Goodbye Master! A New Beginning?

I ran. For how long, I'm not sure. The woods of Transylvania seem to blend together with snow. Snow all around me. The falling flakes began to sting in my eyes but I ignored it as the cold wind whipped into my hair. I ran with my heart… or what was left of it.

Same story goes with any love stories. The total way to the heart is a dagger. Just like Juliet. Only it was Dracula impaling me with his words. Just show what I know about love. Absolutely fucking nothing!

I have been used and abused from the beginning. No surprise. I knew. I knew from the start right as I looked into that vampire's cold, blue, yet alluring eyes. I was being played in his hands like clay. Molded to his desires so that he could achieve his goal. Whatever that was. But now since he said it. Since he confirmed and awakened my mind to that fact with his words; there is but one word I feel now. Empty.

My feet slowed down till I was walking. If you call stumbling and catching myself from snow covered roots walking. Finally, after what felt like a lifetime, I found a stump, brushed the snow from it and sat down. I wasn't winded in the slightest, but more like drained of… well, pretty much everything. My mind was trying to catch up to the details, like a computer stuck in the middle of loading. I was stuck. Stuck in a world empty of emotions. His world.

Had I thought… I could be any more than just a servant to him… was foolish. He was right. I am a fool. Perhaps the biggest, most fucked up fool in the world. Alone and a fool. The world is cruel. Always has been. Had I thought… I could get away with just a wish. To get away from it all with that deal I made. But instead, it ended up cursing me for the rest of my miserable life. Stuck to an unfeeling Vampire King along with his 'happy-go-lucky,' human servant…

I just… I'm stuck. And I let it happen. But still, I hoped. But it turns out that I hoped in vein. I longed and hoped for a spark that wasn't there. And now I'm stuck. Stuck without any way of getting out. Even if I did just run away like a child, he'll find me. He always does. He's the fucking King of the Undead after all. Nothing goes unnoticed from his sight. I'll just sit here and mope. When he finds me and asks, should I tell him that I heard? Well, he can read my mind and smell my emotions so what's the point? Can't get away even if I wanted too.

Just when things couldn't be any worse, I felt a dark presence watching me. It felt awful. Full of malice and evil intent. I stood from my spot and felt my muscles harden. Someone was in these woods with me. I can feel it! It seems familiar to me somehow. Well if he or she was planning on taking me down, then I won't go down without a fight! Despite the cracks in my heart I won't be laid to waist so easily! Finally, someone to take out my aggressions on!

My face whipped around the forest for anything to see. But I knew. I could feel the eyes on me. All around me! There is more than one! Well bring it on!

"Hello, Dampire," A smooth, and dark voice greeted me from behind. I turned to face who it was but my sight was suddenly disturbed with something hard connecting to my face! From the feel it was probably a metal pipe or something like that. And it didn't stop. From my right face to my left. The pain was minor to what my heart was going through, but it sure messed up my sight! I was trying to find out who and where the enemy was when a third blow to the back of my head had me gasping. Growling I turned to my assailants and revealed my claws. Flaring my arms about because my vision was still clouded by falling snow and blending trees. I heard a cry of agony and felt my fingers rip through somebody's flesh. The smell of blood hitting my nose as I slashed through another.

"She's a tough one!" I hear someone say in amusement as another blow of metal was delivered to my head. I was getting dizzy and the pounding was matching my heartbeat. Heartbeat! The people attacking me didn't have any heartbeats! Then that means –!

WHACK!

A harsh blow to the back of my head leaves me winded. My body giving up the struggle as it was paralyzed and falling to the snow covered floor. Hands grabbed me, forcing me to stand as they held me tightly. The sting of countless blows to my face has me gagging for air, but I forced my eyes to focus on someone facing me. Someone with red hair topped with a black hat and orange eyes that darkened upon seeing me.

"Y-you!" I gasped as I felt my rage grow. Cornwell! That bastard!

"Such a pity you had to wander this far from home, half-breed," He sneered and held something in his hand. It was a dirty brown sack that he handed to someone from my right. "You made it all the easier for me to catch you. Knock her out now, if you please."

