Radu threw the doors open and entered with Carrie next to him. She had her wand held out at the ready and it was a good thing.

They were immediately surrounded by vampires of all shapes and sizes. She blasted several of them away from her, losing track of Radu, who mixed in with a crowd of them, throwing punches, running up the wall and launching from a few feet up to cross over the top of three of them in an attempt to get to Solomon, who was watching from a throne he had set up in the north corner of the tower. Helga stood beside him.

“She’s mine!” Helga yelled out, as four vampires surrounded Carrie.

Carrie spun in a circle, using her wand to slice through the necks of the vampires around her, decapitating them. She ran toward Helga, surprised by her own courage. The old witch was coming toward her with just as much speed. When they met in the middle, Carrie flicked her wand in a circle, taking in all of Helga’s body. She uttered the spell that would render Helga’s smoke escape trick unusable. Recognizing the spell, Helga’s face turned angry, making her look like the ugly witches from movies Carrie had seen. She no longer saw the face of the woman who had mentored her, cared for her, nurtured her. She saw the evil that Solomon had infected her with. She saw the angry bitterness of a woman who had never truly been happy and never would be.

“Stop this insanity, Helga,” Carrie cried out. “Even if you kill me and Radu, there will be more of us, no one will let you take control of the world. There will always be someone to fight against you!”

“I don’t care about that,” Helga said the words with incredible malice. She held her wand out and sent a bolt of energy toward Carrie but the young witch was too fast. She spun in a circle, avoiding the bolt, at the same time sending one back at the older woman. Helga, lacking the youth and energy Carrie had, did not move away in time and was struck in the shoulder. She stepped back several feet, grabbing her shoulder and crying out in agony and anger.

Radu didn’t have the time he thought he would have to protect Carrie but glancing over his shoulder, he could see she was doing well on her own. At Helga’s direction that Carrie was hers to fight, the vampires had turned their attention toward him. He was warding them all off as skillfully as he had 700 years ago, feeling completely renewed by the witch’s blood coursing through his veins.

With new energy, he was able to climb up the walls, adjusting his gravity level so he wasn’t rooted to the ground. Solomon blasted purple streaks of energy toward him but he avoided them, moving back and forth at a pace faster than he’d ever moved before.

He was being swarmed, manipulating his body so that he was never struck by any of Solomon’s bolts, nor the vampires who were chasing after him. He ran around the room, dodging the others, trying to get to Solomon but the old vampire was untouchable. He weaved through the creatures trying to kill Radu. Solomon was sitting on his throne one moment, on the other side the next. Every time he moved, Radu would catch up to where he was and move in that direction. Each time, a line of vampire slaves would move in between them. Several times, the purple blasts from Solomon would decimate one of his own slaves. He didn’t blink an eye.

Radu noticed he was moving haphazardly in Helga’s direction. He was going to grab the witch and get out of there. Radu didn’t want that to happen. He was forced to go toward Carrie, though the young woman was doing well for herself, warding off Helga’s spells, though none of her own seemed to be doing much good.

Radu began yelling to her, telling her to get out of the way. She heard his voice and his words but didn’t comprehend them until he was directly next to her, shoving her away from Helga. Solomon was coming up behind the old witch. Radu stood in front of Carrie, putting his arms back in a protective move.

Carrie pulled her wand back and took a step away from Radu. Sensing that she’d stepped away, he moved back, as well.

“Where is the book, Carrie!?” Helga shrieked, not knowing that Solomon was coming up behind her. “Where is it? You must give it back!”

“You will never get that book again, Helga,” Radu said in a calm, low voice. “You will not use it for its intended purpose. The book was not meant to be used for evil.”

“You wouldn’t know the true intent of the book, Radu,” Helga sneered. “You are a vampire, a blood-sucking creature. You are not a witch and cannot use those spells anyway!”

“Perhaps not,” Radu continued his calm voice. “But Carrie can. She is the rightful owner of that spell book and you will never find out where it is.”

Solomon grabbed hold of Helga from behind, scaring her for a moment. She cried out in fear before her face set in a look of mixed anger and relief. He wrapped his large arms around her and both of them were covered by a white mist.

“No!” Radu yelled and jumped toward them. Carrie watched as he yanked the sword from the sheath at his side and held it out toward Solomon. She would never forget the look of fear on Solomon’s face when he caught sight of the sword. Radu whipped around and yelled at Carrie, “Get back!”

Without hesitation, she spun around and ran to the corner of the room, crouching down beside a table.

Radu lifted the sword in the air and placed both hands around the hilt. He brought it down blade first and stabbed it into the floor with a mighty yell. The force that blasted in all directions from the blade made a huge arc around the room, blasting the vampires in the room into a million bits of fluttering ash that rose up in the air and then plummeted to the floor. Radu’s head was down, his hands melded to the hilt of the sword as the energy pulsed through him and out into the room.

