

# Elixir of Flesh

Joseph A Kranak

Copyright 2014 by Joseph Kranak

Smashwords Edition
Smashwords Edition, License Notes

Published under Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0:

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

If you copy or distribute this book please retain attribution to the author.
Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Apothecary and Vampire Wares

Chapter 2: The Novice

Chapter 3: Ascent

Chapter 4: First Night

Chapter 5: The Last Days of Innocence

Chapter 6: After the Last Sunset

Chapter 7: From the Grip of the Convent

Chapter 8: Into the Arms of the Coven

Chapter 9: Lucian

Chapter 10: The Pen

Chapter 11: Last Victims

Chapter 12: Asha

Chapter 13: Perpetual Peace

Chapter 14: Flesh and Blood

Chapter 15: Digging Upwards

Chapter 16: Human Heist

Chapter 17: Reprisal

Chapter 18: Siege

Chapter 19: Lazarus

Chapter 20: The Lid of the Barrel

Chapter 21: Lina Arrives

Chapter 22: Leakage

Chapter 23: Sunlight

Chapter 24: The Fate of the Infection
Chapter 1

Apothecary and Vampire Wares

In front of a sturdy, heavily fortified building on the main street of the village of Vallaya swung a wooden sign inscribed with the words "Apothecary and Vampire Wares." If one were to step inside this store, one would find on a set of shelves in the back behind the counter and behind Andrei, the austere shop owner, the typical contents of an apothecary's shop: the herbs, balms, ointments and oils that usually represented the entirety of an apothecary's stock. But in this shop there was an additional set of shelves, which held the so named "vampire wares." It was mostly upon this single line of products—unique to the region and to this shop—that Andrei's business thrived.

Though it had an uninviting storefront and was located in a tiny, secluded village, the store was almost constantly occupied with customers. Customers, who included great dignitaries and nobles, came from all parts of the three principalities recently united by the conquests of Gabor Viteazu—Ardeal (in which Vallaya was located), Moldava and Valahia—even into foreign kingdoms, as far as the Austrian lands and the Ottoman Empire.

Stored in a series of containers—stoppered vials, ceramic bowls and cloth-lined wooden boxes—filled with assorted powders, gels and dried foodstuffs, the vampire wares consisted of a range of products, each of which served a specific purpose. One set of boxes, filled with a dry white powder, were purported to promote strong bones and were quite popular with the aged and deformed who could appreciably feel the new strength and improved posture that the powder conferred. Another—a glass vial filled with a dark, reddish syrup—was supposedly good for the lungs and had many adherents, who swore that it made them feel more youthful and alive. With the spectacular effectiveness of these wares, the only thing that the customers could ask for was that Andrei provide more of these wonderful medicines, even though they were so expensive.

The expense was primarily due to the difficulty of acquiring the raw materials, a task for which Andrei depended entirely upon an aged hunter named Vasile. Vasile worked at night, and on this night, like nearly every night, he spent most of his time waiting. He waited now on a branch many palms above the ground on a tree deep in the forest, almost a league from Vallaya. He waited for his prey, the only prey that concerned him, the vampire prey.

Vasile had a thick, beard, that's upper edges crept up his cheeks towards his eyes and was sprinkled with white hair and black. His skin was rugged and chapped with bags beneath his eyes and furrows in his forehead. Wrinkles were pinched all around his eyes as he squinted into the dark trying to grasp any glimpse he could of movement. In his hands a crossbow stood ready, and another was cocked and hanging at his side. A bow and a quiver of arrows were on his shoulder as a secondary weapon, and a dagger was in a sheath around his waist.

After a long wait, sitting in the frigid night while his warm breath breathed wet vapor into the cold air, he saw movement in the distance. It'd been two days since he'd seen any vampires, and he was immediately spurred into an excited readiness. He would only have a few moments to identify the object, aim and fire, especially if it were a vampire, since they were skittish creatures that fled quickly and didn't linger.

As it approached somewhat closer, expanding from a tiny streak of shadow across the night to an identifiable shape, Vasile could see, squinting into the starlight-lit forest, that it was upright. This eliminated any possibility that it was an animal and meant it was either human or vampire. As the shape grew clearer and he could distinguish the movement of its appendages and the details of its shape, it became apparent that the thing sprinted with strength and agility that surpassed a human, almost floating over the soft forest floor as it ran. Definitely a vampire. No human moved with such grace and speed. His assessment complete, he took quick but careful aim and shot.

The tiny crossbow bolt struck flesh, piercing through the upper thigh, exactly where Vasile had aimed, and the injured vampire stumbled. Vasile's next shot had to follow quickly in succession and hit just as true if he were to fell his prey. Vasile, picking up the second crossbow, again took quick but careful aim and shot. Another hit, as aimed, in the other leg, and the vampire again stumbled, tumbling forward onto the leaf-covered turf. While the vampire pulled himself to his feet, Vasile grabbed the longbow from over his shoulder, drawing his first arrow, putting it in place and aiming. Vasile wasn't as skilled with the longbow. Accordingly, he aimed for the torso. The vampire was only just raising himself from the ground, and his target area was larger, making this shot considerably easier than the previous. He still had to take careful aim and fire his shot before the vampire had a chance to accelerate to a full run. His arrow slid through the air and pierced the vampire's side, stabbing through the skin and poking out through the back. With this last shot the vampire toppled onto the ground and didn't attempt to rise again.

Vasile waited a few moments to see if the vampire would attempt to stand before he lowered himself from the tree. He approached the vampire with bow and arrow drawn. This was the most dangerous point, since the vampire was most likely still alive and still capable of surviving if it could kill its predator. If the vampire still had the strength to lunge at Vasile and attack—not at all unlikely if it were one of the older, stronger vampires who might require as many as a dozen arrows to kill—Vasile would have to put an arrow through it in that fraction of a second before it reached him.

The creature that he saw by the faint starlight was a pale dark-cloaked young male with the hair and eyes of an albino. He was fit and slim, flawless and healthy-looking and clearly a younger vampire. The vampire's trembling, bloodstained hand was reaching out to pull one of the bolts from his thigh while he breathed in panicked, shallow breaths.

Standing at a safe distance, both to reduce the risk of the vampire unexpectedly attacking him and to reduce the risk of infection, Vasile took careful aim, pointing his spearpoint at the vampire's pale, taut neck. The Vampire heard Vasile's almost soundless footsteps as he delicately stepped between the dry leaves, and he turned in terrified anger to look at the old man with arrow drawn. The vampire began to push himself off the ground for one last desperate lunge when Vasile launched his arrow through the neck, piercing the soft skin and poking through the back. The vampire collapsed, and his breath came to a stop in one last forceful groan.

Vasile still waited at a moderate distance with another arrow already loaded and drawn. After a long, tense wait, during which no sign of breath or movement appeared, Vasile relaxed. He dropped the bow, put the arrow back in his quiver and opened his bag. He first pulled out a bird-shaped mask, which would cover his whole face. The mask had two glass eyes and a long nose, within which a vinegar-soaked sponge and a handful of herbs were placed at the tip. The pungent smell was there to shield his nose from the vampire's infectious odor. It was important to wear the mask when one approached close to a vampire, though too cumbersome to wear when one was hunting.

Vasile removed a rope with two hooks from his bag. Approaching the vampire, he placed each of the two large, metal hooks under the armpits of the vampire. He then loaded the two spent crossbows in case of attack, and hung them from his shoulders. Lastly, grabbing the rope that connected the hooks, he began to drag the weighty vampire corpse over the ground behind him. It felt like towing a millstone through the mud. Thus began the long march through the night to Vallaya.

Attached to the back of Andrei's shop was a large building, including several rooms that Andrei used as his living quarters and one large room that served as his workroom. The forest, which encompassed most of the land that wasn't otherwise cleared for roads and farmland, jutted up against the rear of this building. As the first signs of dusk were creeping over the horizon, Vasile arrived at the back door of this workshop.

Andrei woke from his sleep when he heard the sound of Vasile pounding on his door. Andrei leaped from his bed and dressed himself in his cloak, gloves, bird-shaped mask and hat. Once ready, he opened the back door of his shop to Vasile.

Vasile entered through the back of Andrei's shop into this workroom, occupied by a few large cauldrons, an oven and bellows, and several huge working tables. The walls of the room were lined with shelves upon shelves of containers and jars, along with many tools hanging in their places.

As Vasile entered, Andrei placed a ramp leading up and into the largest of the cauldrons, which was already filled with an alcoholic solution. Vasile dragged the vampire up the ramp and dropped him into the cauldron. Andrei lit a fire within a large stove under the cauldron, which would slowly heat the vampire corpse for many hours. With the vampire in the cauldron, Vasile could now take off his cloak, his hat, his mask and his gloves. He dumped them into a smaller pot, which Andrei would subsequently boil to clean off any possible infection.

After all this, Vasile sat down to take a rest on a bench, rubbing his legs and moving around his arms and shoulders to try and drive away the soreness.

"It's been a few days since you've had a catch," Andrei commented while building and tending the fire beneath the cauldron.

"Yeah," Vasile assented soberly, "I'm no longer able to take down the older vampires like I used to. I had one in my sights just two nights ago, but I could only get one arrow in him. They're too swift and I'm just not as fast as I used to be."

"Perhaps you need an assistant, or an apprentice," Andrei suggested.

"Perhaps," Vasile agreed in a deep, quiet voice, "Also, I don't see as many vampires as I used to."

"Why is that?" Andrei asked, "You think they're moving elsewhere?"

"No," Vasile said, massaging his legs and rotating his shoulders, "Vampires can't just pick up and move; Dark places are hard to come by. Besides, all of the nearby towns have reported declines in attacks. It must be more than a month since the last attack. Not even livestock are being attacked. I can't explain it."

"Perhaps they're in decline," Andrei suggested, "Perhaps their numbers are finally dwindling."

Vasile shook his head, "I thought that too, but I just can't see any reason why they'd be in decline. For hundreds of years they've been overrunning these woods and now, for no reason, just to start disappearing. It makes no sense."

"Well, whatever it is, it's good for the villagers," Andrei said as he poked at the fire, "Though it means fewer vampire wares on the shelves."

* * *

As the light of dawn arose, Vaile slept and Vallaya began to come alive. People emerged from their homes and walked the streets, shops opened, and fields filled with laborers.

The village of Vallaya consisted of a single dirt road connecting Terem to the northwest and Urzichen to the south. Along this main road stood Andrei's apothecary shop, Cornel's smithy, the town's modest church and a few other shops and houses. Behind the church extended the farmland that the tenant serfs of Vallaya tended and survived upon. Many lugars of land had long ago been reclaimed from the forest to create the rolling planes of farmland that stretched out to the east of the main street. The land was divvied up into several smaller tenant plots near the village, while the great noble estates of the counts and princes who lorded over these lands were located far into the distance over the horizon. In the opposite direction, behind Andrei's shop, the unremitting forest extended unceasingly to the west.

Out of this forest, five cloaked figures entered the village. The five figures wore heavy, black cloaks that dragged along the ground. Their hands underneath were covered in leather gloves, and their heads were completely covered by black hoods that only afforded a small opening in the front through which to see. They moved in a V, like a flock of geese, with one figure in front and the two pairs flanking and behind the leader on either side.

The five figures stopped on the main street in front of the church, and once the villagers noticed them they gathered around, keeping their distance in fear. Cornel, the blacksmith, stopped his unending hammering and walked out onto the main street wearing his leather apron and carrying a hammer in hand. Josif, a serf, middle-aged and grey, stood at the front of the crowd with his staff in hand.