"Son of a –!" I didn't finish for I was struck hard in the back of my skull. My vision went white, then black as I lost all traces of my thoughts.

"Carolyn!" Dracula called from the stairs that lead to her chamber. No reply. Something wasn't right. He could feel it. It has been over two over since he and Ranfield had conversed. Though he hated the fact that the old human was bugging him about his feelings for C, he had to tell him otherwise! He couldn't indulge in such weakness. Not now!

As soon as he left the room, he felt something amiss. Something was itching at the back of his mind and he couldn't figure out why. Something wasn't right. When the hours when by and he tried to reach C through his connections, he didn't receive an answer. Was she blocking him? Losing his patients, he went to her chambers, but he didn't sense her presence there. Furrowing his brows in confusion he expanded his mind to try and pin point her location. To his surprise, she was nowhere in the castle.

"Ranfield!" He shouted and walked back down the hall to meet up with the human. He came out immediately from the library.

"Yes, Master?" He asked as he fixed his hat on his graying head.

"Where did you see Carolyn last?" He demanded as the British man scratched his head in thought.

"I believe she went into the village to get some supplies," He stated calmly.

"She has not returned," Dracula said coolly and began a march towards the village.

"Oh? Maybe she is at the local tavern?" Ranfield pointed out in a lighter tone as he followed the vampire.

"She should know better than that!" The Count growled and the doors to the entrance of the castle opened with a snap of his fingers. "She should know by now that when the sun goes down she is to return to my side immediately! Go! Find her at once!"

"Yes, Master!" Ranfield bowed and quickly trotted out the doors and across the stone bridge.

Repressing a headache Dracula returned to his chambers to try and scry her through the mirror. But, to his confusion and frustration, he couldn't get an image. Why? What is the meaning of this? His thoughts went for the most reasonable possibilities. She was blocked! Someone was preventing him from seeing her. But how? There was no way C could prevent him from seeing her, so it must be someone else's doing.

Feeling that familiar itch, Dracula immediately summoned the image of his human servant. Ranfield was currently asking around the village about C, but to his dislike found nothing about the reluctant Dampire. That is, until someone came forth and said they saw her wandering towards the forest, then run into it without looking back. Now why would she do that? She knows her runs do not start until sunrise, so what made her go into the forest. Unfortunately, his mirror was still unable to bring her image into his view.

"Werewolf!" Dracula hollered and the huge dog came just outside his chambers. "Go into the forest! Find C's scent! Hunt her down and bring her to me alive! GO!"

With a sniff the werewolf turned on his heels and ran out of the castle. As he headed into the forest Ranfield had returned and told him of the news that he already knew.

"They say she was looking rather distraught," Ranfield said which made the Count turn to him in puzzlement. "She looked to be as if in a trance and then she just ran into the forest, like she was afraid of something."

The Count remained silent, not sure of how he can take in that bit of information. C was upset? Why? What fool made her turn away from her duties and wander into the forest at this hour? The Count began to pace slowly as Ranfield settled into silence by the corner, which he was grateful for. He didn't have to wait long though. Half an hour later the cry of the werewolf could be heard for miles. But the way it sounded made goose bumps appear on his dead skin. Something was wrong. Very wrong. He has never heard his werewolf make such a distressful sound. Almost as if he was crying out in anguish.

His chest constricted with something and he immediately materialized to where the wolf was. There, just five miles inside the forest, the werewolf was hunched in a spot, sniffing at the prints in the snow. When the Count appeared he stopped and lowered his eyes, avoiding the confusion in his Master's gaze.

"What is the meaning of this? Where is she?" He demanded but then froze when C's scent hit him. His eyes scanned the ground and saw several stains of red in the snow. Blood. C's blood! Along with the scent of unfamiliar undead vampires surrounded him!

"Carolyn!" He breathed as panic grasped his insides. She had been attacked! Ambushed by cowards and then taken! But why? WHY? With another deep breath of the area he found that the scents of C and the intruders were fading. How? That's impossible! Unless…! He turned around to find several weeds and herbs placed in a circle around them. Weeds mixed with garlic and other strong odors.

