SHADOWS OF DECEPTION

CHAPTER 1

Carpathian Mountains Castle Dracula

Vlad Tepes sat at his desk and looked at the line of pictures he had placed in front of him. Radu stood patiently by the door, looking bored and waiting for his next assignment. Vlad without looking up spoke softly knowing his Captain would do his bidding without further comment. "Find Sorin, bring him here, I have an assignment for you both." Radu thought Vlad's voice had sounded distracted, picking up the picture of Vicki he looked at her face and traced his fingertip over her image, tilting his head he was lost in thought, his mind had traveled back to the day he first met his Elizabeta.

The year 1460 Wallachia

Home of Janos Hunyada

She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She walked into the room; her eyes were the most incredible storm tossed color he had ever seen. He could not take his eyes off of her face. She seemed to just glide over the floor and stopped poised in the center of the room. At that moment in time the world had stopped for him and he saw no other but her. Walking forward he waited to be introduced. Her father stepped forward and proudly introduced his daughter to the Prince. "Your Highness, my daughter, Elizabeta Ilona Szilagyi." Vlad had taken her hand and raised it to his lips and pressed a kiss to her wrist, then her palm.

"I am honored." He spoke so softly but never let his eyes leave her eyes and he could see the rush of emotion fill her with her ever-changing color eyes. The musicians had started a dance and without letting go of her hand he led her to the dance floor and bowed, to her. The dance began and he never felt his feet touch the floor as they paced their movements through the dance. He was transfixed. He could not tear himself away from her. She was shy but he knew she felt the same for him as he felt for her. Formally, they courted and then they married.

He closed his eyes remembering the day they wed and the night he took her to his marriage bed. Their love was so complete and special that nothing could ever separate them or destroy their love. Their marriage was filled with the tenderness, devotion that a man and woman can share only if they feel they completed each other and she gave him a son! There was nothing that they could keep from one another, the simplest of pleasures had filled their lives and their love was boundless. They spent their days with the mundane and menial tasks that was what made up the running of an empire, they spent their nights locked in each other's arms. Their love could not be broken in any way.

That was until the Turks had attacked and he was called to war. He had fought bravely on the battlefield and he had won, then the rider came with news. His beautiful and perfect love, his most precious life had thrown her self from the battlements and he was needed at home. Riding most the night he arrived and walked into the chapel chambers where the priests stood over the water soaked battered body of his wife. He had learned that a message had been attached to an arrow and had been shot through the window, announcing his death on the battlefield.

Elizabeta had become so brokenhearted that her love, her life, and her heart had died. Depressed and upset she had walked to the battlements, stepped up on the top of the battlements, closed her eyes and fell backwards. She fell to the river blow. The castle guard had pulled her broken body from the river and taken it to the chapel. The priests had refused to allow her body to stay in the chapel because she had taken her own life. The Priests refused to allow her rest in the hallow halls of all the Draculas'

The priests were adamant she had killed her self she was not allowed to be buried on sacred ground, she would need to be buried away from the others that had died and could be buried on consecrated grounds. This had incensed Vlad, his rage knew no bounds, and he railed against those that denied his beautiful Elizabeta her final peace. That is when he told them they would not be allowed in his castle, they would leave, he had given his blood for the life of the church, now he would take the blood and deny the church his protection. Thus began the self-imposed curse he had lived with for almost seven centuries. He knew somewhere he would find her and he had finally found her. Vlad had found his Elizabeta that would complete his life again.

He must have been lost completely in thought because it was a few minutes before he glanced up to realize Sorin had joined him with Radu. Sorin had become an immortal through the dark arts by his ability, means and contrivances. He had not embraced the undead or been converted to a minion of Vlad's unlike Radu. He had decided he did not want to loose control so he could be more affective to his Prince. He glanced at Radu had been Vlad's Captain of the guard since his marriage to Elizabeta. Sorin had never met Elizabeta but Radu had known his beloved. What he had known of Elizabeta, he had admired her beauty and her courage until she had given into the contrivances of the Huns. Sorin was now curious to find out more about this woman that had captivated his Prince so completely.

Present Day Romania

"Highness you needed me?" Sorin stood in front of the Prince and waited for him to acknowledge him. Vlad lifted his chin and looked into the black coldly appraising eyes of Sorin Lupiescu, He had been born to Lupie, which meant wolf. He was broad shoulder, tall, and to some he would have been considered handsome in his dark looks and ways. To Vlad he was his right hand assassin and his go to man when he wanted something done and done right. He studied the assassin dressed in his long leather duster, black leather pants and leather jacket, he looked like the purveyor of death that he was and would always be for Vlad.