The leader of the cloaked figures, with a feminine voice, announced to the villagers, "We have come to see Magistrate Lucian. Could you please take us to him?" But she did so in such a hissing voice that the femininity of it was eclipsed by its harsh tone.

There was nervous muttering in the crowd, but someone did go to fetch Lucian, who was seated in an office connected to the church. The crowd waited in tense silence, looking at the hooded figures with suspicion and fear.

Josif alone was willing to act, and after a few moments of hesitation, he launched an attack upon the lead figure. With his staff raised and shouting, he aimed to crack his staff upon the hooded figure's head. The figure stood in mute silence as he ran towards her, waiting until the last moment to move. When she raised her hand and parried the staff, Josif stumbled, his staff ultimately striking the ground. The dark figure pushed him such that he landed a few feet away and rolled onto the dirt.

"We came here to talk!" the female figure boomed and the villagers recoiled further. Josif pulled himself up and dusted himself off, smarting more from the embarrassment than from any wound.

Lucian emerged from the church, wearing a fine jacket, breaches and a trim gray wig, with ponytail hanging behind. Though he was well into his forties, he had the look and vigor of a man half his age, with a boyish, clean-shaven face and small, blue eyes.

Lucian looked at the five figures standing motionlessly in front of the small crowd that had gathered and addressed the lead figure: "It's Asha, isn't it?" She nodded and he said, "Let's get you inside then. Right this way." As the five figures approached he shouted at the crowd, "Make way. They are here at my invitation."

Andrei stepped out of his shop to see the five cloaked vampires walking towards the crowd, which parted as they approached. Andrei's wiry figure was dressed in a modest robe that covered over the shirt and loose breaches he wore underneath. His thin gray hair was cropped close against his skull and he bore a trim mustache and beard on his face. He had the look of modest, even stingy affluence, but also of relaxed comfort and ease.

Andrei watched the five vampires walking into the church with Lucian leading the way. He pondered the situation for a moment, before he decided to close up shop and see if could horn in on whatever meeting Lucian was engaged in with those vampires.

Andrei always disliked closing his shop during business hours and it was with some discomfort that he locked the front door, pushing it shut while the sign "Apothecary and Vampire Wares" swung back and forth. He told Cornel that he would be back in some fifteen or so minutes if anyone came by. Then he walked over to the church.

Andrei entered the great double doors at the front of the church, which opened into the narthex. He could see the nave, which was now empty, through the next set of doors. It was a large room with iconography—of Jesus and Mary and many saints—covering the walls and an altar and candles in the front. There were a few private offices to the side of the narthex, and Andrei passed through a door leading to a side hall, whereat he knocked on the first of these doors.

The door opened and the round, red-cheeked face of Beniamin, Lucian's secretary, peaked through. He wore a brown, ostentatiously curly wig and always bore a pleasant smile.

"Yes?" he asked inquisitively.

"I have come to ask of Magistrate Lucian, if I could kindly insist, that I be permitted to enter. I think I have a right to listen in on whatever discussions you're engaged in with these vampires, as a citizen of this village and an interested party."

Beniamin opened the door a bit more and turned to reveal Lucian seated in the dark looking at Andrei. Lucian spoke up in his well-measured tone: "This is only a preliminary meeting, Andrei. We will be sure and apprise you of the content of our conference once we have finished. Be assured that you will be the first person to whom I will speak."

"We have nothing to hide," Asha shouted out in her snake-like voice, "Bring in whomever you wish. They can listen so long as they don't speak."

Beniamin shrugged his shoulder cheerfully and said to Andrei, almost apologetically, "Could you please close that door before you come in," pointing to the door connecting the main church from the side hall where the offices were located, "We have to be careful of the light."

After closing the door, Andrei stepped into the office and immediately asked, "Are you sure it's safe in here? We're not going to get infected?" Both Lucian and Asha nodded, but Andrei, still shrank into a corner as far as possible away from the vampires.

Lucian occupied a spacious office, containing an elegant wood desk, upon which Lucian would do his writing, and an entire bookshelf of finely bound books. In one corner a globe served as decoration, along with some oil paintings framed on the walls. But the whole costly interior was plunged into near blackness as soon as Beniamin closed the doors.

A single candle sat on Lucian's desk and only the faintest traces of light leaked underneath the door. There was a window, but the curtains were closed, such that only an outline of light also leaked in around the edges.

Only in this darkness could the five vampires expose their skin. They pulled back their hoods, revealing their heads, which were entirely wrapped in a thin piece of black cloth. After removing the cloth, five stunning, pale faces were revealed, two females and three males.

All of the faces were young looking, flawless, sharp and colorless. They weren't beautiful in the way that Andrei normally thought. The females in particular lacked the round, pink skin and soft feature that Andrei associated with his ideal of womanly beauty. Still, the females were, both of them, gorgeous—like a whiter, more angular version of a youthful belle in full bloom. The males as well, though carved out of the same mold as a Greek god, were leaner, more muscular and more severe than those deific ideals.

When Andrei saw them expose their faces, he recoiled instinctively and rose to leave the room.

Asha understood what Andrei was afraid of and said vehemently, "There is no risk of infection. If you want to listen, you'll sit down."

Andrei felt naked without the bird-shaped mask to protect him and swallowed uncomfortably, believing he was picking up the faint whiff of Asha's aroma as he put his hand around his nose.

Lucian turned to Asha and continued, "We have come to discuss a truce between the vampires of our coven and the surrounding villages," rehashing what had been said for Andrei's sake.

Asha began to lay out the conditions of the truce that she wished to initiate between the vampires and the villagers: "We will cease all our attacks and kidnapping, hereon and in perpetuity, and in exchange you will cease to kill us." Then she looked directly at Andrei and added, "And cease to eat us."

"I think that's something all of the other villages can agree on. Most of our attacks are motivated by self-defense. If you ended any and all attacks on us, I don't see any reason why we should continue hostilities," Magistrate Lucian said, speaking judiciously.

"Except your 'vampire wares,'" Asha added, "Which ought to be destroyed and the whole shop where they're sold to be burnt to the ground."

"Keep trying," Andrei said, "You haven't failed enough times? Maybe this time when you try to destroy it you'll succeed."

"Did I say you could speak, maggot?" Asha screeched, standing from her chair and approaching Andrei, "Your blood is probably as black as ash and tastes of venom, but I would drink it gladly if it might bring you just one moment closer to your death!"

"Please!" Lucian shouted, interjecting himself between them and urging Asha to sit back down.

"Andrei you were told to be quiet during these proceedings. I don't want to hear any more from you," Lucian said. Turning back to Asha, who had returned to her seat, he said, "I'm sorry. Let's continue. Can I first ask, are all of the vampires in your group behind you?"

"The coven obeys me," Asha said, "They disobey at their peril."

"But what if one of them were to disobey? Then what?" Lucian asked, "What if one of them were to break this truce?"

"I would punish him severely," Asha said with relish.

"I don't know if that's enough for us," Lucian said cautiously, "We'd have more confidence if the offender were handed over to us, so we can be sure that punishment is being meted out? Is that acceptable?"

"Would you extend the same courtesy to us?" Asha asked, "Would you give us all your condemned criminals? Not just those who violate this truce, but all condemned to die?"

"That seems fair. I can discuss it with the other villages," Lucian nodded, "And might I ask upon what food you vampires will subsist absent humans?"

"We will raise livestock," Asha said.

Andrei nodded, looking at his two human companions. Directing his question to all present in the room, he asked, "Any other provisions you want to suggest?"

"We just want a truce. All other provisions are inessential. I suggest you gather the surrounding villages and see if they'll buy into it before we waste any more time," Asha said.

"I think they will," Lucian said, smiling, "But I'll get right on it. I think this will be something that will be mutually beneficial and very long-lasting."

Lucian stood up and extended a hand to shake with Asha. She looked at it and didn't move, saying, "I don't think we should touch. I don't want to infect you."

"Right," Lucian said, withdrawing his hand in embarrassment, "Beniamin will let you out."

Beniamin, who had been hastily taking notes on a sheet of paper the whole time, his nose close to the paper to try and see what he was writing in the dark, now dropped his pen and sprang to his feet, leading the vampires, whose heads were now covered, out of the room.

After the vampires had left, Lucian opened up the curtains, flooding the room with light. He turned to look at Andrei and said with a small laugh, "You ought to be careful about Asha. She normally wouldn't hesitate to kill you. Any different circumstances and you'd be dead. For a second there, I wasn't sure if she could restrain herself."

There was a knock on the door, and it was Beniamin, whom Andrei admitted into the room.

"What do you think of this truce?" Lucian asked.

"I don't like it," Andrei admitted.

"Of course you don't," Beniamin merrily chuckled, "Just as the bees wouldn't like it if you took away their flowers."

"I admit it might be good for the village. If the vampires don't break the truce, that is. But I don't trust them," Andrei said, settling back into his chair and rubbing his beard with one hand, "There's no reason for this truce. It comes out of nowhere. Why this? Why now? I think we need to know what's going on with them before we agree to a truce."

"You don't trust them because we've always been at war. They've never had a chance to prove their trustworthiness. If we give them a chance, I think they will show their true worth, and they will show that they are human. They are as much human as we are. And they can cooperate, especially for something that will benefit them and us alike. They're doing this because they, like us, are tired of fighting, tired of all the death. They want a new life," Lucian pontificated, in his usual politician's voice.

"They depend on us for food," Andrei disagreed, "They are not going to give us up."

"They will live on other meat and other blood. They can eat cattle and sheep like us," Lucian said.

"We'll have vampire shepherds then?" Beniamin laughed, "Leading their sheep to pasture in their black cloaks? That'll be a sight to see."

"I have to be returning to my shop," Andrei told Lucian and Beniamin. He left the town hall and approached the door to his store to unlock it. A customer was already waiting in front, an oldish woman, who hunched forward over a cane.

"My apologies," he said deferentially to her as he opened the door and let her in. "I just had to discuss some very serious political matters with Magistrate Lucian. I hope you weren't waiting long. What can I do for you?"

*** * ***

After Andrei closed up shop for good that day, he retired to his workroom, where he had to commence the long work of processing the vampire that Vasile had brought him early that morning.

After dressing again in his cloak, gloves, mask and hat, he entered the workroom and began. He smothered the fire and fished out the body with a hook, dragging it out and dropping it onto a large worktable. The wooden worktable was a human-sized, rectangular surface, pocked with knife marks and stained dark with blood. Around the edges were grooves that captured the flow of any liquids and channeled them to a reservoir at one end of table.

Andrei put on his red-stained apron, pulled out his great knives and began to butcher the vampire's flesh, separating out the various parts, pulling out the panoply of organs, peeling off the skin, and pulling out the bones and cartilage.

Each of these parts would have to be separately treated, some ground, some dried, some dissolved, and so on. From these parts came the various medicines he carried: for the kidney medicine, he would remove the vampire's kidney and grind it, wrap it in a sheath of skin and dry it; for the bone medicine, he would dry the vampire's bones and grind them into powder; for the skin medicine, he would chop up the vampire's skin and dissolve it in alcohol; and for the numerous other parts of the body, he would do myriad other preparations. Over time he had refined a number of techniques for making the vampire's parts both preservable and consumable. They allowed him to store the medicines on his shelves until his ready customers came, and allowed the customers to ingest the beneficial materials without spoilage.

While Andrei worked, Vasile entered, rested and ready to begin the evening's hunt. Andrei had Vasile's cloak, gloves and hat, all sanitized, cleaned, and ready to be worn.