"Damn!" He cursed and turned to the wolf, who waited patiently for his Master's word. Ranfield! Stay and watch the castle! Something important has happened!

Yes, Master!

"Come with me!" Dracula motioned the Wolf as he tried to find out where those undead maggots had taken C to. "We are going on a Hunt!" With that Dracula freed his Hell beast form and took to the skies, the werewolf following him on foot as they searched the wilderness for the Dampire. Dracula just prayed that they would find her before something terrible could happen.

Swimming. My mind was swimming with mixtures of memories. Both voices of people I've met and things that I've seen before I felt my body become mine to control again. Except that I count move much. I was squeezed in something small and box-like. Dark too, but I can hear voices. My head hurt like Hell yet I tried to focus on what was being said.

"…Dracula has underestimated me for the last time!" A male voice hissed angrily. "Now I'll make him suffer with the loose of his precious Dampire!"

"Sir! I think she can hear us now!" A second whispered quickly.

Shit! I thought as I tried to move but found that my hands and feet were bound by ropes. Also I just noticed a rag was stuffed in my mouth. I heard movement coming towards me. They must have heard my breathing and heartbeat! Damn it all! With a creak from wood, light flooded in my face, blinding me. But then I felt a sharp stab, like a needle, and something being pumped into my veins.

"Not to worry," The smooth voice said as my vision faded and my body started to feel numb. "All is well, now…" I couldn't recall more as darkness hit me once again.

Cold. I felt very cold next. Wind was hitting at my face rather hard as I heard a rumble of drums over my head. Wait. Not drums. Thunder. When I tried to move I found myself stuck. Literally! I opened my eyes and found I was looking up into a heavy clouded sky. Looking further I found that my hands were spread out and bounded by shining wires. Same with my feet, only they were together. When my head hit wood I froze in realization. I was tied to a cross! And these wires – they were silver!

Oh my God! I panicked. I've been crucified!

"Welcome back to the world of the living, Dampire C," A voice made me turn my head to a man welding a cane; Sir Charles Cornwell. "But, sad to say, not for long."

"You – bastard!" I spat, my voice scratchy from not using it in a while. How long was I out? I Noticed my cloth's had been changed into a white nightgown with no shoes or socks. There wasn't a thorny wreath on my head, but that didn't change how I felt about this whole thing.

"Temper, temper," Cornwell shook his head at me calmly. "I guess the Count didn't teach you well on manners." Another roll of thunder went by and I had to look around more. From my flat point of view, I could see grass and hear wind scrap over an open valley, but there was something else. It sounded like waves crashing into rocks from below. The sounds of waves weren't far either. More like they were right below us. We were on a grassy cliff near an ocean!

"Like the view?" Cornwell opened an arm out in welcome of the area. "It's been a long time since I've stepped on my own home lands, but the view is always nice this time of year. Especially now since this side of England is experiencing some freaky weather. Just perfect for a Hurricane!"

"E-England?!" I gasped as I felt a few raindrops fall on me.

"Oh yes," He smiled and walked around me once, "More like outside of Sennen, England. At the edge of the world, you could say. You're no longer in Romania anymore. No more Count. No more luxuries in that castle of his. No more fun with your Master." He hissed and then two shadows appeared behind me.

"More helpless slaves for you to command?" I growled as they pulled the cross to an upright position. "Son of a bitch! I'll kill you if it's the last thing I do!"

"Frankly, the last thing you'll be doing is drowning in the Celtic Sea before you," He smirked and motioned to the ocean in our view. My heart pounded wildly. We were on a very high ledge and I can clearly see the straight drop down to the angry waters below. "I admit; you hold such potential, for a half-breed. You avoided all those Holly Knights fairly well under the circumstances. Yes, C. It was I that left clues for the Order on a certain King of Vampires whereabouts." He smirked and moved a few feet away. "Though I had hoped you would be outmatched by the forces of the Order, yet it seems Lady Luck was on your side, but not this time. Let's see how the levels of Hell will deal with a new resident in their mists."

