Chapter 1 Prologue

• Transylvania,present-day Hungary, year 1450.
• —I have come as requested, Voivoda. What business requires my presence before you with such urgency?
• Juan Hunyadi, voivoda (ruler) of Transylvania, stared at the man in front of
• him. Vladislaus Dragulia, barely 27 years old, the second son of Vlad II Dracul of Wallachia and pretender to the throne of that principality after the death of his father and older brother.
• Political intrigues and stratagems had helped Hunyadi maintain his hold on Transylvanian and Wallachian territory for quite some time, discovering the perfect way to stop the young Wallachian prince and force him into an alliance had been a huge stroke of luck.
• Nobody was unaware of the great rivalry between the two and the open hatred that the young Dragulia professed against Hunyadi.
• — I have summoned you because I have a proposal to place before you.
• — The only thing I'm interested in acquiring from you is the information you refuse to give me. Confess the name of the murderer of my father and my brother, then there will be peace between us.— scoffes the prince between his teeth.
• Hunyadi watches his rival through his thick, whitened lashes.
• — There is another matter in which you are involved and that affects me directly Dracùl, you cannot expect me to close my eyes to what you have done to my daughter.
• —I haven't laid a finger on your precious Danna, Hunyadi, if the girl is pregnant, look for the bastard's father more carefully, I won't let you put that child on me.
• — The pregnancy of my eldest daughter and the person responsible for it are my business, Dracùl, however... your affair with Elennah and your disrespect towards the girl are inadmissible.
• The young Dracùl looks at his host with a puzzled expression on his face.
• —What importance does my affair with a simple servant have for you, Hunyadi? Since when do you care if I sneak into the peasants' bed?
• Juan smiles showing all his teeth. It is the smile a wolf gives to a lamb just before the fatal bite.
• — That... simple servant, that... peasant, as you call her, is also my daughter.
• The prince's eyebrows rise in astonishment.
• — It is true that she is my illegitimate … daughter but she still carries my blood and therefore I demand that she be treated as such.
• — After eighting years working as if she were a slave in your house? Your fatherly Love has taken too many years to blossom, don't you think, old fox?
• Hunyadi bangs his fist on the wood of the table behind which he sits, angrily, and jumps to his feet.
• — I demand reparation! I demand that you marry the girl! You have dishonored her and no other resent man will take her for a wife now, at least not a nobleman.- he yells in anger.
• —You should have thought of that before, Hunyadi. Before you demoted her to the position of maid in your own house. You should have reclaimed her as yours before...
• — Are you challenging me, Dracùl?
• The prince purses his lips almost imperceptibly.
• — As you wish, vaivoda. Select the dowry and the date you consider convenient, let me know both by means of letters. -He turns on his heel and approaches the door. He takes one last look at his future father-in-law and frowns. — I will make sure to come back two days before the wedding.
• Greece, March year 2021:
• Vlad:
• Our Mégas has summoned me. He wishes to discuss an important matter with me. It must be related to the plans that he has been developing for years in order to achieve his freedom. I shake my head. I will never understand how the most powerful of our kind, the oldest and supposedly
• the wisest of us all could wish for his own death so desperately.
• I myself have faced that sick feeling of emptiness that comes over us when we have lived too long, but in my case, I resort to strong group sex sessions, drink from a couple of virgins, butcher a serial killer or two... and everything in order.
• I hope Alexandros won’t force me to stay too long here at his headquarters in Athens. I left Olenka in charge of matters, my assistant is efficient and knows me well enough to know the way I like things done . No. I'm not worried about running the hotel or my other financial interests, my concern is that I haven't had sex for two weeks.
• Of course our Megas would disapprove of me selecting a random girl in a bar and fucking her tied to the posts of the wide bed in the guest room I was given, and there would be no way to keep the human hidden, our immortality gives us a very powerful hearing. I free an exasperated snort. I'll have to rent a room in a nearby hotel. It will only be for a couple of hours. No mere human can keep up
• with my perversions for longer than that. Although... what if I take a girl and her friend or even better... her sister to the hotel? I smile. Finally the night has taken an interesting turn.
• As luck would have it, this interview with Alexandros won’t last too long.
• I was so focused on my own thoughts that I didn't notice the girl coming down
• the hall in the opposite direction until my elbow collided with the tray she was carrying and it fell with a crash to the floor.
• The girl bends down to pick it up and then I smell her. Roses, she smells like fresh roses, young roses. Roses freshly bathed in the dew of dawn and that have not yet opened.
• My body freezes, all my muscles contracting in a
• single spasm of agony. I close my palms into fists and watch as the girl stands up again, brushes her flaming red locks away from her face and looks at me.
• For a second I have her in front of me again, in her snowy wedding dress, smiling radiantly at me, her big gray eyes sparkling with happiness.
• Two huge and irrational desires take hold of me. I want to put my hands around the long and beautiful neck of the girl and squeeze it tightly until I see the light leave her eyes, on the other hand I want to kiss her until I'm out of breath and fuck her until she passes out.
• I close my eyes and groan in pain.
• —Did I hurt you, Kyrios? Forgive me, I didn't mean to.- she begs breathlessly, reaching one of her hands to touch me.
• I open my eyes and take a step back, glaring her. I don't even answer her. I walk around her and continue my journey in search of the office where our King awaits me. For a moment I deeply regret not having strangled her. I know she
• will make me suffer unspeakably. I have seen her and my universe has shrunk to the miserable space occupied by a five-foot-tall girl. I must find Alexandros quickly and demand that he hand her over to me.
• After waiting so many centuries, Elennah has finally returned.