"Of course not,"Vlad snapped to the question of anyone having taken Mina's blood.
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"Where is Mihnea," Mina tearfully demanded, glaring from one to the other, eyes hostile as well as upset.
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"He's on an errand for me. You know that, Darling," Vlad said, trying to sound patient.
"Or rather you knew that. I set him to protect? Renfield and the gargoyle princess as well as taking care of the upstart who threatened them."
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He bit back another? insistence that she knew that and instead turned his attention on Genica.
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"Do you have any knowledge of Turkish mages? Or...anyone the Turkish vampires could've hired to do this to her? I will teach them all the joys of eternal impalement for this," he added darkly. "They forgot who they're attacking," he spoke in a near growl.
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Mina smiled. "Do you remember when Mihnea impaled that one upstart vampire in our dungeon and forgot about him for a few years? IT was positively ghastly," she said with a chuckle, for a moment her green eyes clear.
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Vlad dared hope as he turned to her with a nod. "Yes. HE forgot about him. An amusing oversight. Starved and suffering."
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Mina blinked."I remember that but I remember...something else too. Mihnea turning me and you rejecting me...Not you, Vlad, and Mihnea made you pretend to be Vlad. I see Vlad's face under yours sometimes then another image on top? of it that is not Vlad."
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She pressed hands to her eyes as Vlad took her firmly into his arms."I am Vlad. Mina you are being tampered with and I need you to fight? it."
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A sob tore from her as her eyes squeezed more tightly shut. "I...I don't know."
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releasing her suddenly, Vlad needed to at least get one uncertainty out of the way and had decided how to do it. Lunging for his sister in a blink, he tore into the side of her neck. IT only took a second and he drew back, emotion twisting his face. He would know the bloodline of his family. It was her..."But...how...why?"
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It was just all too much to take in. And why this now at the same time this was happening to Mina?
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"Not her, someone else with dark hair," Mina said, staring at Genica but seeing someone else's face. Someone who looked Egyptian.
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"I am sorry...You weren't married to Vlad but why are you pretending to be his sister? Why would Mihnea pay you to do that just to keep me sane because it isn't working!"
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Vlad drew her close again vowing silently to find new and far worse tortures for whoever did this. He gave his sister an emploring look, hating to implore anything from anyone.
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"It's like she's fading in and out. Lucid one moment and having overlapping memories of our reality and another at the same time. Who could do this? Some witch curse," he wondered, cursing himself mentally for not bothering to learn more of Turkish magics as they changed over the centuries. He had believed himself untouchable as the vampire king by such. He had his own witches and wolves, but someone striking?out at Mina, they knew what they were doing and they knew his weakness. And now he had another family female to protect. Would they strike at? Genica next?
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I'm friends with the monster that's under my bed.
I get along with the voices inside of my head.
Kat