WINTER
It was a frigid night and Terra was tossing and turning in her worn blanket. Unable to sleep, she got up and began to walk down the empty corridors. Her long hair waved in the soft breeze coming from the open windows. All she could hear was the soft claps of her bare feet hitting the stone floor. She stopped for a moment after hearing shoes step behind her. She looked over her shoulder and after seeing no one; she turned around and continued to walk.
When she reached a large spiral staircase, she heard more footsteps and stopped again. “Who is there?” she asked. There was no reply, so, she continued to walk. But, the sound of footsteps followed her down the stairs, so, she quickened her pace and looked back before tripping with a surprised gasp.
As she got up she groaned and stood up only to see her lord standing before her. She gasped. “Something wrong, my dear?” He asked.
“No, my lord, you only startled me,” she replied in relief.
“Terra, you should not be roaming the halls so late at night, you could catch cold,” he said.
“You are right, Lord Dracula, please forgive my foolishness,” she said with a bow.
“Do not worry, I will not be as cruel as my father,” he pledged.
“Thank you, my lord,” she said.
“Let me walk you to your room,” he said.
“I would be honoured,” she smiled.
Her lord walked her to her room and she quickly went to sleep.
The next morning things went the way they usually went, Terra got up at dawn and made her bed then went to the kitchens and had a piece of bread for breakfast. She next went to her master, Zoltan Valerious’s room and served him breakfast and tended to his everyday wounds. She never quiet knew how he obtained these wounds but it was not her place to ask him a question like that.
After tending to her master, she went to the kitchens again and washed dishes for her master’s sons and daughters’ breakfasts. The other servants did not really like her and thought she was a waste of space. She was ordered to go to the market to pick up fresh meat and wine for dinner.
She walked down the castle’s stone path to a dirt road that led to Transylvania, village of the beasts. The name came from a myth that a god had placed a curse on Transylvania so that it would be like a magnet for evil. Terra had never believed the fable. She thought it was just a tale parents used on their children to scare them into looking behind their shoulders at night so they would not get mugged or kidnapped.
As Terra walked she saw the undertaker. He smiled at her showing his rotten teeth. She nodded back in respect knowing what he was thinking; he could not wait to dig her grave. The graveyard in Transylvania was bigger than the village, including the farmland! This made the tale of Transylvania more believable. Some people died for unexplainable reasons or they just disappeared! It was definitely strange there.
When Terra reached the market she got her goods and looked longingly at some of the beautiful gowns for sale.
Terra walked back to her master’s home and delivered the goods to the kitchens.
She was walking back to her room when someone called, “Terra!”
“My-my lord?” Terra said as her lord Vladislaus ran to her.
“Hello, I came to say that I would enjoy your company for a walk this evening at seven o’clock,” he smiled.
“My lord, it is seven of the clock,” she giggled.
“I know,” he chuckled.
“It-it would not be proper, I have no gown for the occasion, my lord,” she stuttered.
“Do not bother dressing up, my father will never know and I am your lord so you must do as I say,” he smiled.
“Well, I suppose, if you wish, my lord,” she blushed.
They walked around the castle courtyard and talked about their family histories. Terra laughed at all his amusing childhood stories.
It was getting very late and Vlad could see that she was freezing. Her teeth started to chatter and Vlad said, “You are frozen, Terra! Here, take my overcoat,” he said handing her his black overcoat.
“B-but, you w-will be cold, my l-lord” she stated.
“I will be fine, you are wearing tattered clothing, no socks and horrible shoes, wear my overcoat!” he commanded. Against her better judgement, she put on the overcoat. It was line with fur and was the warmest coat she’d ever worn. It was much too big for her petite figure, but would do for the night.
As the night continued, the two had become quite close. While they were sitting on a field of grass, Terra fell asleep and Vlad carried her to the castle and up to her room. It was a lot of work but he did not mind, she was very beautiful when she slept.