"Yes." He lifted the picture to his left and handed it to Sorin. "That is Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, you will bring her here to my castle as my guest." He lifted the picture on the right, handed it over to Sorin, who studied the petite pretty blond girl. "That is Carolyn Stoddard, the daughter of the first woman. She will be the next to come. This, . . . " He lifted the picture next to Carolyn's, " . . . is Maggie Evans, you will bring her here; take them one at a time, a week apart. Finally, you Radu will find a way to infiltrate the Collins Family in the Old House and you will watch Elizabeta, when the others are here and have been made comfortable and await the arrival of Elizabeta, we will then begin phase two of this adventure." He smiled then turned to look at Elizabeta's picture.

"I will expect to be kept apprise of all that is going on and tell my little beauty that she cannot eat Mr. Collins until I say so, if she disobeys me, then she can be eliminated. Now as to my plan." He sat back and waited for them to take their seats. "Once we have Elizabeta's mother, sister, and best friend here at the castle, Sorin you will begin phase 2. It seems that Dr. Hoffman has been busy and I hear she is married. Perhaps we should play with her a little bit before she comes to this country to be my guest."

Vlad lifted the picture of Julia and slid it over to him. "You will take an assume name and set up in a house, I expect you to get close to either Dr. Hoffman or Professor Stokes. I would think with your background you could easily fit into his life schedule and his school schedule. See if you can get the newly opened internship as his intern for the upcoming semester. That will put you close to him and Dr. Hoffman."

Sorin accepted the picture of Julia he laid it down with the other pictures. He kept his stoic calm and silence listening to Vlad lay out his plans in detail, he would occasionally glance up to let the Prince know that he was listening. Radu had sat curiously quiet through the whole detailing of the plans. "I know it will be difficult for you to assume a lesser persona my dear friend, but it is necessary to get you past Collins and Stokes. Between Stokes and Barnabas Collins they are not to be under estimated.

Sorin's well pitched and modulated voice was soft when he spoke. "Collins is he to be brought over?" He looked at the picture of Vicki lying in front of Vlad and noted how his Prince kept running his fingertip over her face. He watched him go distant. His eyes shifted and he peered off in the distance.

"I want Collins here eventually to see what I will do to reclaim what belongs to me, understand, when you bring Elizabeta she is not to be harmed. Her continued good health is important. I have plans; perhaps it will be through her that I shall attempt to bring a child into this world. If I am able to produce a child with her, perhaps, we will then finally know if half human half vampire they are truly day walkers." He had given this thought while he healed in his coffin awaiting his resurrection.

"What of the witch? I know you have her here, how does she fit into these plans and will she interfere with what your plans are? You know she is not going to tolerate being around Elizabeta if she is married to Collins." He had read the bio on all the players of this game and that was one thing that was prominent in the report. Angelique Bouchard had fallen in love with Barnabas and he had scorned her love. "She will pose a problem if you show favor over her to Elizabeta." None of his staff had been permitted to refer to her as Vicki, Victoria or any other name but Elizabeta.

"Then I will have Radu behead her and put her head on a pike. Elizabeta is never to be harmed. Is that understood? I do not care about the others, I do care about Elizabeta." His voice had taken on velvet like threatening sound as he spoke of harm coming to his beloved. "Elizabeta is the Princess of this land and shall be afforded that courtesy."

Radu sighed softly, "You are aware she does not believe she is Elizabeta, do you not Highness?" Sorin glanced at the man next to him and knew he could be as blood thirsty as he, however he had sat silent through all this planning explanation. Sorin watched the subtle but noticeable to those that knew their master's tightening of his jaw and his slow but cautionary tone as he spoke next. Sorin knew he was controlling his anger and his need to strike out.

"I know she believes she is this little nobody Victoria Winters Collins. I know she thinks I am a mad man and that her precious Barnabas is perfect in every way. I have been getting reports on her daily. Once she has been brought over to Romania, and we begin her conditioning, she will come around and remember her true heritage." Vlad had stood and walked to the window that over looked the front gardens of the castle. His words had been measured and clipped which was another hint that he was angry and holding his anger in and controlling his urge to snap someone's neck.

Sorin had known his master since the late 1500's and had been through a lot with him, the one thing he knew was he had never given up hope of finding his lost love. He had taken many brides, he had destroyed many brides, and he had sought out new loves and found they never full filled him as this meeting with this one woman had done. Sorin sat forward picked up her picture and began to study her in more detail. She was very pretty, she had the same eyes as the portrait, she had the same smile, and that almost too pure look to her. "Highness, you know she is married to Collins now, how is that going to affect you and your plans to have a child with her? What if she is pregnant already or gets pregnant by Collins?'

