Dracula's Daughter

Chapter 24

Chapter 24

The sun was warm on her skin.

In those blissful few seconds before the sun rose over the horizon, the air was filled with the scent of sunlight and Valentina could almost remember what it felt like to feel the sun on her face, but she was quickly reminded that she would never feel it again.

"You should rest," Jessica whispered to Valentina as she remained awake even as dawn approached.

Valentina shook her head as she turned back and watched her father sleep in the corner.

Vampires rested during the day but as the first of their kind, her father, Dracul, was more powerful than most.

Valentina had seen first-hand how he could survive the sunlight longer than the rest of them and she did not trust him.

The moment she closed her eyes, Dracul would wake and slaughter Jessica and Lucius.

Valentina turned to Lucius, "Are you ready?"

Lucius stood and lifted the bag onto his shoulder, "Are you sure about this?"

Valentina nodded her head, closing her eyes briefly as her body swayed from the effects of the sunlight.

"You need to get away from us," Valentina told them, "Head towards the monastery, stay in the sunlight at all times."

Jessica protested, "But how-"

"-We'll catch up with you when night falls. Go," Valentina hurried them out of the barn and into the sunlight.

Lucius pulled Jessica along behind him, reluctant to leave her.

Valentina watched them leave before her eyes turned to look at the ground, covered in a blanket of straw.

Sunlight was creeping in through the opened door, fighting the shadows that protected them. It was as if the good was seeking out the bad.

Looking back up at Jessica and Lucius's retreating forms, Valentina spoke the words her father had told her so many years ago, "It is not safe for you here."

Hurrying, Valentina reached through the sunlight and wrapped her fingers around the barn door.

Hissing at the way her skin immediately warmed, feeling as if she was burning, Valentina threw the barn door shut, covering them all in the safety darkness once again, shutting out the light.

Valentina looked at her arm. The flesh had turned red but neither burns, nor blisters had erupted on her flesh like it would have done with any other vampire.

She guessed she had her father to thank for that. Their close blood relationship meant that when he made the deal with the devil she gained some of those privileges.

She was his daughter, his princess. He wanted to rule the world, but not alone. He wanted her mother, his queen, by his side but she had seen him for what he truly was.

Walking up the ladder to a second level of the barn, Valentina lay down beside Christian as memories flooded her mind in its tried state.

Her mother had done the one thing Valentina could not do.

At the time, Valentina thought her mother was weak for committing suicide, but now she saw that her mother had been the strongest one of them all.

It was Valentina who had been the weak one.

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Transylvania, 1462