-Chapter Twenty-One-

Mina's training in how to fight began the next day. The large drawing room, intended for entertaining guests, was put to use as a gym. Ingeras went into town and bought some exercise mats to put down on the floor.

"Are you sure about this?" Vlad asked his wife, before he began her lessons.

"I want to know how to fight. More than just how to smack wooden swords together."

He started her off with basic hand-to-hand fighting, a little of varying styles he'd picked up over the years. Once he was satisfied that she could effectively take down anyone who grabbed her, Vlad worked on teaching her how to disarm an assailant.

There was a big story on the news about the break-in at the museum, but as security cameras had only caught a black blur before being disabled, and there were no fingerprints left anywhere, police were baffled.

"I wore gloves, of course there were no fingerprints," Vlad said to the newspaper when he read the article.

Mina, coming back from taking a break to feed the baby, asked, "You do know that the paper can't hear you, right?"

He just gave her a look.

Using wooden dowels, Vlad moved on to teaching Mina the basics of swordfighting. It was antiquated, but so was their opponent. These lessons also came with knowledge of where on the human body the vulnerable spots were, and how to utilise them.

When Mina tired of it, as she didn't have a vampire's stamina, Vlad began training Lucy in the same things. She was able to move faster and more fluidly than Mina, by her vampire nature. Not that Mina minded. It was fun to watch Lucy learn to take Vlad to the mat in a blur of motion.

"What did she do before she was a vampire?" Ingeras asked Mina, as they watched the show.

"Piano teacher, mostly," Mina said. "She quit, obviously."

"It's a shame that this makes us give up everything we love," Ingeras said softly.

"Not quite everything," Mina told him. "We still have each other."

"That's true. But I lost Erzebet and Vlad. Lucy lost her husband over this."

"I'm not thinking that's necessarily a bad thing, given what a prick he is."

"A tiny one!" Lucy said from the mat. She'd been distracted by their conversation and had lost to Vlad.

Mina laughed. "Too much information!"

Vlad decided Lucy needed a break. "Ingeras!"

Ingeras sprang to his feet. "What do you need?"

"I want to spar with someone who can keep up with me and is trained."

His son picked up one of the wooden dowels. "This should be interesting. I haven't ever sparred with you before."

Vlad picked up the other dowel. He grinned wolfishly. "Then this should be interesting, indeed."

Lucy dropped into the seat beside Mina. "I can see why armies were terrified. He's relentless."

Mina nodded.

Vlad and Ingeras were almost evenly matched. The elder of the two had the upper hand, though, from his years as a soldier. It was difficult for Mina to keep track of what was going on because they moved so fast. Three times out of four, Vlad pinned Ingeras. The one time Ingeras managed to pin his father, he let out a whoop and did a little dance.

"Don't get cocky," Vlad said, and swept Ingeras's legs out from under him.

"I hope I never have to fight," Mina sighed. "I'm not very good at it."

"You did okay," Lucy assured her. "You're just human and not as strong."

The baby monitor next to Mina crackled to life and Luka's squawk reached her. She sighed. "Back in a bit."

She returned in a bit with Luka in her arms. "Look at Papa!" she cooed to the baby.

Luka just nuzzled against her.

"Can I hold him?" Lucy asked.

"Sure." Mina passed the baby over.

Lucy cuddled the infant close. "He's getting bigger," she commented. "But he's still so little."

"He will be for a long time. He's still not even supposed to be born yet."

"But look at all his hair! He definitely takes after Vlad." Lucy smoothed the errant black wisps on Luka's head. "You're so cute, Luka! Yes, you are!"

He yawned and pressed little fists to his face.

Angelo appeared in the doorway, dressed in black jeans and a black sweater. Everything he'd purchased was black, likely from habit.

"We are preparing for war?" he asked with some amusement.

"Something like that," Mina told him. "How are you?"

"I am good. I have been immersed in studies. I quite like your library."

"Vlad likes to read," Mina replied. "What are you studying?"

Angelo watched Vlad and Ingeras spar for a moment before speaking. "I have been reading into the history of the region. I thought, if I can be of use . . . I might be able to tell you where to look for the sword."

"That's very appreciated," she said. "Finding one sword somewhere in Eastern Europe is rather like a looking for a needle in a haystack."

"Since it is technically a religious artifact, and was likely never used for battle, as silver is a softer metal, I thought another monastery might have ended up with it."

Mina sighed. "We could be hunting for years for this sword."

"That is why I wish to help. One more set of eyes looking for this sword cannot hurt." The former priest looked at the baby nestled in Mina's arms. "Your child should grow up without fear of this beast."

Mina bent her head and kissed her son's forehead. "He will, if I have anything to say about it."

Christmas was a simple, quiet event. Vlad got a tree, and they decorated it with white lights and simple ball ornaments. Lucy wanted to go all-out, but Mina said no.