Vasile sat down on a chair, pulled his boots onto his feet, strapped a backup knife to the outside of one boot, placed another knife on his belt, loaded his two crossbows and slung them over his back, added yet more crossbow bolts to a pouch in his belt, filled his quiver with what arrows he could carry, and strung his bow.

As he armed himself and dressed for the chilly evening, Vasile said, "You know, I am the only vampire hunter, and I'm getting old."

"I know too well," Andrei lamented.

"I say it because you mentioned earlier that I should get an apprentice," Vasile said in his deep and quiet voice.

"I would never think a solitary lion like you would consent to an apprentice," Andrei said.

"I think I should. I can then retire once he's ready, finally take a chance to spend that money I've been saving. I want you to spread the word that I'm interested in an apprentice," Vasile said, "Preferably someone who can shoot and that won't get killed."

"I can do that," Andrei said nodding, "Are you sure?'

"Yes," Vasile said, as he lifted his bag on his shoulders with his quiver and bow. He then waved goodbye and stepped out into the night.
Chapter 2

The Novice

Madalina lay awake that night, lying upon a bed in a room she shared with three other young novices. The four beds used by these four novices were the only furniture in the small, bare-walled room they shared.

The other girls had relegated Madalina to the bed considered to be the least desirable of the four in the room: the firmest, smallest and closest to the door. She was a homely, dark-haired girl with bulging eyes and an overlarge nose.

While her roommates slept, Madalina waited and listened. The sounds she listened for were those of her roommates and those of the hall outside her room. After she determined that her three roommates were asleep and that none of the sisters were passing through the halls outside her door, Madalina quietly sat up from her bed, put on her shoes, and wrapped herself in a riding cloak.

She stepped down from her bed onto the stone ground and walked over to the door. The door was locked, but Madalina had figured out how to push open the lock with a small twig that she fitted between the door and the jamb. There was a slight clicking sound of metal hitting metal, but she kept it as quiet as she could and checked on the other girls to make sure they were still asleep. She then slowly stepped through the creaking door out into the hall.

This hallway led out into the courtyard, towards which Madalina proceeded. She opened the door out of the novitiate equally as slowly. The courtyard was surrounded on three sides by the three main buildings of the convent: the novitiate, where she came from, the nun's quarters and the church. On the fourth side was the wall, where the gateway leading out of the monastery stood. From the door of the novitiate, Madalina spied upwards to check the wall walk atop the wall where two armed sentries perambulated throughout the night. When they both walked out of sight, Madalina ran in the direction of the gate.

Getting out through the main gates was the most difficult part of her egress, since the monastery was secured by several effective fortifications. These fortifications were necessitated not by the armies—which, though a very real threat, had been lately engaging in most of their campaigns at a great distance from Vallaya—but by the vampires, which used to clamber regularly to enter the confines of the monastery whenever thirsty.

A thick wall secured the front of the monastery, with the exit a single large gateway. The gateway consisted of two layers, first a heavy iron portcullis, which had been added to the gateway at a later date, and a large wooden double-door. The portcullis could only be raised and lowered with significant noise by pulling a lever, which set in motion the large gears and lowered a counter-weight that raised the gate. Fortunately, there was a gap in the bottom corner of the portcullis just large enough for a tiny child of Madalina's size to squeeze through. Once through that gap, she stood wedged between portcullis and outer door. The outer double-door was braced by two heavy beams, which Madalina pushed aside. The two beams retracted into recesses on either side of the door.

Just as she started to pull open the door, she heard a sound. Madalina froze and looked back towards the courtyard. A dark figure crossed the courtyard, clearly identifiable in the moonlight as Sister Oana. Sister Oana would sometimes wake for an extra evening prayer and pass through the halls of the novitiate to check on the girls. Madalina froze in the hope that Sister Oana wouldn't look in her direction.

Fortunately, Sister Oana continued right on into the door of the novitiate, and Madalina recommenced her escape. She slowly pulled the large door open, which creaked with age and weight, until she could just squeeze herself through. The door opened inward, and with the portcullis closed, could only be partially opened, but it was enough for Madalina to pass through.

She closed the doors, so that no possible invader would realize they were unlocked, and she waited. She was listening to the sound of the sentries' footsteps. When they grew distant after another circuit, she ran in the direction of the forest. With her small size and rapid movements, Madalina seemed like a small rodent darting through the forest, and she quickly scurried into the shadows.

Outside the monastery was a road, which inclined downward and curved in the direction of Vallaya. Madalina didn't want to go to Vallaya, she wanted to head into the woods, the dark and dangerous woods, which only the vampires and the vampire hunters entered at night. This would in fact be the eleventh time in the past few weeks that she had snuck out into the woods, and she was eager that tonight would be the night she'd find what she was looking for.

Madalina was looking for a vampire. Unfortunately, she did not know where to find one. They did not have, to her knowledge, any gathering place where she could find them. They apparently lived in a hidden cave somewhere, but they had to occasionally emerge from this cave, presumably for the purposes of feeding. Her plan was thus to chance upon one of them when they were looking for food and talk with it. Her hope was, undoubtedly, that the vampire wouldn't decide to feed on her and would give her an opportunity to speak. Though she had never met a vampire and didn't know what they were like, she presumed that this level of decency would be common to all persons, vampire or otherwise.

After briskly walking further and further away from her monastery for what seemed like an hour, Madalina decided to give up for the night and head back. She couldn't stay out too long lest someone in the monastery might notice her absence.

As she turned around, though, she saw, in a flash, a blur of movement moving towards her from above. She reacted instantly, ducking and moving away from it. A heavy object struck her arm and bruised it, but she continued to sprint away from whatever it was that threatened her.

She permitted herself a quick glance behind her and saw a large net settling onto the ground where she had just been standing. The object that had struck her was a round weight, one of four on the corners of the net that were used to drop it from above.

She saw, falling like a raindrop from above, a person, a vampire no doubt, landing gently on the ground next to the net. She slowed down somewhat and turned her head to see it more clearly: it was a male vampire in a black coat. It was the first vampire she'd ever seen, but it was unmistakable what he was. His pale skin, his youthful appearance, his mirthless demeanor and his harsh beauty all identified him as a vampire.

The vampire raised one hand and began to swing some sort of rope around in the air above his head. Seeing this Madalina increased her speed. When the vampire threw this object in her direction, she darted to the side and put a tree between herself and the vampire. The object, a bolas, abortively struck the tree behind her. She turned, taking cover behind another tree and stopped. She had never seen a bolas, which consisted of three weighted balls connected by a rope, but presumed it was meant to knock her down or trip her.

The vampire raised a second bolas in his hand and began swinging it.

Madalina screamed out, "Stop this! I have come to talk with you."

The vampire stopped swinging the bolas, dropped his arm and looked in her direction, where he could just see her face peaking out from behind a tree. "But I have not come to talk with you," he said in a coarse, grating voice that carried through the night air.

"At least listen to me," she shouted forcefully.

As he didn't move or say anything, she presumed that she had his ear for at least a minute or so. Madalina had a way of imposing her will on others and pushing them to submit. Her voice was commanding, and she spoke with an authority that demanded to be heard, if not obeyed.

"I've been looking for you!" she boldly declared, "I'm from the convent. I want to become a vampire."

There was a moment of silence before the vampire burst out in a haughty laugh. "People do not ask to become vampires," he said in a mocking, derisive tone, "This is not like your church. We do not baptize into our coven all comers."

Madalina stood up and stepped forward from behind the tree. "To whom do you permit membership, then?" Madalina asked.

"You don't understand (witless toddler), because you are a fool who can't see beyond her trivial life," the vampire said with disdain, "I didn't ask to become a vampire. I was infected when I was a boy. Vampires attacked my family. I retaliated. A vampire infected me when I scratched him. Because he infected me, he had to take care of me. If I infected you, I'd have to take care of you too. I don't want to take care of a daft urchin like you."

"What do you want?" Madalina asked, unfazed.

"Bodies," he said, "Living, breathing bodies. Young bodies. Like you. That's why I'm out here. Is it not obvious what this net is for? Even you can't be that idiotic? I will take you, and you will be food."

"But you're not going to take me," Madalina shouted, "At least, not alive and un-infected. If you capture me, I'll make sure you infect me. I'll scratch your arm and lick your skin and do whatever it takes. Why not make it easier? You're much better off letting me into your coven. I'll help you."

"Will you help by letting me into your walled convent?" he asked, "There are many bodies in there."

"I can't do that," Madalina objected, "That would be too much."

"Then what interest do I have in you?" he asked.

"If you let me become a vampire, I will be the best vampire you've ever had," she replied, "I swear to it. I am determined and unrelenting. I will be an asset to your coven."

The vampire looked like he was about to say "no," but he didn't. He stopped himself, uncertain, his body swaying back and forth as if he both wanted to accept and reject the proposal.

"Ask the members of your coven," Madalina continued, "We'll meet again somewhere near the monastery where I live tomorrow night, and you can tell me what they say."

"I do not take orders from an upstart cretin little girl," the vampire hissed derisively.

"Alright. Then you decide where and when we'll meet."

He seethed, his chest rising and falling with rage and his teeth clenched as he said, "I will speak with my superiors. Give me two days. Meet me directly east of your monastery the night after next. You'll have your reply. And if the answer is 'no,' I'll be dragging you to my coven in this net while you beg for mercy, and in a way that you'll not be infected."

He picked up the net with the four weights. "And if you don't show up, I won't give you a second chance," he added, packing the net in a bag.

He walked to the tree near where Madalina was, to pick up the other bolas, watching her the whole time, making sure she didn't move. Once done, he disappeared into the night.

After watching the vampire leave, Madalina started to hurry back. She had been away from the monastery talking to the vampire for longer than she could afford.

As she approached the imposing exterior walls and the great gateway, she again waited for the sentries to be out of sight. She approached the door, pulled it slowly open, squeezed through, and closed it. She put the door beams back in place and squeezed through the hole into the courtyard.

As soon as she entered the courtyard, she looked in the direction of the church, and for the first time that night felt a sinking feeling of dread. Candlelight shone through the doors of the church, indicating that it was already time for Midnight Office, the convent's earliest morning service. Had she been gone so long? Everyone would be in the church and her absence must assuredly have been noticed. She ran to her room to throw her cloak off and put it under her sheets. She put her shapeless, black cassock over her pajamas and covered her head in a long, black apostolnik. Dressed for service, she sped down the hall towards the church but ran into Sister Oana blocking her path. It was so sudden that she yelped loudly.

"Madalina why were you not in your room?" Sister Oana scolded.

"I was just out," Madalina said meekly and innocently, "wandering the grounds, Sister Oana."

"No, you were not just wandering the grounds," Sister Oana shouted, grabbing Madalina by the wrist and pulling her towards the church, "I went around looking for you. I searched everywhere. This convent is far from expansive. Where were you?"

"I was hiding in the kitchen. I went there because I was hungry and..."

"I looked in the kitchen," Sister Oana cut her off before she could continue, "You weren't there. Don't lie to me."

"I hid from you, of course, when I heard you coming," Madalina said.

"Really, my dear? You want to continue in this lie? Just tell me where exactly you could hide that I wouldn't see you," Sister Oana demanded.

Madalina had seen the inside of the kitchen many times when she had to bring food to and from it for the sisters, but since it wasn't a room she was intimately familiar with, her mind struggled to recall all of its details. She hastily tried to picture a place to hide. After a bit too much hesitation she ventured a guess and said, "Behind the potato sack." She bit her lip as she said this, not certain whether it was possible for her to successfully hide behind the potato sack or even if there currently was a potato sack in the kitchen.