Carrie watched from behind him with wide eyes. He had destroyed them all with one powerful blast. All except Solomon and Helga, who had disappeared into the white fog moments before the blast that destroyed Solomon’s slaves.

Radu felt the energy leaving him. He stood up, letting the tip of the sword remain on the floor. He looked around him, his face settling in anger. “No! No! This can’t be happening!”

He stabbed the sword up in the air, shrieking with rage. Carrie pushed herself to her feet and stood watching him, swallowing hard. She didn’t know if approaching him was the best idea.

He turned to her, dropping the sword to the floor, where it clattered loudly. He held out one hand, beckoning to her. “Come to me,” he demanded. She went to him without hesitation.

When she was close enough, he pulled her to him, lowering his head and pressing his lips against hers hard. She felt a tingle running through her as his hands moved over her body. He was tearing at her clothes, pulling her shirt from her shoulders, cupping her breast with his hand while he probed her mouth with his tongue. She responded in kind, reaching up to remove his vest and shirt as quickly as she could. She wanted to feel his body against hers the same way he wanted hers.

He put his hands around her once he’d removed her shirt. He slowly lowered her to the ground, without taking his mouth from hers.

Her breath became rapid when he finally released her mouth and ran his tongue down over her neck to her breasts. He sucked at her nipples frantically, as if he would never get the chance again.

“Radu,” she moaned. “Slow down.”

He looked up at her. “That’s my line,” he whispered. His urgency didn’t slow down. His hand was in her pants, pulling them from her hips, exposing her beautiful naked body. His hand went to his own pants but hers were already there, loosening the belt and unzipping them so his manhood could be released. She pushed up on his chest and took him into her mouth, licking the head and running her fingers up and down the shaft while she sucked gently on the end. He groaned, putting one hand on the back of her head, guiding her.

“Faster,” he murmured. “Faster…”

She moved her head up and down, enjoying the taste of him in her mouth. She pushed down on his cock as far as she could, feeling the tip of it hitting the back of her throat, opening it and taking it in even further. He was so large, so thick. She couldn’t wait till he was deep inside her, stroking and thrusting his hips. If he was this urgent when they were making love, it wasn’t going to take long for her to orgasm, probably two or three times.

She yanked his pants down to his ankles and reached up to cup his butt cheeks. She pulled on him so that he slammed into her mouth until he cried out, “Enough! Slow down! Not yet!”

She pulled back away from him and looked up into his eyes. He looked down at her for less than a second before he was on top of her, spinning her over so she had her back to him and entering her from behind. She gasped, the ultimate sensation of pleasure sliding through her with every stroke. She cried out when the orgasm slid through her. She was so wet, it was sliding down her inner thighs. The sound of his skin slapping against hers made her orgasm a second time almost immediately after the first.

He pulled out abruptly and turned her onto her side. He laid behind her and entered again, closing his arms around her and holding her close to him as he pushed deeper and deeper into her.

“Oh, oh, Radu, oh my god…” She couldn’t stay silent. A third orgasm was sneaking up on her and just as she came, he did at the same time, crying out with pleasure.

He was still breathing hard, his cock still throbbing inside her. He didn’t pull out until his breath had steadied. She didn’t move an inch. Her eyes were closed. She was relishing in the closeness of his body, the feel of his breath on her neck, the throbbing in between her legs. Her body was tingling. No one had ever made her feel so good.

“Whenever we do that,” she murmured, tilting her head up so he would hear her better, “I want to do it again as soon as it’s over. I don’t ever want it to end.”

He chuckled, still not moving away from her. “It has to end sometime. But that doesn’t mean it can’t start again at a later date.”

“And I hope we will.”

He chuckled, finally moving away from her, leaving her feeling cold. She grabbed her clothes and redressed quickly. The damp air moving through the castle had given her a chill. She watched him dress, admiring the way the muscles in his back moved as he pulled on his shirt. His thighs were tight and thick. She moved her eyes over him, lusting after him even though she had just been satisfied three times.

“You are an amazing man, Radu. I’m sorry you left your leadership behind, your authority as prince. You would have made a fine king.”

Radu turned to look at her, tying the belt around his waist. “Perhaps I wasn’t the man I am now back then.”

“You were young. There’s no way to know what kind of man you would have turned out to be. But as you are now, the man you are now… the vampire you are now… you would have made a fine king.”

He knelt next to her on one knee, reaching out to brush the hair from her eyes. “You are a fine woman, Carrie. A wonderful, powerful witch. And I enjoy sharing myself with you. But there’s something you must do now. It’s all up to you.”

“What’s that?”

“They cannot return to this castle. The book is hidden here.”

“They might not know that.”

He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. This is your opportunity to make sure the fortress is sealed tight, that no one and nothing besides the two of us can enter from now on.”

“It’s a shame to leave this place unused when it’s so pretty inside.” Carrie moved her hand and picked up the wand she had dropped when he grabbed her. She knew exactly how many layers it would need to keep this fortress safe from and inaccessible to Solomon, Helga or anyone else who had nefarious purposes.