They exchanged gifts and shared a meal with Sveta and Iulia. Vlad's gift to Mina was a twisted, white gold bangle bracelet, engraved with "Why think separately of this life and the next, when one is born from the last?" The twist in it made the bracelet go on eternally, part of the engraving inside, part outside, but continuous. Mina loved it and swore to never take it off.

She couldn't help think of the last holiday they'd spent together in 1464, that fateful Easter that had gone so badly. Watching Vlad play on the floor with the baby, her husband waggling a toy that Luka tried to grab, she wondered how differently things might have gone if Vlad had just given in and sent Mehmed the boys he'd demanded.

Vlad looked up, dark eyes bright with amusement, but that faded when he saw her expression. "What are you thinking, iubita mea?"

"Just thinking. Would we be here if you'd sent Mehmed those boys? Would we have ruled under his thumb for the rest of our lives and died natural deaths?"

He sighed. "I often wonder the same. There's no point to it, wondering, because there's no way to know how things would have turned out. And there's no changing the way they did."

"I know." Mina slipped off the sofa and to her knees, beside the baby. He shifted his focus to her and gave her a big, toothless grin. "Yes, it's Mummy, isn't it? Hi, my boy!"

Luka kicked his feet and squealed. Mina gave him a finger to hold, and he did with relish, tiny fist gripping the digit fiercely.

"He's doing so well," Vlad murmured. "I was so afraid for him, but he's progressing as if he weren't premature."

"I'm sure that's your doing," Mina told her husband. "If he were an ordinary, human baby, he'd still be in hospital."

Luka's eyes, lately turned green like Vlad's, crossed with the effort of focusing on Mina's hand. She chuckled as he tried to shove her finger in his mouth.

"I think someone's hungry," she said. "When he is, everything goes in the mouth."

She picked up the baby and leaned back against the sofa, drawing one of the throws over herself and the infant in case someone came in.

"Lucy wants to go back to London soon," she told Vlad. "And Iulia is going with her."

"A beneficial arrangement for everyone," he said. "Have they decided when?"

"As soon as Iulia's passport and work Visa are arranged. The girl's never been out of Târgoviște, and she's going straight to London. I hope the culture shock doesn't kill her."

"She's of good, strong stock," Vlad informed Mina. "She'll survive."

There was a knock at the door, and Angelo stuck his head in. "Am I interrupting?"

"No, Angelo, please come in." Mina smiled. "Have you had a good Christmas?"

"Yes, thank you. It has been . . . very different from my usual observances. But I was able to go to Mass last night, which was very calming for my soul."

"Good. I'm glad."

A snowball splatted against the window at that moment. Vlad rose to look outside.

"Lucy and Ingeras are having a snowball fight," he said, a little surprised.

Mina laughed. "Lucy always got in trouble at school for that."

"Let me guess, you were the one to get dragged into her schemes?" Vlad asked.

"Most of the time. She was definitely the instigator of a lot of trouble." Mina peeked under the blanket at Luka, who was still in his own little world, greedily sucking away with his small fists close to his face. She felt such love for her child, it was nearly overwhelming.

Vlad suddenly turned from the window, his eye visibly twitching.

"What is it?" Mina asked.

"Nothing," he said, a little too quickly, and Mina suspected he'd seen something between Lucy and Ingeras.

Angelo left to go back to his perusal of Vlad's library. Vlad sat on the floor by Mina and peeked at the baby as Mina had done.

"You know," she said after a moment, "if Lucy and Ingeras are occupied, and so is Angelo . . . We have a fireplace upstairs."

He arched a brow, then grinned. "I love your thinking," he told her. "Finish feeding the baby and meet me upstairs. I'll get a fire going."

Early morning on Boxing Day, Mina was in the kitchen fixing breakfast when Angelo came through, bundled up in boots and coat, and gave her a smile. "I believe I will take a walk in this rare sunshine before I resume my studies," he told Mina.

"That sounds like a good idea," she said, returning the smile. "Enjoy."

He nodded and went out through the back door. Mina returned her attention to her cooking. Luka had kept her up a large part of the night, being fussier than usual, and she figure that if her rest was shot anyway, she might as well get a good breakfast out of instead of cereal.

Mina was just putting some bacon on to fry when there was a crack! and the window across the kitchen shattered. Something slammed into the copper-bottomed soup pot Sveta kept hanging from the ceiling and punched right through it and into the wall over Mina's head.

She hit the floor, knocking the frying pan off the stove and sending it skittering across the tiles. Heart pounding, Mina crawled behind the kitchen island. There were two more bangs outside, which she now recognised as gunshots, then shouting.

Her first instinct was to go check on Luka. Then she thought of Angelo.

Mina got to her feet and ran to the door of the kitchen, the one that led outside. The shouting came from around the front of the house. As she turned the corner, she spotted Angelo lying on the ground, with two men standing over him. The shouting had stopped, and Mina realised that there was a third man with Sveta held by one arm, a gun to her head.

She did the only thing she could, and screamed, "Vlad!"

All three men turned to her, and weren't looking when the upstairs window burst outwards in a shower of glass. Vlad landed in a crouch, hissing in the sunlight, and the men turned their guns on him. As clouds formed overhead, the men fired at Vlad.