Reaching the large wooden double doors of the church, Sister Oana opened them and said, "You missed the service, but at least you can take a moment to pray, and then we are going to find out whether you are being honest or not." Sister Oana pushed Madalina into the church.

Madalina walked down the church's center aisle between the rows of pews. The nuns, on the one side, sat together as a group, while on the other side the young novices clumped into small cliques, none of which Madalina was permitted to join. These included a clique of older girls in their twenties and up, who disliked intermingling with the younger novices. Then there were the youngest three girls, all aged around ten, who stuck together to protect themselves against the cruelties of the older girls. And there were Madalina's three roommates: Dorina, Nicoleta and Mirela. They weren't quite old enough to be included with the older girls, but old enough to look down upon Madalina, who was only fourteen.

The three of them were on their knees between the pews with hands clasped in front of their bowed heads. They were finishing off the service with a few moments of silent prayer. Their lips moved silently as they mouthed the syllables of the memorized formulae they spoke in their minds. When they heard Madalina approaching, they all turned their heads and looked up at her with triumph. She'd been out of her room, and they'd told Sister Oana about it. In fact, all the novices were looking at Madalina, an unpopular girl who they didn't mind seeing punished.

Madalina tried to kneel down next to her roommates, but they shuffled to the side to prevent her. The three novices were seldom willing to permit her into their company if they could prevent it, though, due to the rigid lifestyle of the convent, they usually had no choice. These novices had been forced to share a room with Madalina and were always willing to unload their displeasure at this circumstance upon her.

Madalina knelt down by herself and began to pray. At first her thoughts fell upon her immediate concerns, and she prayed that her lie wouldn't be discovered and she would be permitted to leave this monastery and join the vampires. Then her thoughts strayed to her parents, and she earnestly prayed, "God, please protect my father and mother, if they are still alive. And if they are not alive, I pray that you shall let them join you in heaven."

Her prayers were abruptly cut short, though, when everyone stood up and started leaving. She followed them and left with the crowd. But as she came to the door, Sister Oana snatched her and said, "Now to the kitchen. We're going to see if you were lying."

Holding a candle in one hand and Madalina's wrist in the other, Sister Oana led the way. When they peered inside, there appeared in the dim light a large-sized room, amply stocked for feeding the many dozens of people that ate in the monastery. There was a large fireplace with a hook for hanging pots for cooking the stew and porridge that were the main part of their diet, as well as a smaller hearth beside it for bread-making. Bricked into the walls were a number of storage shelves filled with dishware and cookware, with counters on top for food prep and above them pots and pans hanging on hooks on the wall. In the center of the room was a wooden table, also used for food prep, with sacks of food stored beneath it.

Madalina looked through the room for the potato sack, which she hoped was there. The room was a poor place to hide, as she now realized. About the only good hiding place she could see was behind a barrel of ale, which she chastised herself for not thinking of. And she especially chastised herself when she found the potato sack in the corner. Their potato stock was running low and there only remained about twenty potatoes in the sack. It was certainly not big enough to hide behind.

An almost full onion sack was near it, and Madalina crawled behind it, mostly concealing herself. "I hid like this," Madalina said, biting her lips, hoping that Sister Oana wouldn't notice that it wasn't the potato sack.

Sister Oana though looked at her incredulously, "So, now it's the onion sack you hid behind? So you expect me to forget that you said the potato sack earlier? And you expect me not to notice that the potato sack is almost empty? You are a liar!"

"I simply misspoke, Sister Oana," Madalina said meekly.

Sister Oana was not swayed by Madalina's contrite posture and benign-sounding voice. She grabbed Madalina forcefully by the wrist, pulling her towards her, and smacked her repeatedly on the behind with her hand. Madalina screamed with pain.

"You out to be thankful that I do not have my paddle at hand you lying little brat!" Sister Oana yelled. Then she noticed a large serving spoon hanging on the wall and figured that it would do. She proceeded to start whacking Madalina's behind with the spoon until Madalina's bottom was raw with pain.

"Are you going to tell me where you were?" Sister Oana yelled, repeating it several times while Madalina cried uncontrollably.

Sister Oana finally stopped and dragged Madalina out of the room, asking her, "Do you know what we do with lying little troublemakers like you?" Madalina wasn't able to say anything between her sobs. Sister Oana said, "We take them to the crypt and leave them there until they repent."

Sister Oana dragged Madalina into the church to a door on the sidewall. After unlocking the door, they walked down the spiraling stairs until they reached the large crypt, their steps echoing on the walls. It was a single room partitioned by an array of columns connected by archways. In the center, several of the most prominent tombs were inset into the floor. Off to the side, several recesses were filled with tombs dug into the walls, all engraved with the names and dates of their occupants. Everyone who lived and worked on the grounds of the monastery had been buried here. There was no room for any cemetery within the walls of the monastery, and no one wanted to be buried outside the walls and risk being desecrated by the vampires.

Sister Oana, crossing the room, threw Madalina into one of the recesses. This recess had an iron gate that's spiky top nearly touched the archway at the top. Oana closed and secured the gate with a lock, interning Madalina inside. She was clearly not the first occupant of this ad hoc dungeon, since there were numerous separate pieces of graffiti scratched onto the wall.

"You'll be let out when you start telling us the truth," Sister Oana shouted to Madalina, "And no sooner! I'll give you until morning to reflect upon your sins."

Sister Oana walked out of the crypt with candle in hand, climbing the stairs to the door. As she moved further away, the light retreated and faded until Madalina was left in absolute dark.
Chapter 3

Ascent

Early that morning, as Ileana rode her horse on the road towards Vallaya at a moderate canter, she passed Lucian's coach galloping out of town. She waved to Lucian, who was seated in the back with Beniamin sitting opposite. He saw her and returned the wave before continuing the apparently heated diatribe he was engaged in. She watched him disappear as the coach drove on by in a cloud of dust.

Upon steering her horse into their stable in the back of Andrei's apothecary shop, she left it with their groom and entered her and Andrei's residence from the back. Andrei was, as expected, behind the counter of the apothecary shop, and she greeted him from behind with a warm hug and a kiss.

Ileana was a vigorous and energetic wife, some two decades Andrei's junior, whom he'd been married to for several years now. Andrei had, for most of his life, considered himself to be an affirmed bachelor, wedded to his business, with no time for domestic cares. Ileana had been the one woman capable of persuading him otherwise. She had become his partner in love and in business.

Andrei asked her, after their greeting: "No troubles on the roads? Didn't encounter any danger? And was it a lucrative trip?"

She shook her head at the first questions and nodded at the last.

"I really don't like you risking your life on these dangerous roads. With all the thieves and highwaymen out there, a lone woman is vulnerable," Andrei said.

"But we need to travel for our business and you have no skill with people," she laughed, "If we put you on the road and had you negotiate with these people, our business would flounder."

Even though she didn't have the aptitude (or the stomach) for the messier parts of his business—namely the butchering of vampires and the preparation of the vampire medicines—she was an invaluable asset on the sales side of their operation. She had always been the better salesperson. With her insouciant frankness, her endless supply of conversation and her pleasing appearance she could forge an almost instant rapport with anyone. After only brief conversations, she could make a client feel like he was the most charming man she'd ever met, make him feel like it was his wit and charisma that was conniving her into a ridiculously generous discount, while she imperceptibly persuaded him to buy a few more units at the fantastic prices he was getting.

She told him some of the details of her trip. She'd made deliveries, contacted buyers, established new connections and so on. Then she said, "And when I was just arriving here, I saw Lucian heading out of here in a hurry with Beniamin."

"Ah yes," Andrei nodded, "He's visiting all the nearby villages, in the hopes of selling them on his vampire peace accord. He's an ambitious man and is probably looking to ride this treaty to a more prestigious appointment. The vampires have a fairly large hunting ground, so far as I know. That means he's going to have to make a number of stops. He'll probably be gone for weeks." Andrei then explained what'd happened while she was away: Lucian's discussion with the vampires, Vasile's latest kill, and his own progress with processing it.

He ended by telling her about Vasile's interest in an apprentice: "I've told everyone, and the word has spread. It's now common knowledge in town, but, so far, no one's expressed any interest. Maybe someone from a nearby town will hear of it and volunteer."

"Who would want to take on such a job? What parent would want to let their child do it?" Ileana said, shaking her head, "We pay Vasile a generous ransom and he has a king's hoard of gold stashed away, but when will he get to spend it? The job is dangerous. I don't know how many vampire hunters have disappeared into the bellies of the vampires over the years. It can only be a matter of time before they finally get Vasile and whatever apprentice he takes on."

"Nonetheless, someone will eventually step forward," Andrei said, "The money's just too tantalizing."

"Do you want to bet?" Ileana asked, "I'll bet you that he won't get any takers. The winner gets an hour of involuntary servitude from the loser, redeemable for any task. I'll give you a week before I can redeem my prize."

"A month," Andrei replied.

"Eighteen days!" Ileana conceded.

"You're on," Andrei replied.

"Though, for our sake, I really do hope I lose," Ileana said, "Whatever it is that has kept Vasile alive for so long, he needs to teach it to someone before he's dead."

To both Ileana's and Andrei astonishment it was before the end of that day that the bet was concluded in Andrei's favor.

As the morning passed over into noon and Ileana reclined in her room, the shop received a visit from Anton, a boy in his late teens. He reached the front of the shop, approaching with caution and circumspection. The building stood in front of him, with its stone walls, the "Apothecary and Vampire Wares" sign swinging on its perch and the heavy front door, built of thick beams of wood and reinforced with iron to withstand the impact of any potential vampire invader. He knocked on the door of the shop, and Andrei opened it, recognizing Anton. He was a sturdy boy, inured to the hard physical labor of his father's farm. When he entered, he wore the ragged clothes of a tenant farmer's son and wiped the fresh dirt on his calloused hands off onto his shirt.

There was a well-dressed customer in the shop when Anton entered, and Anton sat down on one of the stuffed chairs, hiding his face. He waited for the man to leave before he approached Andrei.

"Can I help you Anton?" Andrei asked.

Anton leaned over the counter and said confidentially to Andrei, "I need to speak of something private with you."

Andrei was a bit surprised, since he only knew Anton by face—not at all on a personal level—and had he never really talked with him. "We're alone right now," Andrei said, looking around, "You can tell me anything in complete confidence."

After a deep breath and a quick look around to see if they truly were alone, Anton said, "I want to be Vasile's apprentice. I've heard he needs one, and I've thought about it. I'm the best huntsman for a hundred leagues, and he'd be a damn fool to reject me."

"He'll be pleased to hear it," Andrei said nodding with approval. "But why all the secrecy?" Anton didn't answer the question, and Andrei suggested, "You want to keep this a secret from your father, don't you? A hard man. Not the most understanding person."

Anton nodded in agreement. Andrei cautioned, "You can't keep this a secret forever, though. You're going to be out every night with Vasile. Surely you don't think you can sneak out and hunt every night and work during the day? You'll need rest."

"I never get tired," Anton boasted, "Just ask Vasile if he'll take me. If he says 'yes' then I can broach telling my father. If he says 'no,' then this will be a secret between you and me. Can you do that for me?"

"Easily and eagerly," Andrei nodded. Anton then hastily said his goodbye and left the shop, hustling to return to his father's farm.

After Anton was departed, Andrei yelled into the house so Ileana could hear him, gloating, "You were so wrong today! So very wrong! So, what work should I put you to, my little slave?"

