Laura Williams believes in the magic of song. She's a famous Canadian pop singer, and she feels most alive onstage. There's something otherworldly about being beneath the bright lights in front of an adoring audience. It truly is magical-as is her newly received invitation to study with a coven of witches in Romania. Laura is skeptical, but that doesn't mean she turns down their offer; soon, she's on a plane crossing the sea. Her teachers believe Laura to be a gifted witch. As she performs her first incantations, their beliefs are solidified by her uncanny natural ability. Laura's teachers are impressed, but they are also concerned. Their new pupil seems to fit very well in Romania, and her magic is very powerful. Perhaps she was Romanian in a past life; perhaps she lived and died on foreign soil. It becomes apparent Laura does have a very real connection to Romania. It appears she is the reincarnated soul of Dracula's wife, and her presence in his home country awakens something bloodthirsty from the hallowed ground. Not even the skilled Romanian witches can quench the thirst of this monster, and soon Laura must use every ounce of skill to save the world from an evil vampire prince.

Auszug. � Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Near Dracula's Castle

By Patrick Vaitus

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright � 2011 Patrick Vaitus
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4620-3433-8

Chapter One

Even the people would say it is rough Even the people would say it is witches stuff The people can say what they want. But I will always believe in the power of Magic. -Romanian folk song

Reluctantly, I walked on the street for almost half of the day. I walked around the city with no destination in mind. I walked, unable to focus on anything in particular. It is like I am not myself. It is hard to describe how I feel at this moment. I am sure I have never felt like this before. Never ... This is all very strange.

Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Laura Williams. You might know me, I am a very famous pop singer. You may have heard some of my songs. It is normal for me to walk in the streets and be recognized. I cannot walk in this city without being approached or accosted. I can hear people around me asking themselves. Is that really her?"

I really like that feeling.

I finally have finished my latest album, and I became a worldwide success. Combining the harmony of the songs, and the passion of my music with its lyrics, it has made my music clearer, more vibrant, and stronger. This kind of success can make your life complete. It's unique melody fills you with all these wonderful feelings. Surrender to my music, and it can do wonderful things to you. It is like a drug that makes you fly in a different world, in your own world, and your own paradise. My pop music is as strong as a drug. It gives you a high, as you have never had before. It is a world where you like to be, and want to be again. As result of this euphoric feeling you set the melody on repeat. The melody will continue to bring you into this wonderful world again, and again. You will discover new thoughts and feelings each time. You will listen to it again and again until you become elated. When you are sad, alone, and bored by your life, go to your room and light a candle. Put my music on and let the melody start flowing over you. Focus on the words, and really live the music. If you can do that my music will lift you out of this physical life, and into your own world. Realize the blessings of your life and it's happiness, and you will want these feelings forever. Listen repeatedly to my music and let it fill your life with vibrant colors.

I have had many shows, always-full to capacity. I have seen people enjoying my music, being filled with ecstasy watching me, and listening to my music so intently. Everyone excitedly is singing with me, never missing a beat. It is like being together in a trance, going into a wonderful world. It is like touching a superior stage of meditation. It is very unique, every time something new and every time something undoubtedly different.

It is hard to believe that was only a year ago ...

And now, reluctantly I am walking with no destination in mind for almost half of the day, feeling the vibrancy of the city around me. I find myself in the middle of Calgary's downtown. I have always found this city to have a human face. I am thirty-five years old and I have been around the world. I have observed cities and towns, and explored the countryside. I have watched people at work, at play, at happiness and madness. My comparisons come not from movies or books, but from what I have personally experienced in both my memories and my current life.

This Plaza is perfect for me right now with its fountain right in the middle and at the same level of the street. I can touch the water, hear it, and feel it. It is as if a friendly artist designed it just now, and just for you. His only task was to be closer to you using his skills. I walked down the street, aware of all the reflections in the shop windows. I come to my favorite metal horse standing in the street. It is large and in-congruent in stature. It respects the proportions of a horse but on a much bigger scale. It always reminds me of the legend of the conquest of Troy, a simple horse trick to destroy the central gate and then to conquer the entire city.

I walked in the city without a plan of where to go or what to do. The world is in different colors as I walk and observe. This world changes every day. I stop and gaze into the windows of a travel agency. Maybe I need a vacation. It might work out for me, as I need a break. But where do I want to go? My success makes me ... somehow alone. I have no close friends that I can think of to travel with to a destination. Though a vacation would definitely be welcome right now. At least if nothing else it might help me to pass this stage, this undecided feeling that I have been carrying with me as of late. Maybe I have to go to a place where I can be close with my passion, which is magic.

I have always been attracted to magic, to the paranormal, and such things, but I have never become proficient in any way. I wish it so much, maybe even more than my music.

The posters look so inviting, especially the one with the dark castle ... Romania. A sensation of dizziness comes over me. This one castle in particular might be Dracula's castle. I am so attracted to the history of Dracula's legend. I think there is an unclear line between history and legend, between real things and imaginative things. I want to know so much more. I am attracted to Dracula and all its tales both fact and fiction. I reach out to steady myself against the window frame and see an agent inside start to rise out of his chair.

It is getting cold very quickly. We have learned in Calgary to accept the way the weather can change so dramatically in such a short period of time, sometimes hours. But I still shiver and sweat with every turn. Perhaps I'll hurry along to the Bankers towers.

* * *

There is a man at the upper level of the Commercial Center of the Bankers Hall. He is just sitting there alone on a big chair. His feet are bare; he sits in a lotus position. He appears to be focusing on something, but for the people who pass close to him, he appears just a strange man. As it is a free country here the people don't pay to much attention.

"Where are you? Where are you? I know you are close by."

* * *

Banker Hall is twin towers. From the outside you may be impressed by their grandness, and you forget to notice their slight detail, that their colors are slightly different. You may pass by this detail as this is the only thing that differentiates each tower from the other. I will go by the West Tower entrance. I stand here taking in my surroundings. Two huge and modern towers stand here, and at the entrance of the West Tower a couple of statues are suggesting to us that homo sapiens are rising right now from the animal kingdom. The first statue is just here where I can touch it. I am touching this naked man statue. I hug it. Two handsome men who pass by smile; they recognize me but they don't intrude. I continue into the vastness of the West Tower. There are more statues like outside. It is like an extension of the outside genesis. When it is minus thirty-five or more in the winter the dichotomy of inside is striking the snow covering outdoors and the vibrant lush indoors. Through the glass corridors, called +15's because they are raised 15 feet above the street, I can go from here to almost every part of the downtown core. It is a blessing in the winter....

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