Sorin saw his reaction was swift, he turned, his anger clouded and his eyes glowing with an inner fire. "If she is, then that child will become my child and she will give me another child. It will be that simple. I may have not claimed her maiden head but by all that is impure and dark, I will have her body and soul." He clinched his fist and glowered at the other picture that lay to the side on his desk. Walking to the picture of Barnabas he grabbed the picture and crumpled it into a ball and threw it into the fire.

Turning he smiled, "I will promise you this much, when the day comes and she is married to me, he will be there to see the marriage, when I drink her blood, he will be there to see me take what is mine and he will never be able to make a claim on her again!" There had been so much anger and passion put into that statement that Sorin was sure Vlad would be the one to bring Barnabas Collins back to what he was.

"When do we leave my lord?" Radu was anxious to get back to Collinsport; he did not trust Gilda alone and making mischief in his absence. Vlad had looked to the anxiously appearing Radu. He studied him a moment. Closing his eyes he could sense there was unease in Radu and this was unusual for him.

"Why are you so upset Radu? What has you concerned being away from the Princess?" Vlad looked at his trusted Captain of the guard that had been with him since the days of his assault on the Turks. He knew him like his own brother, except his brother had betrayed him. So in a sense he trusted Radu more than his own brother.

"It is Gilda she was too anxious to bring Mr. Collins over into the world of the undead my lord. She was not impressed with the Princess and felt her time was being wasted." Radu was if anything honest about what was troubling him.

Vlad turned his gaze to Sorin, "You know what to do if she gets out of hand?" He watched a tight smile crease his darkly handsome features and he nodded slightly.

"Not worry my lord, Gilda will follow orders or she will face the daylight and not return to you." Sorin's voice held no emotion as he spoke so easily of ending a life. Vlad knew he had selected his assassin well. He had all the faith in this world and the world of darkness in the two men that sat in his study. A soft knock on the door caused and all three men turned to see a maid standing expectantly in the doorway.

"Yes, Elise?" Vlad spoke softly, this was one of the new maids and he did not wish to loose her, she was being trained to take care of Elizabeta when she came. She did speak English well and was needed.

"His Highness Balan is here my lord. He is requesting a meeting." Sorin stood, followed by Radu; they both bowed to Vlad and turned leaving the room. Sorin had taken the pictures with him leaving the picture of Victoria on the desk for Vlad. Walking into the hallway past the maid Radu sniffed her and smiled, she smelled good, he would even bet she was a type A blood and she would taste as good as she smelled.

Sorin rolled his eyes. "No I will not bet with you what blood type she is. I know better. Come we must prepare the jet and get ready to head to this hole in the wall called Collinsport."

"You know Sorin, you should find and cultivate a sense of humor sometime. It would do you some good to find some laughter and put it in your life." Radu took the right hallway leading to the rear garden and to the sentry posted there. He had to put someone in charge while he was gone and Captain Florescue would make a perfect replacement for him while he was in the States.

Sorin however had a different destination to head and a brief stop. Pausing outside a door he knocked and then entered. There she sat by the fire reading quietly. Those incredible green eyes peered up at him and seemed to gleam with an inner fire of lust and wantonness. "Miss Bouchard. Are you comfortable? Are you finding your accommodations to your liking?" His voice had taken on a cordial tone of friendliness. Something he had perfected after many years of being what and who he was. Angelique made it a point to lean over so he could see a healthy portion of her cleavage. She smiled with a look of a predator seeking its prey.

"You may tell his highness I am very comfortable and would like a meeting with him sometime soon when he has time." She stood walked seductively to Sorin. The man was terribly good looking and he was dangerous, she recognized a dangerous man when she saw one. Pressing up to him, she took her fingertips and walked them up his arm and smiled into those cold heartless eyes. She put her arms around his neck only to feel him take her arms and remove them.

"Save your games for others, my job is to make sure you understand something." He studied the look that now filtered over her eyes and the slight frown that edged her face.

"Oh and what is that?" She walked away from him making sure she used every trick in her book to make sure he saw what charms she had to offer. She looked coyly to him over her right shoulder then turned her back and watched the fire burning cheerfully in the fireplace.

"I want you to understand that should you disappoint my Lord Tepes, it will be my duty to deal with you." He had accented the word deal and watched her shrug her shoulders rolling them forward to ease the tension she had unconsciously allowed to form when he had rejected her playful attempt at seduction.

"Deal with me? How do you propose to deal with me Mr. Lupie? You do realize that I am virtually indestructible so you can't think to threaten me? I could with a flick of my wrist reduce you to nothing more than a pile of dust if I so decide." She had shown her arrogance at his highhanded way of telling her he would 'deal' with her.

