mountainside. He had been in this forest before. The landscape had changed a bit over time, but it had the same look and character.

The battle for Wallachia had been fierce, and Radu Negru had been a young man trying to make a name for himself. A semi-royal at birth, he had noble blood, but nothing in the way of land. There was a reason that his humble beginnings were left out of the history books. He spent his formative years travelling from court to court. He was supposed to be making friends, and wooing potential allies, but Radu had never had a head for that. The army wasn’t even his army when they set out from Curtea de Argeș to fight the Hungarian King.

It was his ability to wait and listen that had helped him rise to power. He was never one for the spotlight. Radu had hid in the shadows and listened to the stories of the kings, Voivodes, and warriors that visited the courts he frequented. They had told stories of a powerful creature that lived in the mountains and guarded a terrible secret.

These were the mountains where Radu had met his master. Unul had been tracking the army for some time when Radu finally saw the old man. There was still a glow about him, and it was on a dark night in the middle of a clearing that Radu finally saw the mythical creature that had ended Balaur’s cruel reign of terror.

He didn’t want to think about that now. He wanted to get to the cathedral. He needed Carrie’s help desperately. It wasn’t just that he needed her help recovering from his wounds, especially his feet. His body desired her. His very essence depended on having her. The interruption that had caused him to lose his chance with her the night before had left him aching, wanting, lusting for her.

He would take his chance when he found her. The Curtea de Arges, where Carrie was waiting for him, was a church he had built during his first rule. He needed the sword to enter the fortress. It was the only way. He knew it.

He was determined to get in there and get that sword. He might have to search the catacombs but he was going to find it. Getting in the fortress was the only way to destroy Solomon and Helga.

Radu made his way down to the town below, passing through hoping that he was blending in as well as he wanted to. There weren’t many people out anyway. The street was nearly empty.

He passed the café where Carrie had gotten her sandwich, and continued walking past the leering dog in the window across the street. He could see the steeple of the church in the distance. He was thirsty and needed sustenance. He eyed several people as he passed them on the street, his eyes concentrated on the pulsing vein in their neck. A young woman passed by, jogging, her blond pony tail swinging back and forth behind her. The vein in her neck was throbbing as she exerted effort. His breath caught in his throat and he looked away.

Something like that would only draw the attention of every other vampire and witch in the area. The vampires after him would have open access to him and would have to fight for their turn pummeling him after the humans and the witches. He was in too much pain from this damned recovery from hibernation to worry about something like that right now. When he found Carrie, his needs would be satisfied. He would feel her from the inside and the outside. He would become one with her just like he’d done before and it would surely be just as sweet.

He turned up an alleyway, knowing he could cross through the alley and come up behind the cathedral from a different position than usual, a different route from the one Carrie would have used. He didn’t need to check to make sure she was safe. He had a feeling she was and that satisfied him enough.

His senses tingled and he slowed down his pace, instinctively crouching. His eyes were alert, darting from left to right as he searched for the source of the bad feeling. Helga was around here somewhere. He sensed her presence like no other. She didn’t need to be a vampire to give out an eerily sharp sensation when she was around. It was like everything good around her withered away now that she was following Solomon’s lead. It withered away like the good she’d had in her soul before Solomon got hold of her.

He didn’t want to wait any longer. He wanted to get to the cathedral immediately. Everything he needed was waiting there for him.

He moved around a corner, turning into an alleyway. It was shaded and darker than the street outside. He could easily maneuver his way past the trash cans and other debris along his path. His eyes were sharp as if it was daylight. He almost felt invisible, but some witches could see in the dark if they knew the right spell and Helga most definitely would know that spell. The other vampires hunting him would also be able to see as well as him. Remembering those facts dampened his confidence.

He hurried his pace and turned once more down a long alley that would lead him directly to the back of the cathedral. He passed the houses, glancing from side to side, hoping no one was looking out a window or taking out the trash or walking their dog. The way he felt, he wasn’t sure he could guarantee their safety.

His feet were still burning but he’d become used to it. He distracted himself by thinking about what he was going to do to Carrie once he got his hands on her. And his lips. He didn’t know why she was so attracted to him, especially in the condition he was in. She was seeing him at his absolute worst but was still willing to give herself to him. It made no sense to him. He was glad. He was grateful. But he was confused by it.

He snuck along, noticing a family at a dinner table. He stopped for a moment and watched them. There was some kind of board game spread out on the table and the family of five was playing it joyously. He hadn’t seen a board game or anyone playing a board game in a very long time. But this family seemed to be having the time of their lives. The mother and father were smiling, the two young boys were looking at each other with sneaky eyes while their little sister took her turn. Radu could tell they were planning an attack on the girl, but not a malicious attack. Their smiles gave away their love for the girl and when she landed on a certain spot, both boys lifted their hands and cheered. The little girl laughed and clapped her hands. The parents joined in the laughter.

How he wished he could have had a family like that. It may have been boring compared to the life he led but he would have enjoyed it. He would have lived with a woman he loved, had children, grown old and died a happy man.

He turned his head to see into another house; this time it was a back room, what looked like a den. A young man and woman were sitting together on a couch, watching television. They weren’t speaking to each other. After a moment, the girl leaned her head over and rested it on the man’s shoulder. Without taking his eyes off the screen, the man kissed her forehead. She smiled and wrapped one arm over his chest.

Their love was obvious to Radu. Human love…something he missed tremendously.

Time meant nothing now. There had been too much of it and his memory span was so long, it pained him to think about it. No human could ever understand the incredible changes mankind had gone through in the centuries he’d been around to observe. So much tragedy. So much hatred. And yet the world and the people still believed that love conquers all. Even in 2018, people still searched for love.

He couldn’t blame them. He didn’t have to be human to desire someone’s love and affection. The physical part was healing but the emotional part was nurturing. After living as long as he had, he needed both to survive.

The cathedral drew closer and closer. He was nervous for some reason, a feeling he wasn’t used to. He was a confident man. He was a powerful man. When he wasn’t healing from a long hibernation.

He could smell Carrie’s scent as he got close to the cathedral. It comforted him because that meant she was there, waiting for him. He slid along the side of the fence surrounding the last house before the street let out into the cathedral parking lot. He looked up at the massive building, impressed with the work he’d done creating it. It went deep into the ground and jutted high up into the sky. It was a masterpiece, a work of pure art. He was proud of it, more than anything else he’d built over the years.

The sword was hidden in the catacombs below. He and Carrie would retrieve the sword. Then they would be armed and ready to fight Solomon and Helga and keep the book safe from evil hands.