The next morning Terra woke cheerfully and was wearing the overcoat her lord had given her. She took it off and noticed a pile of clothing with a piece of parchment attached that read: “ Terra,
Here is some clothing I picked up in a spare room. You will be much warmer with these, WEAR IT!!
Vlad”
She examined the clothing. They were green dresses that were all the same with matching cotton cloaks. He also sent her a pair of leather working boots. She smiled and put on her new clothing.
As the day began, she feared that her master would see her different clothing a suspect the worst but thankfully, he did not notice. She was ordered to go back to the market that day to get fresh beats and radishes. When she went she saw a little girl getting yelled at and beaten by a large man. “Excuse me! Why are you hurting a small child?” she asked aggressively.
“This monster stole my apples!!” complained the shopkeeper.
“I have not eaten much more than a radish a day!” said the little girl.
Looking into her eyes, Terra saw the girl was lonely and terrified and starving. Feeling sorry for her, Terra asked, “ How much?”
“How much what?”
“What is the cost of this child’s stolen goods?”
“ Twenty cents,”
Terra knew that she had only twenty cents to buy her vegetables but paid the man anyways. She was going to get punished though. Thinking about it made her shiver. The girl was so happy; she did not know how to reply to Terra’s kindness.
When Terra got back and explained what happened, she was smacked in the face and was sent to receive punishment from her master for misusing money. “Master you must…”
“Do not speak, servant! You have dishonoured this home and myself! You MUST PAY THE PRICE!!” her master yelled. “As a punishment… your hair is to be cut to your shoulders,”
Terra’s hair was down to her ankles and she nearly cried when they cut it all. The other servants looked at her with disgrace and disgust that her hair was so short. It was a disgrace for a woman or girl to have hair so short because it made them look manly.
She met with Vladislaus later that evening. When he saw her he looked at her hair and said, “ Who? Why? When?”
“ Your father, I used money to give a starving girl food and this morning,” she said. “ It looks awful does it not?” she said with a tear.
“ I think you look beautiful, no matter what your hair length is,” he said consoling the crying girl.
“ It will take months, no, years to grow back, my lord, years,” she sobbed.
Vladislaus rocked her and stroked her hair. “Call me Vlad, Terra, my lord is not fit for a girl who is my friend,” he whispered.
“My friend,” she repeated.
Vlad walked her to her room and tucked her into bed.
Terra woke feeling much better about her situation. It was her one-day off! Since she had been assigned a lot of tasks the month before she was given this day off.
She dressed and went to the kitchen for breakfast. The other servants stared at her still disgusted. She finally got the courage and said, “ Stare if you will but I was punished for saving a girl’s life and I do not regret it! I am proud of my actions and I would do it again if the situation arose!” as she said this the servants got back to their work.
After breakfast she went outside. She laid in the snow and thought. She imagined a grand castle and her standing in front of it with Vladislaus, hugging him. She came back to her scenes and slapped herself in the face, “ Do not even think of it! It is forbidden!” she told herself. She wanted her daydream to be real so badly, it shocked her.
Later, she had dinner and went to bed early.
In the middle of the night she was woken by a knock on her door. She answered the door and it was Vlad, but badly injured. His shirt was ripped and he had whip marks on his back and a gash in his shoulder. “Vlad, who did this to you?” she whispered.
“Father,” he whimpered. He was in a lot of pain. He was breathing heavily and shivering.
“ Why would he…” she started.
“Said you were worthless… I stood up for you, my punishment.” he pointed at his back and winced in pain.
“I will get some alcohol for your wounds. Vladislaus, that was very noble of you but reckless,”
He smirked and she left to get the alcohol and bandages. When she came back, she tended to his wounds and helped him to his room.
“There you go, nice and … as comfy as you can be in your state I suppose,” she smiled sympathetically.
She went to leave but he said, “Please!” “Stay with me, please!” he begged.
“ Of course,” she smiled with a tear in her eye, she hated seeing him in pain. That night she spent the night in his room, rocking him to sleep with songs.
