SINAIA, ROMANIA
YEAR 1244
Dragavei and Alina were in the library, engrossed in studying the map of Eastern Europe, when one of the massive shelves tilted, nearly falling on Alina. Reacting with incredible strength, Dragavei moved, shielding her and stopping the shelf with just one hand.
When he had stabled it, he was met with his wife's shocked gaze.
Dragavei knew what her eyes were asking.
"Darling, you know I am a huge man," he said humorously. "I assure you the furniture is not as heavy as it appears."
She shook her head vehemently, going to stand by a shelf and knocking on the wood.
"This is formidable wood. How were you able to hold it up from crushing me?"
Dragavei touched her arm. "I should be asking if you are alright"
Alina moved away. "I am fine."
He sighed and returned to the circular table, staring down at the map. "Shall we continue please?"
"No" she replied.
He rubbed at his temples, contemplating hypnotizing her, but deep down he was tired of lying to her. They had gotten married and he didn't want to keep secrets from her any longer.
"Alina" he started to say, but she interrupted once more, a finger pointed in front of her.
"No one possesses such strength"
"What would you have me say? That I am a demon and wields unfathomable power?"
Alina was silent for a while, thinking it through. She knew he was hiding things from her. She knew he was a very strange man who did strange things.
"What do you withhold from me, Gavy?" She inquired softly.
"Each time, I feel it... I feel it within me, that there is something I am meant to know, something you keep from me. And with every step I take toward its truth, you push me away"
He began rolling up his sleeves—an attempt to distract himself from his frustration at her pursuit of the truth.
"What do you keep from me, Gavy?" she demanded, striding to the table where he stood. "Speak, or I shall leave! I care not that we have been wed a year!"
"Good heavens, Alina, that shelf nearly crushed you!" He ground through his teeth. "There is a surge of hormones that awaken when one faces such threat. You know this, for we have studied it together. Why do you still ask?"
"That was no hormone, I'm no fool!" She retorted "And don't you dare do that which you always do!"
Alina slammed a fist into the table. "Do not attempt to mask it with some silly lie, I tire of this. If you cannot trust me enough to tell me the truth, then why did you say the wedding vows?"
Dragavei exhaled, sitting on a chair. "Alina, it is far more complicated than you think"
"When I agreed to wed you, I did not think it would be free of struggle and hardship. You, after all, did claim to be a dangerous man, and yet, did I leave you?"
"This is different. This is bigger than anything you may know"
"So, there is indeed something you're hiding from me"
"Alina, the truth could change you forever" he spoke softly. "It could turn you away from me"
Dragavei rose and brushed past her. "You would see me for what I truly am"
He spun to face her. "A monster"
"I have spent time with you, Gavy. I know you" She replied, her face softening. "You're not a monster"
He guffawed and Alina's hands rose to gently frame his face. "Gavy, I swore I would stand by you, through all things," she said. "I love you, and no secret you keep shall alter that."
After a long moment, he sighed and nodded. "Very well. If it is the truth you seek, then I shall no longer conceal it from you."
Dragavei stood tall and gazed down at her, his expression deeply serious. "I am no ordinary man."
At first, he saw the confusion in her eyes, followed by reluctance to accept the truth, and then finally, fear.
Her face paled.
"I am not Gavy Rares, but Dragavei Dimitru—that which you have been studying"
Alina fell a step back, her hands flying to cover her gaping mouth. "No" she whispered.
When she had gained some composure, she spoke, her voice, slightly shaky, "S-so you're saying you're the legend. The myth. The mightiest vampire to ever grace this earth?"
Her face was deathly white. "You're saying you're the very being I have obsessed over my entire life. The one I have studied, the being you have helped me study?
She guffawed. "You're saying you're Dragavei Dimitru, the great dark lord of Romania. And not- and not Gavy Rares my husband?"
"I am both" he replied.
"I have traveled with you for a year, studied and courted you for two years, been your wife for a year. So everything you've told me of yourself for these past four years... everything I've believed... was nothing but a lie?"