The bullets didn't stop the vampire. Moving fast as lightning, Vlad hauled the nearest man into the shadows and snapped his neck. The other two men kept firing, and at the entrance end of the courtyard, a sleek black vehicle shot backwards so fast that its tires squealed.

Ingeras came out of the house, using the front door, and grabbed a second man. That assailant was dead in seconds, leaving only the third that held Sveta.

"Leave me, Master," Sveta pleaded. "I am worth nothing. Save yourself."

Vlad said, "Duck, Sveta."

She did as commanded, and the shard of glass Vlad had picked up during the fight flew across the space between them and lodged in the third man's throat. That one said, "Urk!" and dropped his gun as well as his grip on the housekeeper.

Mina ran to Angelo. Miraculously, the former priest was still alive, but given the two holes in his chest, he wouldn't be that way for long. Kneeling beside him in the ice and snow, Mina put his glasses back on his face and stroked his cheek.

"I was-" He stopped and coughed, blood staining his lips.

"No, no, don't speak. We'll get you help."

He smiled beatifically. "I am beyond-" He coughed again. "-help."

"No, you'll be fine," Mina lied.

Angelo laughed weakly. "I go to my Savior, who I have served . . . these long years."

Vlad knelt on Angelo's other side. "Father Angelo."

Angelo's brown eyes fixed on Vlad. "My lord. If you would . . . do me layman's honours?"

Mina frowned, not understanding when Vlad began to speak in hushed Latin. As Vlad finished, Angelo began to cough again.

When the coughing subsided, he looked again to Mina.

"I would have liked a cat," he breathed.

Then he went still, with a quiet sigh, and his dark eyes seemed to focus on something over Mina's shoulder. His hand in hers went limp.

"No," she whispered. "Father Angelo."

"He's gone, Mina," Vlad told her softly.

She sniffled. "I know," she breathed. "Why? Who were those men? The Order?"

"I would expect so." Vlad looked up at the sky. It had begun to snow. "We need to call the authorities. I can't clean this up alone, and Angelo deserves more than . . . a burial in the woods."

Mina nodded.

"Are you alright, iubita mea?"

"I'm fine. I'm not hurt."

"Good."

Vlad helped her to her feet. Mina realised as she stood that her jeans were soaked with snow and blood. She swayed for a moment, then took a deep breath, steeling herself.

"Bring me my coat?" she asked. "I want to stay with him."

Her husband nodded.

Sveta, arms wrapped tight around herself, came over. "Who were the men, Mistress?"

"We think they were from the Order of the Dragon. Vampire hunters."

The housekeeper's expression turned worried. "One got away."

"I know. And they know what Vlad is now." Mina chewed on her bottom lip for a moment, sadly eyeing Angelo's body. "We're going to have to leave here."

"You do not want to."

"No, I don't want to. I love it here. But it's not going to be safe. The Order will come back."

Vlad came out of the house, looking grim. "The police on their way."

The police came, and were given a story of attempted robbery. The man with glass in his neck had been in the house, Vlad explained, and in the struggle he'd fallen out the window. Mina tuned out the explanations for the rest of it, claiming she'd been in the kitchen until it was over, and only then had come out to try to help the deceased.

Once the bodies had been cleared away, and the crime scene processed as much as the investigators felt like doing-to them, it was pretty clear that the robbers had met with more opposition than they'd expected-Mina went upstairs and began packing.

"We're going to London," Vlad said. "I'll have repairs made to the house while we're gone."

"Are they going to let us leave, or do we need to go to Bucharest?"

"As far as the police are concerned, we stopped some robbers. There was nothing on the bodies to indicate they were Vatican and there was no other identification, so it's our word against that of . . . well, no one, given that the 'robbers' are dead."

Mina looked down at the half-packed suitcase. "So is Angelo. What are we going to do about him?"

"He had no family to claim him, so I'll have Renfield see to his burial while we're in London."

"I don't want to leave," Mina said again.

"I know, iubita mea. But we have to go. I'm not even sure the London house is safe enough. Eventually, the Order may find it and track us there."

She went to him, wrapping her arms tight around his waist. "I'm scared, Vlad. I'm more scared now than I was when we left the castle."

"Don't be," he whispered. "It's not an army of Turks we're against, and I'm stronger now than I was then."

"But we also have Caligula to deal with."

"I know." He kissed the top of her head. "We'll figure it out somehow. I promise. Take only what you need. I'll replace anything else when we get to London."

Then Vlad left her to finish packing. They would, he decided, leave within the hour. They couldn't afford more time than that, with the modern methods of communication and transportation. More Vatican soldiers could be there within a few hours, and they needed to be long gone.

Vlad ran a hand down the wall as he descended the stairs to inform Ingeras and Lucy of the need to evacuate. It was with a sense of extreme déjà vu that he did, and he couldn't help but wonder if he was meant to spend eternity running for his life.

Only time could tell.