When she woke that morning Vlad was still asleep and she snuck out to get him breakfast.
She got his breakfast and ran upstairs before anyone noticed she had taken the food. He was awake and sitting in bed when she returned.
“ I thought you left in the middle of the night,” he croaked.
“ No, I was here all night with you. I brought you breakfast,” she handed him the tray of food.
“ You are too kind, Terra. Too kind,”
“ So I’ve been told, EAT!!”
He started to eat. She sat on a cushion on the floor. When he was finished, he said, “ You do not have to stay here, you can leave if you wish it,”
“ You are still weak, Vlad. Which reminds me, I need to change your bandages!” she stated. She got the bandages and alcohol from her bedroom. When she returned she took off the old bandages and inspected his wounds. They were very red and purple and were starting to bruise. She put on the new bandages. She looked Vlad strait in the eyes. She saw unhappiness and pain. “ Are you alright?” she asked.
“ Yes,” he lied.
“ Do not lie, Vlad. What is wrong?”
“ I HATE MY FATHER! He thinks you are nothing but a waste of space…”
“ Vlad…”
“ And he thinks I am a disgrace! He wants to sell you and I said he could not which is why HE DID THIS TO ME!!”
Terra was crying. “ Why, why would you do that for me, Vlad?”
“ I do not wish for you to leave, I enjoy your presence, you make me smile whenever I am around you,”
Terra blushed. She wiped the tears for her eyes and looked Vlad in the eye again.
Vlad closed his eyes and passionately kissed Terra. The kiss lasted for a second before Terra moved her head away “ I cannot, it is not my place,”
“ Frankly Terra, I do not give a damn about your place, I only care for you,”
Both he and Terra stood up. They kissed again hungrily. “ What will your father do to you when he finds out…”
“ IF he finds out,”
“ Vlad,” she said sternly. “ This cannot work,” Terra started to cry again. She ran out the door and down the hall. She loved Vlad but she did not want to see him get hurt anymore.
Two week went by and Terra was miserable. She did not see or talk to Vlad and did not smile either. This was the way it had to be she thought. Every time Vlad called out to her she would ignore him and move quickly in the opposite direction.
It was late at night and Terra was lying in bed it would be another sleepless night. Then the door opened and Terra gasped. It was Vlad.
“Vladislaus Dracula Valerious!! What in the heavens are you doing here? Why can you not leave me be!” she whispered.
“ I cannot eat nor sleep! I love you! I do not care about your place or what my father thinks! You are the only thing I think about. I breathe your name your scent lingers where we have been together!! I need you,” he finished.
Terra was crying with happiness. “I miss you, Vlad”
“ I miss you too!”
They kissed passionately. They looked into each other’s eyes it was definitely going to be a restless night.
Terra woke up the next day in Vlad’s arms. She was smiling.
“Good morning,” he said.
“Good morning,” she replied.
“That was fun,”
“ Mmmm,” . “ I have to get to work!”
“ I sent a telegram to my father saying you had the flu,”
“ You did not need to do that,”
“ I know,”. She kissed Vlad and got up and got dressed.
He put on his clothes from the other night and said, “I need to go to my room before my father comes to lecture me,” he grumbled.
“ Alright, I love you,”
“ I love you too, I’ll be back as soon as I can with breakfast,” Vlad went out the door and ran to his room. He put on new clothes and went into town. He was going to surprise Terra with a gift.
Terra lay in her bed and thought about what their future would be like. She imagined them together forever. Nothing on this earth could separate them.
Vlad returned with breakfast for the two of them. There was a box on the tray he brought in. “What is in the box?” she asked.
“ Open it,” he commanded.
She looked at him with a curious smile. She opened the box to find a diamond ring nestled in it. She gasped.
“Will you marry me, Terra?”
Terra cried in happiness and shock, “ Vlad- I- Yes!”. She kissed him passionately and put on the ring.
