Dimwater's Dragon by Sam Ferguson Read Free Book Online Page B

memories of pleasure and love. No. It could not have been love, she knew. Lust perhaps, but not love. The vampire was a demon, nothing more than the spawn of evil itself. Such a creature could never love, it could only capture, charm, and seduce. That is all there had ever been, just the vampires charm and his seduction spells.
    “Why have you come?” Lady Caspen asked.
    “You know why.” Footsteps fell nearby and Lady Caspen shifted her gaze to look at a long shadow behind a grouping of trees. She could not see his form yet, but she knew he was there. Likely he had shifted into the form of a bat, or some other small creature to enable him to maneuver in the shadows before the sunset. “Have you not missed me?”
    “You know I have not.” Lady Caspen held the dagger firmly in her hand, staring at the shadows and waiting for the form to take shape. “I will ask once more, why have you come?”
    The vampire laughed, not a maniacal, harsh laugh, but a soft one seemingly born of empathy. “You loved me once,” the vampire said.
    “You ensnared me in your charm spells. I never loved you,” Lady Caspen protested.
    The vampire laughed again. “You and I both know there was more to it than that. Otherwise, you would not have helped me feign my death and escape the pair that stole you from me.”
    “You only fought to keep me because you had stolen me first,” Lady Caspen said.
    The shadows expanded enough that the man was able to take form and look at her. His dark hair framed his angular face perfectly. His dark eyes stared back at her, peering into her very soul it seemed. He took two steps toward her before she raised the dagger and then he stopped and put his hands in the air. “As I recall, between myself and your husband, I was the only one willing to fight for you. Your little scholar would only send mercenaries to do his work. I thought not to keep something I had stolen, but to preserve the promise that we might have grown into something more. I can still offer you the gift I offered before, and we three can live in my castle forever. Your husband need not know where we go, and no other could ever force their wills upon us.”
    “Kyra is not yours to take either.”
    “She is born of me,” the vampire said. “More than that, I have watched over her these last many years as she grew. You know the power stirs within her. She will never be accepted by the humankind.”
    “She is no vampire,” Lady Caspen said. “She does not have the lust for blood, nor does she have any of your undesirable traits.”
    “Come now, Zana. You know that to become a vampire one must be turned. The child of a vampire is at best born with demon blood within them. I would not expect her to lust for blood, because I never turned her. That is only accomplished with an intentional act, a bite in which I can transfer my essence. However, you also know that the darkness within her will grow. If her true nature were ever to be discovered, her betrothal will be nullified and she will be expelled and exiled from the Middle Kingdom. All this work your husband goes through to sell her to the nobleman like some fancy chalice will be for naught. Even if she was not expelled and shunned, some hero will come looking for her, hoping to make a name for himself by taking her head. Within weeks she will be fourteen and she will be sent to Kuldiga Academy. I cannot let that happen. You know what will happen when she reaches her sixteenth birthday.”
    “I will prepare her for that when the time is right,” Lady Caspen swore. “Besides, why would a monster such as yourself possibly care what happens to my daughter?” Lady Caspen asked.
    “I know you saw them,” the vampire replied. “There is a shadow, a demon that follows her. You may have thought that your wards and spells had kept me at bay these last thirteen years, but the truth is they have done nothing to stop me. I have come many times, to strengthen your defenses and protect her