"Fuck you!" I spate in his face, but he dodged it with a discussed look, "The Count will find me, you know! He'll find you next! He has ways to hunt you down too!" At this, Cornwell just threw his head back and laughed. I nearly rolled my eyes at the ridiculous of it all.

"You poor child, you!" He chuckled and pulled out a bag which reeked of nameless stuff and weeds. "Besides having access to drugs that kept you in heavy sedation in the last two days, this particular mixture can throw off a Werewolf's nose for hours. Plenty of time to smuggle you out of the country."

I snarled and showed my fangs in rage, but the silver wires were tight around my wrists and ankles. Cornwell just looked on amusingly at me and motioned his two servants to push the cross closer to the grassy ledge.

"You won't be escaping anytime soon," He said as his eyes darkened, "Those are silver blessed wirings. Blessed with such grace that not even you can break the spells over them. Besides, I've left a little something for the Count to remember you by. He won't find you if there is evidence of your death."

Another snarl ripped from my throat and I tried my hardest to lung at him, but my restraints were working a little too well. My wrists strained against the bindings of the silver while my strength tried to break free, but I only ended up cutting some of my skin up and soon blood was dripping down. Cornwell saw this and let lose a punch to my face, making me cease my struggles.

"I'll have none of that," He growled at me. He knew my blood could be easily tracked since Dracula will be on the warpath. "This is your crucifixion, half-breed! In remembrance of my servant Onyx; let this be a reminder to never underestimate me again! God speed, Dampire C! You may be meeting him soon!"

With a clap of his hands I was being pushed to the edge. No! NO! I started to struggle with renewed strength. Closer and closer they pushed the cross till I could feel the weight of the wooden beams being pulled by gravity. NO! PLEASE GOD! DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN TO ME! SOMEBODY! PLEASE! HELP ME!

My thoughts go unanswered as the last few inches of land disappeared from my view and I began to fall down. Horror gripped my very being as I screamed. The sight of the cliff lasted for only a few seconds before I hit the water. A huge wave swept over my face as the cross began to sink with me still attached. I held my breath for as long as I could.

I'm gonna die! The thought came as I struggled, but it was useless. I couldn't move! I'm stuck! Doomed to drown to death no thanks to that bastard vampire. Oh, why? Why me!? Suddenly, I feel the cross beginning to float. Wood floats! But for how long? I had fallen head first and the oceans water was swirling around me as I fought for control. Finally, I broke surface as the cross floated with me on top. Chilling waves of salt water, like and icy blanket, washed over me as the view of land slowly began to fade. The darkness of the storm and angry waters seem to blend as flashes of light and clapping thunder grew in my ears, until another wave crashed over my head sending the cross to flip me into the ocean again.

I'm gonna die… It's over for me… There's no more hope… no more hope… My mind was starting to fade as another wave hit me, throwing the cross and I like a rag doll. When a second hit my, I knew nothing else except the pain in my chest from swallowing too much sea water.

Dracula had spent hours upon hours looking for signs. There was nothing in Bucharest nor in the neighboring towns. His werewolf had made little progress too and soon dawn would be upon them. But he wasn't going to give up. He wasn't going to give up on her!

Carolyn! He called out with their mental connection. If there was a chance that she was nearby, she can hear him and use their link. Carolyn! Where are you? But still, he received no reply. No sarcastic comment or a ridiculous joke from her. Only silence. He didn't like it. He couldn't even sense her anymore! It was baffling! How can a race of vampires disappear like this with his Dampire! Only one conclusion came to mind. Cornwell. He had to be behind this! But for some reason Dracula couldn't get a clear scent on any of them. Cornwell must have studied in some heavy spells and herbs to hide his cowardly face from him. But he'll find him. He had too. And once he did, Cornwell will wish he had never been born!

Suddenly, a howl from the werewolf redirected the Count's attention to the south. He had found something! At last! And only an hour before the sun came up. He spotted the wolf at a clearing, but what he saw had made him stop thinking all together.