* * *

That same morning, as light slowly entered the crypt via a small air vent high up on the wall, Madalina woke from an uncomfortable sleep with aches all over her body.

Almost immediately upon opening her eyes, she started to meditate on her situation. The dilemma was simple: if she refused to tell the sisters that she had left the monastery the night before, she would remain locked up for at least long enough that she wouldn't be able to leave to meet with the vampire the night following; if she did tell them that she had left the monastery and how she'd done so, then they'd probably assure that that exit was closed to her permanently. The only choices that appeared were to claim that she'd left the monastery by some other means or to convincingly claim that she was hidden somewhere else that Sister Oana may have missed. Unfortunately, she didn't know any other way to leave and return back into the monastery undetected at night and she knew of no hiding place that might have escaped Sister Oana's detection.

In the middle of these meditations, the door from above was opened and a pair of feet walked down the stairs into the crypt. Madalina saw with delight that it was Sister Elisabeta. Elisabeta was Madalina's favorite of all the Sisters. She was in fact all of the young novices', and perhaps everyone's, favorite monastic. Elisabeta was a young, beautiful woman, freshly blossomed into adulthood, who had taken the veil at a young age, had been tonsured when she was only eighteen and had now already lived for many years in monastic service. She was sweet and pleasant and took great pleasure in generosity and service.

Elisabeta smiled warmly as she opened the gate and placed a bowl of porridge and a bit of bread in front of Madalina, saying, "Here's your breakfast Madalina."

As Madalina ate, Elisabeta said, in her warm and delicate way, "You've been a very bad girl Madalina. And I'm afraid that, though God may forgive all things, Sister Oana does not."

"So, does this mean, you'll let me out?" Madalina asked.

"No, we can't do that," Elisabeta admitted with disappointment, "Sister Oana has talked to the Abbess, and she is as concerned as her that there may be something you're hiding. I don't know what they suspect, but it is serious. You could assuage their fears if you simply told us the truth, and we could let you out of this awful place. Why don't you simply tell me what happened?"

Madalina nodded her head and said, "Alright Sister Elisabeta. I'll tell you. Or, maybe you should go get Sister Oana, and while you're away I'll finish here. I'm terribly hungry."

Sister Elisabeta was pleased to hear this. She smiled and lighted to her feet, saying, "I'll leave you a few minutes, but I'll be back with Sister Oana soon. Then we can get you out of here."

Once Elisabeta left, Madalina doubled the intensity of her cogitations. She'd bought herself a few minutes, but she still didn't know what to say. She sat on the floor with her head between her knees, in an attempt to concentrate her thinking, but her mind was stubbornly uncooperative as the minutes passed.

After an altogether insufficient amount of time, the sound of footsteps moving down the stairs could be heard. She looked up, and the two women in their black habits and apostolniks walked towards her.

Sister Elisabeta cheerily told Oana, "I'm sure this'll end all suspicion." Then she turned to Madalina, "Isn't that right, dear?"

"Yes," Madalina said, with her faux-innocent smile, "I'm rather embarrassed that I wasn't more forthright from the beginning." Madalina lowered her eyes and blushed with apparent sheepishness.

"What is it then?" Sister Oana asked, impatient and unaffected.

"Well, you see, Sister, it started about two or three weeks ago," Madalina explained, "I started sneaking out at night when I discovered that I could watch the stars from the roof of the novitiate. The first time, I remember, was one of those nights when I couldn't sleep because I was thinking of my dear parents and wondering about where they are and how they're doing. I wanted to see the stars, and got the idea that the view would be phenomenal from the roof. So, I attempted the climb up there and discovered that it was truly beautiful. And so I did it a few more times when I was troubled at night."

The mention of Madalina's family made Sister Elisabeta's brow furrow with sadness, "I never realized you thought about your family. I just assumed, since they left you here when you were so young and you never really knew them, that you wouldn't concern yourself with them."

"Yes," Madalina admitted dolefully and again lowered her eyes sheepishly, "As for last night, I was also on the roof. I guess I may have passed out from fatigue because I didn't really notice the passage of time and didn't hear the call for Midnight Office."

"Oh, my dear! I'm so glad you told us. I knew it was something quite innocent that had been blown out of proportion," Sister Elisabeta said with pathos and sensitivity. She shifted to a sterner voice and added, "But you know we can't allow you to do this or go unpunished. This is dangerous and it is against the rules to be out at night. We shall have to remind you that our rules are not to be treated lightly."

Sister Oana though scrutinized Madalina's face, imagining that perhaps, if she stared hard enough, she could find some twitch or movement therein that would give away the deceit. Sister Oana asked, "So, if you've climbed up on this roof several times, you must be quite adept, right? So you wouldn't mind demonstrating for us how you performed this climb?"

"Certainly Not!" Sister Elisabeta burst out in shock, "She's already risked herself enough! We don't need her to risk breaking her neck one more time!"

Sister Oana silenced Elisabeta by raising her hand. "You've done it easily enough, some few times. You can do it again. It'll prove you aren't lying. I can't just take you at your word. You've lied to me before."

"I'll swear by the bible, and by my faith in Jesus that I am telling the truth," Madalina said.

"I won't have you profaning the bible or your faith," Sister Oana said, "Come now. This'll prove it quite adequately."

Sister Oana pulled Madalina up off the ground with two hands and led her up the stairs out of the crypt.

As they stepped out of the church, Madalina gazed across the courtyard at the novitiate and saw the task ahead of her. From where she stood, she could see why Sister Oana was having a hard time believing Madalina: ascending from her window to the roof would make for a difficult climb.

Madalina's room was on the left side of the building, facing the wall. The roof of the novitiate was pitched, with the sloped edges on the left and right and a gable in the front. The edge of the roof had a slight overhang, which Madalina would have to reach from her window. It was too high to reach standing on the window's ledge, which meant she would have to stand on top of something.

"Go find another Sister who's not busy and I want you two to stand underneath the window's ledge to catch her if she falls," Sister Oana instructed, "Find a blanket or something and then you two can stretch it out below her. It'll be just like catching fruit from a shaken tree. Alright?"

Sister Elisabeta nodded her head and walked in the direction of the nun's quarters.

Madalina and Sister Oana entered the novitiate, walked down the hall and entered Madalina's room.

Madalina's roommates—Dorina, Mirela and Nicoleta—were in the room, reading and gossiping in turns. When they saw Sister Oana entering, they all abruptly ended their conversation and stood up, saying obediently, "Yes, Sister?"

"I don't need your help at the moment girls," Sister Oana said, "This concerns your roommate, Madalina. She's going to demonstrate how she has been climbing out of her room onto the roof at night while you were asleep."

The girls looked at each other surprised.

"You haven't noticed, have you?" Sister Oana asked.

"We would always tell you if we saw anyone breaking any of the rules," Mirela said, obediently.

"Well I'm sure you wouldn't hide anything about Madalina," Sister Oana said quietly to herself.

The girls looked at Madalina warily, but Madalina averted her eyes.

When the wall was built around the convent, in order to reduce costs, it was made with as small a circumference as possible and ended up being located so close as to almost touch several buildings of the convent. The novitiate was located so close to the wall that the view through all the windows on this side of the convent consisted solely of a close-up of the wall's stones and mortar.

Sister Oana opened the window, pulling the two casements, which swung inwards toward her, and pushing the two shutters, which swung outwards, towards the wall. She looked out of it downward, waiting for Sister Elisabeta to arrive. Within a few minutes Sister Elisabeta and Sister Juliana arrived, holding a blanket. They stretched out the blanket and signaled to Sister Oana that they were ready.

Sister Oana told Madalina, "You may proceed," gesturing for Madalina to step up to the window.

As Madalina stood up on the ledge, she looked down. The dirt ground, where Sisters Elisabeta and Juliana waited with their outstretched sheets, was some twelve palms below her. It was a fall she could safely make, but it was still intimidating for the small girl. When she had first tried to sneak out of the convent, she had opted against climbing out the window precisely because it was too high to climb back in that way.

Standing on the window's ledge, Madalina stretched out her foot, which just reached the exterior wall, and she used the seem between the stones as a foothold to push herself up, so that she could place her other foot atop the shutter. With one foot on the wall and one foot on the shutter, she slowly extended herself, straightening her legs and standing up. She transferred all her weight to the shutter and balanced herself with her hands touching the wall and the novitiate. She quivered precariously as she stood. She had assumed that the shutter would hold her weight, but she could not be certain until she was fully extended and it was still attached. At that point, she could just reach the overhanging eave of the roof, but it was too much of a stretch to pull herself up entirely that way. So, she had to wedge her two feet between the wall of the novitiate and the exterior wall and slowly walk herself upward while pressing against these two walls. After several steps of this slow walk, she could finally pull her whole torso on top of the wood roof, and finally pull her legs up behind her.

She relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief at this completion. Her climb had been tentative and awkward, but she had proven her point and trusted that Sister Oana would finally drop her accusations.

She walked up the steep side of the pitched roof onto the other side where she lay down and looked up to the sky as if she were watching the stars. It was certainly not a comfortable place to lie and look up at stars nor a safe place to fall asleep, but it made her story seem plausible enough.

Sister Oana had already walked out into the courtyard and was looking at Madalina lying on the roof with suspicion. She was considering if it were possible that she could pass through the courtyard and not notice a person lying on the roof of the novitiate.

Madalina stood up and deliberated how to descend. The wall walk atop the wall was still above her and not easy to reach, and climbing down would be difficult and risky. She instead walked down to the edge of the roof, where she could see Sisters Elisabeta and Juliana still waiting. Deciding to take the leap, she dropped into the outstretched blanket, and the Sisters expertly cushioned her fall, such that she pillowed gently to the ground.

Sister Elisabeta hastily picked up Madalina off the ground and hugged her so tightly, saying, "Are you unhurt my dear? Oh, you frightened me dreadfully. I'm glad you're not hurt."

As they turned, though, they saw Sister Oana standing in the distance looking on.

"You've proven yourself then," Sister Oana said, "But there's still the issue of your punishment."

Sister Oana led Madalina from the courtyard into the nun's quarters. From the entrance, the hallways splayed out into two separate wings lined with the separate rooms of all the nuns. Between the two wings, a large outdoor garden of irises and plum trees was tucked away.

Sister Oana led Madalina down one of the halls and knocked on a door at the end. A weak, crackly voice called for them to enter, and they stepped into a spacious room. Two windows looked out onto the beautiful garden where sunlight flowed in, and the room was decorated with oil paintings and an Ottoman carpet. On one end was a bed where an aged woman, the abbess, sank deeply into a capacious and amply stuffed feather bed. She was beneath several sheets, topped by a colorful silk bedspread, and was dressed in the basic garb of a nun, with her black habit and apostolnik.

Madalina saw in the old abbess an aloof, pensive face, which looked distracted and absent-minded while it stared off into the distance. When Sister Oana shouted at the abbess, "Mother Alina?" the abbess seemed to only just notice that Sister Oana was there.

"Yes?" Abbess Alina said.

"This novice has a confession for you, to deliver personally," Sister Oana explained.

"Oh?" Abbess Alina reacted with some surprise, "By all means."

Sister Oana nudged Madalina forward and said, "Go ahead. Tell her."

Madalina had only met the abbess a few times, delivering food to her occasionally and sometimes having to make other deliveries to the room. She had never seen her anywhere but in this room in this bed, and she always felt uncomfortable to be around the old woman.