Sorin smiled, it was a ruthless smile and the glint in his eyes was charged with his own deeper thoughts, with a flick of his wrist, Angelique found her body twisted around and she was frozen in place. "First of all you may have lived for three hundred years my dear, but I have lived far longer than that and have my own means of dealing with people especially ones that are as over confident of their powers. If you want to make this a challenge, I will tell you this much. You will loose, you should pick an opponent to which you have a better advantage. There is nothing in your little book of tricks that is remotely close to what I can do and will do if you disappoint my master. Understand this much . . . "

He walked over to her towered over her and saw she had real fear in her gaze. He bent over her and sneered into her face. "I will make your life miserable before he sends you back to that pathetic demon you call your master." He slowly and with deliberate ease wrapped his fingers around her slender throat and smiled, this time his smile showed his pleasure in what he was doing. "It would be very easy as you are now to wring your neck and I would enjoy doing just that." He tightened his fingers against her throat. She gasped and choked against the pressure. He could smell her fear.

Angelique had never met anyone this strong, powerful and ruthless before. No wonder Vlad Tepes had claimed him as his right hand assassin. "When Elizabeta or as you know her Victoria Winters Collins comes to this house, you will not use your tricks on her, you will not manipulate those around her and you will be on your best behavior. It would be a shame to see such beauty mutilated before you are dispatched to Diablos"

Angelique was afraid of him and she knew she was no match if he could do this to her with little effort. She felt him release her and she staggered back clutching her throat. Turning from him she gasped softly. "I will not disappoint your master, I will not harm Miss Winters, I refuse to call her Mrs. Collins, I had that honor first." She was angry that she had allowed him to make her feel so vulnerable.

"Good, I am leaving here but I have my spies and they will be watching you." Sorin turned and left her to think about her lot in life and what he had just told her. His interest now was to find the Collins family and get on with this newest assignment and not disappoint his master.

Vlad's Library

Alexandru Balan stood with a dapper dress gentleman at his side, standing in a bowler hat, grey kid gloves and a three-piece suit. His mustache was groomed to perfection and Vlad noticed he had what he termed beady eyes. "So you are Angelique's brother Mr. Blair?"

"Yes, so to speak, you see, our Master has sent me to make sure that she is not going to disappoint you or try to further her own agenda when it comes to Barnabas Collins, it would seem my sister does not have any reasoning abilities. If anything she can be a bit over enthusiastic to see he is properly punished for rejecting her affections." Nicholas Blair was a consummated ass kisser when it came to making ground with those of a powerful standing and had the attention of his master. He laid his bowler hat on the table and placed his gloves on top of his hat.

"It is the desire of my master to make sure that you are served and are well cared for while we are here doing your bidding. I understand my sister had been somewhat remiss with her actions of late so I am here to assure you and my master that she is following your orders." He smiled and gently leaned against the table that held his hat, cross his ankles and folding his arms over his chest. Taking on an air of ease before one of the most powerful dark lords he had ever met besides Judah Zachary who did not even compare to this man.

"I can assure you, that your sister had been nothing but charming since her arrival at my insistence. She I am sure by now understands her standing in this house and what is expected of her and nothing more. You do understand that Barnabas Collins has taken a new wife." Vlad could not quite hold his irritation on this bit of information from his tone.

Nicholas nodded slowly, "We keep in touch with those that have been affected by our powers. Angelique is also aware he has been restored to a somewhat normal human state and it is her intention to see him returned to his undead state. Our fears are that she might see the new Mrs. Collins may be harmed in the process. Which is why I was sent to make sure this does not happen."

Vlad chuckled softly, and there was no humor in that chuckle. "That would be most unfortunate for her should that happen, your master would be minus one servant if she harms Elizabeta in any way." Vlad was taking no chances in making his stance clear to this over effusive man who was beginning to annoy him.

Alexandru could hear the irritation in his son in law's voice and turned to Nicholas. "Mr. Blair, if you will go to the foyer, there is a very nice young lady there who will take you to your sister and I am sure she will see a room is prepared for you." Nicholas nodded, pushed from the table, lifted his hat and turned smartly to walk from the room. When the door closed Alexandru turned to Vlad. "I don't trust him or that woman he calls his sister."

Vlad smiled, "Neither do I nor do I intend to let them have free reign over what will and will not happen once my guests arrive. I expect you to keep the mother at your castle my dear friend, the sister may be entertained by Petru, and I shall let Radu or Sorin have the Lady Margaret."

"What of Collins?" Alexandru watched his son in law and noticed that when Collins name was mentioned he had tightened his stance.

"He can rot in my dungeon."