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stage that his daughter’s beauty would have paled in comparison.
     
    The years went by quickly after the day Isabella found Nicolae in the woods. Isabella and Nicolae became inseparable and more often than not, Katya and Dragen accompanied them.
    Isabella’s pretty girlish looks had now matured into beautiful, delicate, fine features. Although her outward appearance was without flaw, her behaviour was quite different. She had grown into a hot-tempered, mischievous teenager with a strong influence over her group of friends. Her influence was not as strong with Nicolae. He would always be the one to chastise her, the one to tell her she’d gone too far, although, sometimes, even Nicolae could not resist her charms. He, like the others, would often placate Isabella and would also agree to do her bidding.
    Whenever the group got into trouble it was always Isabella’s fault and she would usually take all the blame. But then again, any time the group got out of trouble it was always due to Nicolae’s exertions.
    This leads us to another summer’s day. This day would change the course of Isabella’s life, or should it be said that it would change the course of her death, but she would not realise it at the time.
    Katya and Isabella were then both sixteen, walking together along the path that bordered the forest leading to Alexei’s house. On this day Isabella was unusually quiet and thoughtful; she could not stop looking up at the wooded hill which led up to Vlad‘s castle. Isabella’s laconic attitude was making Katya nervous.
    “What are you thinking about?” Katya asked.
    “Do you ever wonder, Katya…if he’s still alive?”
    “Who?”
    Isabella pointed up towards the castle and smiled. “Vlad Dracula,” she said. “My grandfather tells us about when he was in the Crusades but he never tells us about what happened afterwards. Do you not wonder about him sometimes?”
    “No, absolutely not, and neither should you!” Katya scolded, fearing what Isabella was leading up to.
    “Well, I was thinking since we are surprising my grandfather and Nicolae today, they are not expecting us.”
    Katya looked at Isabella suspiciously.
    Isabella smiled. “Why don’t we go up and see for ourselves?” she said.
    “No, Isabella! We have always been warned never to go near the castle! We’re not even supposed to go into the woods on our own!”
    “Oh, where’s your sense of adventure. We can be back in a few hours and no one will be any the wiser.”
    Katya knew it was useless to say no to Isabella. She always got her way in the end. “Well, at least let’s go and get Nicolae.”
    “No, Katya! You know he is too good; he would never allow us to go up there and he would probably tell my grandfather what I was thinking of doing. Then I would never get to go! Now, come on!” Isabella had already left the path and was running towards the woods. Katya took a long, drawn-out breath and reluctantly trailed after her.
    When Isabella reached the castle she stopped to catch her breath and waited for Katya, who had never quite kept up with her. Sometimes Isabella would forget about Katya’s crippled leg and expect her to run just as fast as she could. Katya did not mind this. She liked people to forget about her leg and treat her as if she was just the same as anyone else, but it seemed Isabella was the only one who really did forget. Isabella sat on a large, loose stone that had fallen from one of the broken walls and waited for her friend to catch up. She glanced around the castle that time had ruined.
    She was sitting in the middle of a large courtyard. On either side of her were two large, tall brick walls, each with hollow archways that led to what appeared to be passageways. The ground was paved with cobblestones that like the walls were weather-beaten and broken. In front of her was a third large wall with a wooden door in the centre and around the door was a line of smooth stone. Carved on these stones there seemed to