Madalina spoke up: "Mother Abbess, I am afraid that I have been sneaking out of my room at night and climbing onto the roof of the novitiate to look at the stars." Sister Oana cleared her throat. When Madalina looked behind her, the Sister was mouthing "and." Madalina added, "And I lied to Sister Oana about this when she caught me out of my room."

"Oh?" Abbess Alina asked again, "I should wonder how a little girl could get all the way up there. It must have been a long time since I was nimble enough to do such a climb, and I don't know if I could've done it then."

"What punishment would you recommend for her?" Sister Oana interjected.

"Oh, yes," the abbess reacted, "What would you recommend Sister?"

"I think that she should be required to pray by reciting the Jesus and Lord's prayers 100 times each, and then she should be required to sweep the courtyard and spend two nights in solitary confinement in the crypt."

Madalina panicked when she heard Sister Oana suggest two nights in the crypt, since she had to meet the vampire tomorrow night. "Not another night in the crypt!" Madalina forcefully objected, "It's cold and dark and scary down there. I've already spent a night down there."

"Oh, I quite agree" the abbess replied with a nod, "I had to be put down there a few times when I was young. And I was always so frightened of ghosts in the shadows, not to mention how cold it is. Obviously, I and you both know, there's nothing to be scared of down there, but young girls have such vivid imagination."

"Are you sure Mother Alina?" Sister Oana asked with some emphasis on "sure."

"It doesn't seem so much, what she's done," the abbess said, "When I was a little girl you couldn't imagine what trouble we got into. One time we snuck into the barn at night, and upon seeing the cows we realized we'd never tasted milk straight from the udders and..."

"So then a hundred of each prayer, sweeping the courtyards and cleaning the church floors?" Sister Oana cut in.

"What's that," the abbess asked, somewhat confused.

"Is that alright Mother?" the Sister asked.

The abbess looked confused but abruptly answered, "Yes, yes. "I trust your judgment. Thank you." And she smiled as if she hoped everyone would be satisfied with her decision.

"God bless you Mother," Sister Oana bowed and retreated with Madalina.

"Bye, bye," the abbess said, waiving and smiling pleasantly, clearly pleased to have company.

Once out in the hall, Sister Oana looked down at Madalina and said, "You heard the abbess. No time for dalliance. You have things to do."

Madalina entered the church first and began to pray the Jesus Prayer, reciting, "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner," counting off each iteration with a small prayer rope. After completing that, she transitioned to the Lord's Prayer, "Our Father, Who art in heaven,

hallowed be Thy Name..." and so on, counting the iterations again with her prayer rope.

She worked through all of the morning and much of the afternoon on the cleaning, pausing only for the third and sixth hour services.

She was exhausted after she finished it all and collapsed into bed with sore arms and bruised knees. All she knew was that she needed to rest that evening since she would again be sneaking out to see the vampire the night after and it would require the full extent of her strength and acumen.
Chapter 4

First Night

That evening, as Vasile prepared for his nightly hunt, Andrei told him: "We had a boy named Anton who came in and said he wants to become your apprentice, if you're interested."

"Who is he?" Vasile asked as he put on his boots and cloak and strapped on and armed his weapons.

"He's Josif's son," Andrei answered.

Ileana entered bearing a glass of boiled wine seasoned with cinnamon and apple. "This should keep you warm and keep your senses sharp," Ileana said, handing him the wine.

"Josif I know," Vasile said to Andrei, sipping from the wine, "A hot-headed man. I don't want an apprentice like that. He has to be calm, calm as a statue, and patient."

"Anton is not like his father," Ileana said, "At least not in that way. He's more in control. He's a bit arrogant, but I think he'll learn his place. He's used to having a father boss him around. I'll bet you a gold coin he'll make a good vampire hunter in no time."

Vasile shook his head at Ileana's bet, but conceded, "We can give him a trial run. Don't know for sure about anything until we try, right?"

"And I can't imagine there'll be men flooding you with requests," Ileana said, "The farmers around here don't have the mettle. They prefer to hide when danger rolls over the horizon. Though they're happy to have someone like you face it for them."

"Tell Anton exactly what this job entails," Vasile said to both of them, "Exactly what you do here and I do out there. It can be a bit off-putting. Don't do it to discourage him but be honest."

They both nodded in agreement.

* * *

Josif emerged from an underground cellar into the wooden walls of his barn. He had been taking careful account of his stores and inspecting his grain supplies. Standing on the straw-covered floor surrounded by his animals, he dusted off his clothes and returned his hat to his head.

He noticed his son, who was tending to the animals in silence, and grumbled, "When you inherit this land and your father's serfdom, it'll be up to you to labor away all your strength for that swine Gabor while your own grain stores shrink. And then for his son after Gabor dies. And when you die, your son will do the same, as will his son, and his son, until the end of time."

Josif was particularly disagreeable this time of year, since his landlord, Gabor had been demanding many hours from his tenants to work on his manor. Josif, like other serfs, paid his rent in labor, and it left him limited time to work his own small plot of land during harvest.

"You make it seem as if this is inevitable," Anton said, as he dropped a bale of hay next to one of the cows and it began to eagerly pick away at the block.

"For us it is inevitable, boy" Josif said in his gruff and surly voice, "For men like us, who aren't born into this life with privileges, our future is written. Freedom is the privilege of the rich. We are Gabor's puppets. This is the way it's been and the way it's going be. It's not this life that God has set out for us for bliss."

The wood beams of the barn creaked under the pressure of an early evening wind, and Josif saw it as a prompt to move inside and take his aching bones back to the warmth of the house.

"I think you underestimate the possibilities open to me," Anton said, trying to hold back some of the heat bubbling up inside him. He dispensed oats for the horses, telling his father "Times are changing. A man with talents, and brains can rise above his class."

"I don't underestimate," Josif said, turning back to his son, "I've lived a life. I've seen what's there and what happens to a man, not just to me but to everyone around me. I'm no longer a dreamy-eyed youth like you who hasn't yet been humbled. The only happiness I'll get waits for me after I'm dead."

"You're wrong," Anton tried to shout after him, but his father left the barn without another word, derisively ignoring his son's words.

After his father left, Anton kicked a barrel and screamed in frustration. He looked at the horse, who munched impassively away at its food.

"He's wrong," he said to the horse, but the horse seemed indifferent.

* * *

Anton was there again at Andrei's shop that next day and knocked on the door diffidently.

Ileana let him in and greeted him warmly when he entered. "Anton. Glad you came back. Always a pleasure to see you," she said, before retreating to the other side of the long counter.

Andrei was standing next to her and said, "So, I'm guessing that you're showing up here because you haven't changed your mind."

"I haven't changed my mind," Anton said, speaking in a quiet voice.

"Are you sure?" Andrei asked.

"I'm sure," Anton said in a voice exactly like someone who wasn't sure.

"Well, I've talked to Vasile," Andrei said, "He's willing to give you a shot. He has asked me to tell you in detail about what's involved in this business, to really make sure you know what you're getting into before you commit. I'm going to take you back, and tell you all about what I do. And if your mind still doesn't change, then Vasile will take you on and show you what he does."

Anton hopped over the counter and Andrei led him into the back, telling Ileana, "I'll be a few minutes."

They passed through a shelf-lined hallway, where surplus quantities of medicines, ointments, balms, alcohols and vampire wares were stored. They continued to the workroom, which had a high ceiling and like all of the shop and house, was very dark, with thick windowless walls protecting them from the dangerous forests that surrounded them. The workroom was lit with several large torches and a few candles, which threw flickering shadows in every direction.

The large cauldron where whole vampires were soaked and cooked dominated the room. As Andrei stepped up to the cauldron, he explained, "When Vasile brings me a vampire, he'll come through this door," pointing to a thick, heavy door leading into the workroom from outside, "and we'll put the vampire into this cauldron. We have to be careful, since the vampires are infectious and none of us here are really interested in becoming vampires ourselves. The liquid in this pot is alcoholic, and we add vinegar to it. The vampire is cooked at a low temperature. The cooking and the odor of the vinegar eliminate the infectious miasma, the "bad air." But, because we cook the vampire meat slowly, we preserve the vital energy. It's the vital energy that makes you healthy and strong when you eat it: because you're eating the vampire's potent life force. We get the benefits of vampire's vital energy without the risk of becoming a vampire. I don't really understand it that well. My predecessor developed this part of the processing nearly a century ago. He was more of the natural philosopher than I am, willing to try new things out and conduct experiments with livestock. After that step we separate and dry the parts out, which allows us to preserve the vampire meat without it going bad and create different types of medicines."

"Do you eat the vampire wares yourself?" Anton asked. After Andrei nodded, Anton asked, "What's it like?"

"The taste is off-putting. We have a whole range of products, which have different tastes, but none are really pleasing to the tongue," Andrei said as he curled his nose in disgust, "You'll have to mix it with something, or cook it into something. The benefits are worth it, though. They'll make you stronger, faster, healthier, younger, and more attractive. They'll cure diseases; they'll end ailments; they'll change you. Vasile depends upon them heavily to be a better hunter. You'll have to consume them too, and if you bring in vampires, I'll be glad to provide."

Anton listened intently as Andrei moved around the room and displayed some of his recently prepared vampire wares. When Andrei opened one box and Anton gave it a sniff, he recoiled in disgust.

"There are downsides to the medicines, too. You will become like a vampire in every way: you'll start to become more sensitive to light; your skin will burn more easily; you'll have more nightmares; you'll probably start to become more irritable; and," Andrei explained, adding the last confidentially, "between us, you'll lose your sex drive. These are all temporary effects and they'll wear off if you stop taking the medicine."

Andrei took Anton through more of the shop, showing him what he was doing with the most recently acquired vampire carcass, which had been mostly processed but had some parts still being worked, dried, fermented, ground and such. Anton eventually cut Andrei short and told him he had to return to his father's farm and really couldn't spare any more time. He also told Andrei that he hadn't been dissuaded.

"I'll see you this evening. Remember that you'll not be able to keep this from your father," Andrei reminded Anton as he left, "Don't even try."

Anton nodded and left. As he began to jog back towards the farm, he thought with apprehension about what he'd committed himself to.

His father's farm was somewhat close to the town center, but still nearly a half league away. He was breathing heavily when he stepped into the house to grab a bit of bread to eat and perhaps nip some pottage from the stove to make up for the lunch he'd missed. But as he was heading back out of the house with a bit of bread in his hand to return to work, he ran directly into his father, who stood in the door and blocked his way.

Anton stopped at the sudden sight of his father, simply startled at first, but becoming nervous as he saw his father's displeasure.

"Where have you been?" Josif asked, "You left yesterday too. Going into town I suppose."

"Yes," Anton said, "Just into town."

"Don't do it anymore. We don't have time for that," Josif said, "There's work that needs to be done, and it does not wait. I need you here."

"Yes, father," Anton bowed his head in subservience and pushed past him out the door. After a moment he raised his eyes again and turned back to his father, saying, "But father, I wanted to work in town. To earn some money."

"If you're looking for work, there's plenty of it here. I've got enough work to fill every hour of the day."

Josif then stopped and he asked ominously, "Wait. This isn't about Vasile looking for an apprentice? Is that what you mean by work?"

Anton kept his head bowed and didn't say a word. Josif objected forcefully, "No! No son of mine is going to do that! Crouching in trees in the middle of the night, dragging vampire corpses to Andrei's so he can chop them up and sell them to spoiled aristocrats like Gabor?"