It explained why he had so much knowledge about the ancient times. Why he had so much strength to fight off the first set of marauders that had attacked them on their journey, and many others.
Why he was able to stop the shelf from crashing down on her.
Why she had once noticed bite marks on the bodies of the women that used to visit his chambers before they were married.
It explained so much.
"Alina"
"I don't believe you." She blurted out the lie.
Although Alina knew he was right, she still couldn't believe the man standing right before her—the man she had known for four whole years and was in love with was Dragavei Dimitru, the menace and not just Gavy, her mentor.
"Yes, you do" his once serious face had gone soft. "You're afraid," he said "Be calm, I won't harm you"
"How can you even speak such words and expect me to believe you? Y-yet you have lied to me for years!!!"
He winced at her words.
"Is that really what you think of me? Have I harmed you in any way?" He attempted to touch her but she moved away. "And I haven't exactly lied. I simply withheld some of the truth from you" he said. "I suffered at the hands of the humans. In the year eight hundred and fifty-eight, I was born into this world... as a vampire."
He began to narrate, "At six, I was beaten by a group of villagers and left to perish in a forest because of what I am. My own parents turned their backs on me, allowing them to take me."
Her face crumbled. "Oh, I'm so sorry"
"That marked the day I started to loathe the humans. If they could do such unspeakable things to a child and not feel even an iota of remorse, what more would they do to others? And I was right. The years I prowled the earth, I beheld unspeakable things—horrors they inflicted upon one another, all for petty reasons such as greed, envy, and lust."
Alina looked up at him and wondered how she didn't see the obvious signs before her:
His width. His height. His beauty. Everything about the man screamed otherworldly. But she had been blinded by love.
"I know this is much to bear…"
She turned away from him, her hand on her throat. "So, are you still going to continue this mission of terrorizing the humans?"
"Yes"
"Gavy, I know you've had a terrible childhood, a terrible experience with the humans but not all of them are bad. There are good people among us"
"The bad outweighs the good and you know it"
"Yes," she replied, "but there is still good. There are others like me, many others, even better. You just haven't met them yet. All I ask is that you give me a chance to help you see them."
"Alina, I am nearly four centuries old. I've seen enough to know the heart of man is evil"
"But you cannot expect me to be comfortable while I watch you massacre my people" She whispered.
"I do not expect you to be comfortable, Alina. I expect you to understand."
She scoffed in disbelief. "You've turned people into..." she swallowed hard, "...vampires, haven't you? H-how many?"
"My brother and I made a pact," he explained "We swore not to turn recklessly. Also, my hatred for humans kept me from wanting to grant them such a special gift so easily. In the course of my three hundred and eighty-five years on this earth, I have sired no more than ten. Radu has sired, I believe, no more than five."
Alina's eyes widened. "Where are they?"
"The sire bond pulls them closer to us," I answered, my gaze distant. "They are drawn to serve us. They are here in Sinaia, waiting."
She dropped into a chair, her feet tapping furiously on the ground and Dragavei crouched to look into her eyes, touching her knees "I understand how you feel"
"Those times you left the house, you went to feed, didn't you?"
"Yes"
"Do you kill those you feed from?"
"Yes"
Her eyes welled up with tears. "Oh, Gavy"
"I am a bloodsucker. I have to feed" he stated.
"You say it like you have no choice!" She rose to her feet angrily. "But you need not kill. Surely, there must be a way you can feed without taking lives. I cannot live with the knowledge that you do this to people. They may have families, Gavy"
"I care not"
"Oh, but you must! How would you feel if I got taken by one of your kind and drained to death?"
"It shall not come to pass"
"Oh, but what if it did? You must place yourself in another's stead"
"Fine. I will no longer drain unto death"
A bit relieved, she relaxed. "You must give me a chance to show you not all humans are bad"
Dragavei began to shake his head "Alina..."
"You must, Gavy!" She exclaimed, half plea, half command.
She reached out to touch his face "Which is greater? Your love for me, or your vendetta against mankind?"
He kissed her, slowly and passionately, and when he pulled away, his voice was but a whisper. "My love for you"
"Then do this for me"