Fire. A fire was burning down a house. It was almost gone and the smoke had blanketed half the sky but it was the stench of burnt flesh that made him gag. Something terrible has happened. He could only imagine what yet he saw the werewolf hunch its shoulders and then stare at the ground. A small pool of blood lay in front of them. C's blood. Droplets led towards the now destroyed house, but it was the object on the ground that caught the Count's glowing blue eyes.

C's crystal necklaces. His chest nearly caved in. A pain unlike anything he had ever experienced in a long time entered his undead heart as he almost fell to his knees when picking up the small object. It was stained in her blood. He felt his throat tighten.

She cannot be… SHE CANNOT BE! If he still had breath to steal, it would have been gone in an instant. He stared back at the house in utter disbelief. She couldn't be in there. She can't be! She can't…

His train of thought stopped when the werewolf held something in his claws. It was one of her spiky bracelets. She always loved to wear those. Leashed, but not bound by human laws. He closed his eyes as he accepted the bracelet from him. Looking back at the house he noticed something on the smothering, wooden, walls. A message – written in blood. Her blood.

"DEATH AWAITS ALL TO THE SELFISH AND CRUEL! EVEN FOR THOSE WHO ARE BOUND TO THEM!"

Count Dracula almost collapsed right there, but he stayed on his feet as he clenched the bracelet in his hand, ignoring how the spikes pierced his skin, for his chest felt worse. This message was for him – from Cornwell. That bastard! That God damn bastard!

He had found C, alone in the woods, and captured her, only to make an example of her – for him. Dracula's eyes went from blue, to black, to red pupils. Rage filled him like no other as he released an inhuman roar into the sky. A roar mixed of anguish and dread for his lost Dampire. As the sun began to rise, there was no warmth, only the cold truth that he was alone once more. Alone and lost without the one being who made him feel even remotely alive. She was gone, and he was alone.

To be continued… in Book 2: New York Redemption's

Finally! All done! But am I really done? HELL NO! So much to do and too much time to go to waste. I WILL NOT WAIST IT! I am working on it right now, but until my update I just want to say to all my fellow readers and writers; THANK YOU ALL SOOO MUCH FOR YOUR WONDERFUL REVIEWS! It keeps my spirit alive and hungry to type more!

Sooo many ideas for C it's not even funny! Really though, the next is going to be quit emotional, gory, sadistic, harsh, and downright mean that keeps her alive in our memories! I know you all have a tone of questions so let me answer a few with a sneak peak of the first chapter to the second Book!

Standing. I am standing. But I don't know how I got here.

I remember waves… and water. Lots and lots of sea water. Burning my lungs and throat till I couldn't breathe any more.

I thought I had died then.

And yet… I am here… standing upright on a rocky shore. I'm surrounded by five dead bodies of guys I've never seen before. Their corpses half mangled and shredded like a wild animal had just attacked them. Their eyes filled with fear as their mouths were left open in a silent scream. Their blood dripped from my fingers and my lips as I couldn't recall much in the last hour.

Bound. My wrists were bound! I remember! And yet… I am free. Free! But – where –?

A loud booming noise far from a distance makes me fall to my knees and clamp my hands over my ears. I'm in what is left of my white dress and look up to see a plane flying high over me. An airplane. An airplane! Realizing that I was near some form of civilization, I stood up again and slowly stumbled up the rocky beach and onto a littered hill. My legs fighting off the weariness from my rough journey. Yet what I found made me shutter and wondered if I was really still alive.

Buildings. Lots and lots of man-made building filled my eyes as their lights dimmed with the morning's sun. I spotted a bridge so long it looked like it was moving some in the soft breeze. I spotted a sign. A build-board made of bright green colors and black, bold lettering's that read:

LONG ISLAND -

- NEW YORK

I'm – I'm back in America. I'm – I'm back.

Hope you like it so far, and that it has your interests perked to its peak. I'll get to work on the second Book right away! Until then, hope you all loved the first Book and I hope to see you soon. REVIEW anytime or all the time! I look forward to your awesome supports and advices! Thanks again for all your awesome REVIEWS and I look forward to hearing from you guys! :' D

Love to all! BR2

UPDATE! First chapter of Book 2 is now open to read! Go to my profile and check it out! :)