The Ascent of the Vampires - Book 1

were made of stone. Expensive rugs covered the floor. There was a huge mirror with a golden frame and Dragos looked at his handsome reflection. He had not changed in three hundred years. He was born a vampire. Vampires were born like human babies but, instead of milk, they drank blood. Vampires grew like human children, but they stopped aging when they reached twenty years old. If a vampire wanted, they could change a human into a vampire. They had to bite the human and bury them. The next night the human would be a vampire. But there was a rule. A vampire had to choose a good-looking and young human. It was a rule from the sacred book of the vampires.
    The underground fortress was old. The vampire family of Vladu had built it in 1700, three hundred and twenty years ago. Before that they lived in Europe, but they were not a powerful family at that time. However, they knew that America would be a great country in the future. Now the Vladu family was the most powerful vampire family in the world and Dragos Vladu was its leader.
    Dragos was still looking at his reflection, when he heard someone knocking on the huge, wooden door.
    "Come in!" he called.
    His twin sister Daciana entered the room. She was dressed in an amazing red dress by Versace. Red was the vampires' sacred colour. Red was the colour of blood, which was their food and gave vampires their power. Daciana's black hair shone beautifully in the candlelight. She wore a necklace of emeralds .
    "Brother," she said, kissing him on the cheek.
    "Sister," he replied, "is everything going to plan ?"
    "Yes my brother. Everything is going exactly to plan. All over the world, our armies are ready," she said.
    "What about our human mercenaries?" asked Dragos.
    "They are ready. They have been training for three years. We have promised to give them money, when we rule the world. They will help us to win," said Daciana.
    Dragos laughed. He had a huge smile on his face.
    "We have waited so long and now it is almost time. Mother and father would be proud ," he said.
    "Yes," agreed Daciana, "they would be very proud of you."
    "One day I will find the traitors who killed our parents and I will kill them!" Dragos said angrily.
    "Good, but do not talk about this now. We have important things to do. I am hungry," she said.
    "Yes, you are right. When we rule the world, I will have time to think about our parents," he said in a quiet voice.
    Dragos picked up a small, golden bell . He rang it once. A few moments later, a guard brought a terrified human woman into the room. She was struggling and crying.
    "Please! Don't hurt me!" she cried.
    "Silence human!" shouted Dragos.
    He grabbed the woman. Daciana grabbed her too.
    "Leave us," he told the guard.
    Dragos and Daciana bit the frightened woman and began to drink her blood.
    "Please stop!" she begged.
    The vampire twins ignored her. Hungrily, they sucked her blood until she was dead.
    __________________________

    >Glossary<

    masterpieces – a ‘masterpiece’ is an old and expensive piece of art. Meisterwerk
    rugs – material which is put on the floor, smaller than a carpet. Vorleger
    handsome – physically attractive, used for men only (can sometimes be used to describe a woman, usually older). attraktiv, gutaussehend
    aging - ‘to age’ means to get older. altern
    bury – ‘to bury’, to put in the ground and cover with earth. begraben
    sacred – important in a religious way, another word is ‘holy’. heilig
    knocking – ‘to knock’ in this context, to strike (a door) before entering. anklopfen
    shone – the past tense of ‘to shine’. To give out a bright light, e.g. the sun shines. scheinen
    necklace – jewellery worn around the neck. Halskette
    emeralds – jewels, like green diamonds. Smaragd
    going to plan – ‘to go to plan’, to happen as organised. wie geplant stattfinden
    proud – feeling pleasure for your own or another’s achievements. stolz
    traitors – people who betray someone or something. Verräter, Betrüger
    bell – an object which rings, e.g. an alarm bell, a church bell. Klingel, Glocke
    grabbed – ‘to grab’, to take hold of roughly. ergreifen, packen
    ignored – ‘to ignore’ to not give attention. ignorieren
    sucked – ‘to suck’, to pull out liquid with the mouth. saugen

CHAPTER FOUR

    2pm.
    Windy Oaks Shopping Mall, New Jersey.

    The mall was crowded that afternoon and at first Amy couldn't see her friend Anna. Then she saw her by the fountain . Anna Jackson was a