Midnight Roses

Author's Note: Doo doo doo, fixing my stuff yep.

Interlude Two: War

Clad in red armor, the lord impaled as many enemy soldiers as he could. Their blood splashed on the dry, cracked ground as he shoved the long, wooden skewers through their guts. The heat of the battle was more heady than any wine. The thought of his pregnant wife drove him to end this war quickly but the warrior inside him wanted it to last forever.

When no one was paying attention to him, Vlad licked the hot blood off his knuckles, savoring the metallic taste. The blood of his enemies would give him strength to persevere. He would quell the uprising and go home. Giving a loud war cry, he ran forward; shoving a sharpened skewer through another soldier. He felt a deep satisfaction when the enemy's flesh gave way and his blood spurted free.

Opening his mouth, he greedily caught the droplets in his mouth. If Elizabeta could see him now she surely would have been scared. He was coated head to toe in blood and his grin was almost bordering on insanity as the body of the soldier slid down towards him. Sometimes he wished he could drain a man of his blood to drink it. How much power and virility it would give him. He would be the most powerful in his lands.

Suddenly he staggered, eyes going wide. He dropped the wooden pole looking off in the direction his castle was. He couldn't see it since they were several hundred miles away but he knew it was there. Something was wrong. Elizabeta needed him, now. With a panicked look he grabbed his faithful black stallion and clambered onto its back. Without a word to the troops still fighting he rode off as fast as his horse could gallop. He was filled with deep terror as he drove the steed unmercifully back towards his home. “Elizabeta....” he whispered frantically, tears beginning to fall from his eyes.