"Don't you see, father," Anton said, raising his eyes and responding with energy, "That the wealth that Vasile earns is a way out of serfdom. No more Gabor, no more landlord of any kind. You'll be able to have your own land—we'll be able to have our own land—and every bushel of its produce will be ours. We can move away from here to better fields far away from the vampires."

"You will be killed before you raise enough," Josif responded, "Vasile has been lucky. You will die just as all of the other vampire hunters who have tried have failed and died. And then where will I be left? Only your sister and mother to help me as I age? No! It's foolishness. And besides, do you think that Gabor will simply let me leave if I want my own land? Do you think I'll jut be able to go out and buy my way into the aristocracy? There are more barriers than money. He has the law on his side. Him and his buddies write the laws. I cannot simply leave. He has a choice whether he wants to let me leave, and he will not. I can guarantee it. I have known that pig for too long to believe that he will do otherwise."

Anton listened to all that his father said with bent down head and growing anger. He finally sprang upon his father with an unleashed growl and said to him, "You will not prevent me!" as he grabbed his father's shirt and pushed him back inside against the wall. Pots shook on the wall from the force of the impact, and Anton raised a hand to punch his father across the jaw, but he stopped and let his father go.

His father wasn't ready to cower, though. This was not an even matchup. The nearly forty-year-old Josif was considerably larger than his sixteen-year-old son and he grabbed his boy and struck him across the face more than once.

Anton freed himself from his father's grip and left the house in a hurry, slamming the door behind him and running at full speed across the pasture. He ran as fast as he could and pushed himself to the limits of his endurance, until he couldn't take it anymore. His lungs ached and his throat was raw as he dropped to the dirt and hunched over on his knees to cry.

He felt at once so incensed and so powerless. But he hated to see himself in this condition: angry, frustrated, on the precipice of violence. He stood up, dried his tears and pushed all of his anger and frustration into his gut. He looked out over the green grass and remembered that his father had pointed out a place where their fence needed repairing and he headed in that direction.

* * *

That evening as the family ate, Josif, Anton, Anton's sister, Constanta, and mother Viorica, sat in an uncomfortable silence. They ate a leek stew with bread, and all three of them were huddled over their food while only the sound of spoons touching bowls and lips slurping soup could be heard.

Josif had told Constanta and Viorica about Anton's plans, and they would occasionally look up anxiously from their stew towards Anton. None of them felt they could do anything to prevent him from leaving.

It was his sister who first spoke up, standing from her chair and embracing her brother, with the words, "Please don't go. I don't want you to die."

To her he said, "I promise I won't die. For you. Those vampires will never be able to get to me."

* * *

The cottage that they shared was a single room, with the kitchen and dining table at the one end and the two beds at the other end. Anton's parents shared one bed and Anton shared the other bed with Constanta.

Even after they all fell asleep, Anton stayed awake and waited, lying back, looking up at the ceiling while the rest of his family dreamed. He hadn't the time to sleep before he was due to meet Andrei, but as nervous as he was, he wouldn't have been able to sleep anyways. He'd always been taught to stay indoors at night, and now he was not only going out but also going deep into the forest towards where the vampires lived.

As he heard the deep, nasally breaths of his family, he presumed they were all asleep and stood up to go. He put on a pair of loose, rugged trousers, a shirt and a pair of leather boots.

As he stood up, ready to leave, a hand reached out and grabbed him on the arm. Constanta lay in bed and looked up at him with her big eyes and silently mouthed the words, "Don't go!"

Constanta was several years younger than him, and even for her size she was skinny and pale. She was someone who needed protecting, and she'd always been able to rely on Anton.

He reached down to kiss his sister on the forehead and whispered in her ears, "I'll be back. No vampires will get to me, and I won't let them get to you either."

He stood up and walked out the door. The night air was cold, and it seeped through the fabric of his shirt such that he could feel it on his skin. He then began his walk into town towards Andrei's shop.

Once Anton arrived and was led in by Andrei, he found Ileana and Vasile sitting in the workroom waiting for him. Ileana, dressed in her nightgown, looked apprehensive as she watched Anton approaching. In contrast, Vasile, who waited fully dressed, fully armed and covered in his cloak, looked calm and dispassionate.

"We've drawn a bath for you," Andrei said, "Well, actually I made Ileana draw the water and heat it. And my little slave did a fine job."

Andrei led Anton into a separate room. A large porcelain basin filled with water sat in the center of a private room. Steam rose off the surface of the water and Anton touched it to feel the warmth.

"Put your clothes aside, and change into these after you're done," Andrei said, pointing to a set of black clothes hanging on the wall with boots below them, "And wash thoroughly. Clean all your human stink away. We've got some oil, which I want you to rub on your body, especially on parts of you where you sweat. All clear?"

Anton nodded, and once Andrei left, he removed his rough and dirty laborer's clothing and stepped into the water. He lay back and savored the wonderful warmth of the water since a bath was a rare luxury for him. Since he knew that everyone was waiting for him, he cut the relaxation short and hastily lathered himself up. When he stepped out, he felt like a new person, like a snake slithering out of its skin.

He opened the vial of oil that Andrei had given him. It smelled strongly of tree sap and pine needles. He doused himself with it, put on the new clean clothes and stepped out for everyone to see him.

As he approached—his short, brown hair still wet and tussled—Andrei told him, "Good to see you nice and clean. You smell so much better. Most importantly, though, the vampires won't smell you."

He picked up a cloak and threw it to Anton, saying, "Wear this." Anton put it on and Vasile handed him a crossbow saying, "We'll see how well you can use this."

Anton looked at the weapon with curiosity. "I've never handled a crossbow," he said, "But I can handle a longbow. I'm an amazing shot. I've hunted many times with my father. And I've been taught how to use an arquebus."

Vasile raised an eyebrow in interest at hearing this. "I don't want to use an arquebus," Vasile said, "I don't use any firearms. They're too loud and not as accurate. But if you know already how to handle a longbow, that's good. It's a difficult weapon to master and quite essential."

"I can't just handle it. I can place arrows on a prey with as much precision as I can touch you with my finger," Anton boasted, poking at Vasile with his index finger.

"We'll see about that," Vasile said, handing him a belt with an attached knife and sheath, "You don't want to have to use this at close range, but it can be thrown. We'll practice that too."

They opened the door to the night and the forest spread out before them. Ileana hugged Anton anxiously, telling him, "I bet Andrei you'd bag a vampire in your first week. Don't make me a loser. I've already got plans for how I'll make use of his labor." Then she said to Vasile, "And you! Bring him back alive, will you?"

Andrei cut in and said, "Wait a minute. I almost forgot," running to the table and grabbing a bowl for Anton. Inside was an unpleasant brown mush that Anton recoiled from in disgust when it was pressed before him.

"Eat it," Andrei said, "Vampires wares. You'll need it if you want to survive."

Anton took the bowl in his hand. The smell that rose from the mixture reeked. It smelled like rotten liver and vinegar, and Anton curled his nose in disgust. He tried a small taste of it, but it was so awful that he coughed.

"You'll learn to cherish it," Vasile said.

Anton made another attempt, pouring all of it into his mouth and trying to avoid smelling it as he uncomfortably gulped it down.

"Disgusting," Anton wretched.

"Time to go," Vasile said, as Anton handed the bowl back to Andrei.

They walked out the door, while Andrei and Ileana waved them goodbye. In front of them the dark forest extended far into the shadows, and they strode forward and walked into the night.
Chapter 5

The Last Days of Innocence

Early the next day, Sister Oana exited the convent, by stepping out of the main gate. She walked on a well-trodden path leading around the exterior of the wall to the main gates of the village of Terem on the opposite side. This path was necessary because the wall that protected the convent had been built to enclose both the convent and the neighboring village, but the convent had been kept intentionally separated from the city. Though they relied on the wall's protection, the sisters of the convent preferred to keep themselves mostly sequestered from the commerce of normal life. The villagers used this same path every Sunday when they went to attend the Sunday service, during which they donated a sliver of their meager income towards the preservation of this church and its convent.

Entering the main gate, Sister Oana stepped into the middle of a bustling city center. In front of her was the main square, where several stores and stalls sold goods to the crowds of eager customers. The streets were paved with stones that horses and wagons walked across, and at the heart of the square was a flowing fountain around which people sat and children played. Due to the wall that protected it from vampire attacks, the village of Terem was the most thriving village in the area.

Sister Oana walked down a side street leading to the office of the guards, behind which she could see the sole set of stairs leading up to the top of the wall. A pikeman named Cezar stood guard in front, holding his long pike in hand, while a wood and metal arquebus rested against the wall beside him.

"Could you direct me to the captain of the guard," she asked Cezar.

"Captain Flaviu's asleep sister," he said politely, "And he doesn't like to be woken unless it's urgent."

"Then can you deliver a message?" She asked, "I just want him to tell the sentries to look out for one of my novices. I suspect that she's been sneaking around at night. She might even be trying to sneak out of the convent. She's a small girl, about fourteen years old with dark hair."

"You didn't have to come all the way around here to tell me this, Sister," Cezar said, "You could've just called to one of the sentries on the wall when he passed by. I'm sure they'd be glad to pass on the message."

"I didn't want to bring any attention to myself," Sister Oana said, "We don't want this novice to find out she's being watched."

"Understood," he said, "I'll tell the sentries. But you don't have to worry about her getting out at night. She'd have to raise the portcullis, which is hardly something you could do without someone noticing. It's about as quiet as a tiptoeing cannonball, I'd say."

"This girl is quite inventive," Sister Oana said, "She's like a sly little mouse sneaking through the cracks in the walls. She's already managed to climb up onto the top of the roof of the novitiate. I suspect she was up there looking for a way over the wall."

"Why ever would one girl be so determined to get out of there?" the pikeman wondered, "You feed her, you clothe her. It's a cruel world out there. She'd probably get devoured before she could enjoy her freedom."

"Because she's young and naïve," Sister Oana sighed, "That's why young girls need adults. If we give them too much freedom, they'll only end up filling their days with regrets." Cezar nodded with understanding.

When Sister Oana returned to the convent shortly thereafter, she called together Madalina's three roommates, Dorina, Nicoleta and Mirela. She ordered the three girls to join her in the courtyard, and there she said to them: "As you know, your roommate Madalina has been sneaking out at night without permission. Such behavior cannot be tolerated. If she is caught out of her room at night without permission again, not only will she be punished severely, but you three with her."

"But Sister," the three girls objected.

"No argument!" Sister Oana cut them off, "You will share the punishment with her for permitting her to do this. If she has to be locked in the crypt again, you will be locked with her. If she has to clean the whole church top to bottom, you will have to clean it beside her. Am I understood?"

"Yes, Sister," the three girls replied with dour consent.

"You must understand the gravity of her misbehavior," Sister Oana said, "There will be no leniency, and I can assure you that I will keep this promise no matter what. We cannot tolerate those who flout our rules."

When Madalina's three roommates saw Madalina later that day, they told her what Sister Oana had told them.

"If you get punished, we get punished with you," Dorina complained.

"We're not going to let you get us into trouble," Mirela insisted. She grabbed Madalina's hair and gave it a good yank to emphasize her point. "We're going to watch you at night from now on."

The three girls turned their back on Madalina and walked away. They had never been apt to be kind to Madalina, but they resolved then on to stop being so easy on her. Mean comments passed between the girls as they walked away.

"She's always so stubborn," Mirela said, starting it off.

"I heard her parents left her here because they couldn't stand to have her around," Dorina said, "It's not surprising, is it?"

"No, they probably abandoned her here because she looks like a giant ferret," Mirela said, and the three girls laughed.

"That explains how she's so good at climbing," Dorina said, and the girls laughed again.