They decided that they would have the wedding in the courtyard at night when no one would see. Zoltan would find out eventually find out. Vlad would always be with Terra and she would always be in his room. Terra almost wanted him to know, to see the look on his face at the wedding when he would see his golden son marry a servant girl.
She was so happy. They finally were getting a chance to be together. Vlad seem just as happy as her. Everyday he would smile at the people he passed, even his father who was disgusted at the sight of it.
When the night of the wedding came she was so excited, she wanted to scream. When they met in the courtyard that night she seemed to glow in the light of the silver full moon. They stood in freezing cold of the winter night, but they did not care, as long as they were together it would be fine no matter what. Vlad took out two rings. They were both black and had an insignia with a dragon. He put hers on her hand and she put his on his hand. They kissed passionately.
2 years later- Transylvania
Terra lay in bed. Her eyes were bloodshot from crying.
Flashback
“ Dear, why are you wearing armour? Where are you going?” asked Terra. Vladislaus continued to wave a sword around and armed himself. “ You are going to duel with that man. You know he is only toying with you, he is not the Left Hand of God, Vlad, really!”
“ How do you know, Terra? I think his threats are true,”
“ I do not wish to lose you! Going strait to your deathbed is insanity! I love you!”
“ And I love you. Which is why I must,” Terra started to cry. He hugged her and said, “ I will come back,” and then he walked out the door.
End Flashback
She had never wanted him to listen to a stranger who is as insane as her Father- In – Law, Zoltan. He had accepted that they were related but he loathed her. Right now, Zoltan was the one she went to for ranting and letting out her anger. So that is where she went, to Zoltan’s room.
“ It would seem that my son is an idiot!” he yelled.
“ A total idiot! How could he leave me and his poor child to rot while he goes and kills himself!” she replied looking down at her pregnant stomach. She was 7 months into her pregnancy and she had hoped that their child would be a girl. So did Zoltan.
“ He has always been too protective for anyone’s’ good!” he complained.
“ I wish he’d come back, he has been gone for a week,” she sighed. There was a knock on the front door. “I should see who that is,” she said. She got up and walked down the same spiral staircase that led her to her husband a winter night, 2 years ago.
Terra opened the door and it was a villager. He held a piece of parchment. He gave Terra the parchment and left without saying a word. Terra shut the door and opened the parchment. It read:
My Dearest,
I do not think I will be coming home… ever. I am badly wounded, that is why the letters are shaky. I am stabbed in the stomach. It would seem that he was as skilled as he claimed to be, I told you. I love you. Live well. Take care of our child.
For the Last Time,
Vlad
Terra screamed in agony. It was as though he had been killed in front of her. Zoltan rushed down to see what the screaming was about and just saw Terra on the ground sobbing hysterically and a piece of parchment. He read the parchment and took out his sword and cut the head off of a pure marble statue.
Terra didn’t sleep or eat or do much of anything really. It was like time stopped and the only thing see could feel was numbness. She wanted to kill the man who killed her husband, the only man she had ever loved and the only man she would ever love.
Zoltan went on a search for Vlad’s body or the remains of it. From what he wrote, Terra knew they had not found him. After three weeks, Zoltan had stopped writing to her and she kept her guard up, there had to be something coming.
One night, Terra woke after hearing a loud crash in the dining room. She ran to the dining room to see no one was there. She got a weapon from the armoury and walked through the halls.
A brisk wind pasted her by her and she swung her head around, but, again, no one was there. She turned around and Vlad was standing in front of her! “ Vlad? I-I thought that you…” she started to cry and they hugged.
“ It’s okay, my love,” he said.
“ My love? That’s new,” she commented. He turned her around and moved her hair out of the way of her neck. Her heart started to beat rapidly. “ What are you doing?” she asked.
“ There are a lot of things about me that are… new,”
“ Vlad, this is not like you, you’re scaring me!”
He smirked. “ It will only hurt… for a moment,”
Terra screamed. He was not breathing on her neck, he was not breathing at all. Zoltan came in and saw his son, which was miraculous, but with fangs, horrifying! “ Back!” he said holding his cross in Vlad’s face. Vlad hissed and backed off.
“ Father,”
“ You are no son of mine,”
“ I will be back for you, my love,” at that moment he jumped off the balcony and after landing perfectly, he ran.
“ Zoltan, thank god!” Terra cried in his shoulder. “ That was NOT my husband! It couldn’t have been!”
“ It was, Terra. It was,” Zoltan felt so guilty! He had raised such a proud soon and had to go to the Vatican, he had to make things right! Terra had to go too. She was about to have the Devil’s Son’s child!
They travelled to Rome by horse. When they reached the Vatican, Terra could feel that her child was going to come out soon. Terra went in the confessional. “ Bless me Father, for I have sinned,” she started.
“ Tell me of your sins, my child,”
“ I love and I am birthing the child of an unholy man,”
“ No man is unholy, child. Do not speak so low of your love,”
“ You do not understand. I love the Son of the Devil,” she almost screamed it. She cried. For once the priest opened the cage revealing the sad face of a devastated woman.
He looked at her and saw fear, anger, and sorrow, pain and worry. He felt for her but she needed to pray and beg for mercy. But just then, Terra started to go into labour. The priest rushed her down a secret staircase where people stared as they worked on weapons. The priest cleared a table and Terra screamed in pain. Her child was coming.
4 Hours Later
Terra saw her child, a little baby girl with her father’s black hair and her mother’s brown eyes. Terra was so tired. She closed her eyes and drifted into a dream.
It was blinding white in the room Terra was standing in. She felt calm. There was a man he was pure white. “Hello, Terra,”
“ Who are you?”
“ Isn’t it obvious? I am God,”
“ Am I dead?”
“ No. Going to a different matter, what are you going to do about your husband?”
“ I do not know,”
“ Do you love him?”
“ Yes,”
“ That itself is an unfortunate sin,”
“ I know,”
“ You know what you must do then,”
“ No, not really,”
“ You must kill him, help the Valerious’ kill him,”
“ I do not think I can,”
“ He will be rewarded if you kill him,”
“ Please continue,”
“ He will go to heaven with you,”
“ But it will take me longer than my lifetime to… you know,”
“ I will grant you immortality to you until the very second the beast is killed,”
“ What of why daughter, Skye?”
“ I may grant her your gift… if she goes down the right path,”
“ What do you mean?”
“ You will see,”
Terra woke confused. What did he mean go down the right path? Was there a wrong path for her to choose? It didn’t make any sense.
“ Are you alright?” asked the priest.
“ I am fine,”
“ I suppose you know our secret know, we are the Knights of the Holy Order, the last defence against evil,”
“ Oh,”
“ I cannot let you go with that information,”
“ I understand,”
“ You can stay here,”
“ What about…”
“ Zoltan has a mission and by the look of your face, so do you,” “ We can train you, give you the experience you need, give you a safe haven for you and your girl…”
“ Her name is Skye,”
“… Right, well, your choice, stay here or go home,”
Terra thought long and hard. Then a man walked by. He looked like the Left Hand of God that killed her husband.
“ That is a… recovering man, he crawled up the steps of this church half- dead, and we believe he has been sent to do God’s work,” there was something about the man that reminded her of Vladislaus, the one she knew anyways. He looked traumatized, as though he had killed someone, as he looked at her and their eyes met, her eyes swelled with tears.“ I have made my decision. I will… stay,”
The priest smiled and showed her to her room. They found a crib for Skye and Terra smiled at her child, she remembered what she had been told to do and frowned. Getting her mind on something else, she thought that many people would ask why she named her child Skye and there was a very specific reason that she would never tell and that reason was because she imagined she was glowed in the sky in heaven, it was a symbol of her freedom.
Which gave her a name for herself, so Vladislaus could never recognize her. Her name would be Winter, Vladislaus’s’ favourite season and the time of year they wed.
The End