Knowing her roommates would be watching her tempted Madalina to cancel her planned excursion, but it did not tempt her enough. Though she didn't believe it, she'd once been told that her parents had left her at the convent so that she might finish off the rest of her life in resignation, but she was unwilling to cede to these intentions.

When bedtime arrived and the girls settled into their beds, they all sat up staring at Madalina, waiting for her to sleep first. "You going to sleep, Madalina?" Mirela asked. Madalina nodded and laid down her head, pulling her covers up over her face and closing her eyes. Keeping still and silent, she waited for them to follow her and go to sleep.

The three girls lay down after her, but they didn't go to sleep either. After a while, Madalina noticed that they were taking far longer than usual to fall asleep. Clearly, they were waiting for her to sleep first and weren't convinced she'd fallen asleep yet. Madalina decided to try and actively pretend to sleep instead of just remaining quiet and motionless. She didn't know exactly how she sounded while she slept. Did she snore? Did she talk in her sleep?

She began to breath heavily in the way the other girls would when they were asleep. After a few minutes of this, she heard a whisper from Nicoleta, "Is she asleep?"

"Yes," Mirela said.

"Are you sure?" Nicoleta asked, "Does she normally snore?"

"Not usually," Dorina said.

Mirela silently stepped out of her bed and leaned over Madalina to look at her closely, conceding, "She's asleep. But keep your ears open for her tonight, in case she wakes up."

The girls were not adept at keeping their ears open at night. They normally slept through even the somewhat loud noises Madalina had on a few occasions accidentally made when sneaking out at night. In fact, Madalina believed she was the only one who knew that Nicoleta talked in her sleep, even though she sometimes uttered her sleep-talk gibberish at full volume.

Madalina remained patient while she listened for the sound of the three girls falling asleep. Dorina sounded like the first to fall asleep. Mirela took a little longer, shifting and squirming before she finally descended. Last came Nicoleta, who sighed heavily a few times before she started to snore lightly and settled into her pillow.

Madalina waited for nearly a half hour after they were all asleep before she decided to sneak out. She raised herself up, pulled out her cloak and put on her shoes, moving even more slowly and quietly than she normally did. Everything was done with extra care, even her breathing, which she slowed and muted. She walked across the floor, so that even the touch of her feet and the shuffling of her clothes were barely audible. When she unlocked the door, she took more than twice as long as she normally would, just to make sure the metal click was as quiet as could be.

When she eventually stepped out into the hallway and closed the door, she relaxed and took the first full breath she had in many minutes. She then rushed down the hall to the courtyard. She checked to make sure she wouldn't be spotted by the sentries, looked out for Sister Oana, and squeezed through the gap by the portcullis, ever so carefully unlocking and opening the outer door.

Waiting until the coast was clear once again, she ran into the woods and disappeared into the darkness, heading directly east, as instructed. She still didn't know whether the vampires had decided to accept her, or if those wolves had decided to hungrily gobble up this little rabbit.

She walked through the cold of the forest. A low-hanging moon penetrated through the upper canopy of the trees, creating faint shadows on the ground and creating bits of fractured light that moved along Madalina's body as she walked.

From a distance, two vampires watched this tentative shape, who moved with circumspect glances in all directions. She did not notice the vampires, who were perched high in the branches of a tree far from her, but with their much keener visual acuity, they could see her. The two vampires hopped to the branches of separate trees towards her, which caused the trees to sway as if they were being pushed by a furious wind.

Madalina heard the sound of the trees and looked up but could see nothing through the deep darkness above her. Almost out of nowhere, she saw the faint streak of a moving object falling in her direction. She again tried to leap out of the way as she had before, but she hadn't reacted early enough. A net suddenly landed on top of her, with heavy weights at the four corners to hold it down.

Madalina scrambled to pull herself out of the net, furiously pulling at it and lunging for one of the weights. She picked up the weight to toss behind her and make an egress from beneath it, but, just as she was escaping, she saw the legs of a dark figure standing in front of her.

It was the same vampire she'd seen before, and he looked down on her with an amused expression.

"Vad," he said. He pointed to a second vampire standing behind Madalina and said, "Fane." She turned around to look at Fane, who was pale and hairless and looked at her with a vicious look.

"If you want to join our coven, you will bring someone to us tomorrow. Here. Someone young. Or we'll take you instead," Vad said as Madalina began to stand up.

"Take someone?" Madalina asked, "You mean you want me to kidnap someone and bring them to you?"

"Someone young," Vad repeated, "Bring them tomorrow, alive."

"But, I don't know..." the words sputtered out of her.

"You want to join our coven, you do as you're told. Vampires are obedient," Vad said, "Someone young, alive, tomorrow. If you succeed you join the coven. If not, you're food."

"I'll do it then," Madalina softly replied.

"Don't be overconfident," Fane said, "None of us expect such a weak, little mere human to succeed. It'll be a miracle if you do."

Madalina started to approach Vad, hoping to try and negotiate further, but Vad pointed her back in the direction of her convent and said, "Now crawl away cretin. Don't talk with us anymore until tomorrow."

Madalina backed away from the two of them, nodding her head, and said, "Tomorrow." When she had put some space between her and the vampires, she turned and ran.

It had not been how she had anticipated it. Part of her was pleased with the result, even excited, but she still looked on the task they had asked of her with dread. She wasn't sure whether she could do it and was quite sure she didn't want to do it.

As she approached the wall of the convent, she again waited for the sentries to pass out of sight before she entered through the door. Once in the courtyard, she darted to the novitiate and walked down the hall to her room.

When she entered the room, she closed the door and leaned against it to breathe a sigh, as if she could finally relax for the first time in weeks. But within a moment she heard a sound among the three occupied beds. Madalina froze, deciding to remain silent. Then she changed her mind and began to undress and try to climb into bed before she was noticed.

Nicoleta had woken and after a few minutes of groggy rolling about, she suddenly sprang up in her bed and looked in Madalina's direction. Madalina was stuffing her cloak under her bed and hopping into it as Nicoleta looked at her.

"Madalina!" Nicoleta whispered forcefully, "You didn't go out did you?"

"No, I swear," Madalina replied, "Just using the chamber pot." Nicoleta appeared unconvinced, and Madalina said, "Please don't tell anyone you saw me." Madalina was optimistic at seeing that it was Nicoleta who saw her. She was the most forgiving of the three, the most pliable and sensitive.

Nicoleta pouted with a loud harrumph and crossed her arms. "Madalina!" she whined, "No!"

Madalina mouthed, "Please."

After a few more displeased grunts, Nicoleta finally asked, "No one saw you, did they?"

"No, no one," Madalina assured her.

Nicoleta, though, did not want to leave it at that and was thinking about what to do. She resolved to wake the other girls and leave it to them, standing from her bed and approaching them. Madalina saw her and leapt from her bed. She gently grabbed Nicoleta's arm to stop her.

"Please!" Madalina pleaded, "Please. Let them sleep."

Nicoleta frowned and sighed, then turned to Mirela and nudged her awake. Mirela took a moment to stir from her sleep, grumbling out, "What is it?"

Nicoleta pointed in Madalina's direction and said, "I caught her out of bed. She just came back."

Mirela threw a pillow to wake Dorina. Once Dorina was out of bed and apprised of the situation, the three girls circled around Madalina. They pushed her into her bed and Dorina stood above Madalina, restraining her arms. In this position Mirela pounded Madalina repeatedly in the face with a pillow.

"Do you want to get us in trouble?" Mirela asked her, "Do you care?"

Madalina struggled to free herself, but Dorina held her firm. After Mirela stopped, Madalina was crying. She rolled over in her bed and covered her face, wetting her pillow with her tears.

"You try to leave again, we'll make it even more unpleasant," Mirela said as she returned to her bed.

While Madalina cried, the three girls all lay down and fell asleep.

* * *

Earlier that night, Anton's first night hunting, Vasile led him deep into the forest, to a thick stretch of trees nestled at the bottom of a gentle slope where a small creek drained downhill. Vasile had been most successful finding vampire prey in this region and came here often, though he frequently changed his location so that the vampires didn't know where to find him.

He walked up to a tall sturdy oak, which looked like a good holding point, and explained to Anton, "We're going to climb this tree and wait up there."

Vasile hopped up and grabbed a branch, easily raising himself up and subsequently pulling himself between the branches. Though Vasile was several decades older than Anton, he seemed to have the sprightliness of a teenager. He was strong, quick and agile, and he was already a few body-lengths up the tree before Anton tried to follow behind, with considerably more struggle.

When the two of them settled into a pair of branches, Vasile explained, in a whisper, "We must do this so that no vampires are able to get the jump on us. Though I'd get more kills if I could be mobile, the vampires are much better at tracking me than I am at tracking them. They can hear me when I walk and could be at my throat before I'd have a chance to react. We have to wait somewhere hidden for them to come to us, to avoid becoming prey. Caution, my boy. Caution is the reason I've survived so long. We're engaging in something very dangerous, and caution is what keeps us from becoming the victims of our peril."

Anton asked Vasile how he'd started as a vampire hunter. Vasile shook his head when Anton asked that. "It's better we keep quiet," Vasile said. He preferred to sit in silence, since he could hear more acutely. Anton pressed, and he eventually conceded.

"I was young when it happened," Vasile whispered, "I grew up with my mother, living in the woods. My father wasn't there. He was some highwayman who'd gone away or been hanged or something. She wasn't clear on the details. My mom would poach game and gather fruit and roots for us at day. At night, we lived in a tiny room made out of the hollow of a tree. We had to keep it well camouflaged, since the vampires were out at night. They weren't then like they are now. They would be out every night, prowling in packs. And they have powerful noses. We'd have to spread over the entrance of our little hollow whatever pungent flowers and plants we could find to mask our smell.

"But it wasn't the vampires that got us. It was actually one of the knights in Gabor's father Sigismund's house who killed her. He caught her in the woods poaching one day. The aristocrats give us unlimited license to hunt vampires, but not so with most game. The knight was on a horse in his armor with several of his companions when he saw her with a bag full of birds, one of which was a spotted eagle. Eagles are particularly taboo. When he saw that bird, he just pulled out his sword and stabbed her through the stomach. I was with her, and she told me to run home. I ran to the hollow and waited all night, expecting them to find me and kill me too. They didn't. But I was entirely alone from then on, without my mother or anyone.

"My mother hadn't taught me to do anything but hunt. Afraid of being killed for poaching as she had, I became a vampire hunter. I just wanted to earn money and survive. At the time there were many vampire hunters, all young. Some of them deserters from one of the armies, some of them bandits and highwaymen, some farmers' kids. They were a reckless and cavalier bunch: they didn't care if they lived or died. And they took in huge hauls of dead vampires. I was consistently the least successful because I was the most cautious, took the fewest risks. But that kept me alive. As they all got killed off, one by one, I survived. At the time, we could either take our kills to Andrei or to Dragomir. He was an apothecary that also made vampire wares, but the vampires eventually succeeded in breaking into his home, destroying the place and dragging him off for food. Now it's just Andrei and me."

After he finished, Vasile commenced the silence, and Anton was unable to persuade him to talk about anything else. Vasile's eyes surveyed the forest in all directions while the hours passed. Vasile said almost nothing to Anton.

When Anton got bored and tried to relax, Vasile would nudge him and say, "You cannot relax. Always alert. A vampire-hunter needs only two things: patience and deadly aim. Especially since we'll not see as many vampires as we used to. I used to see them every night and would have my choice of prey. Now I wait days before I see even one. We may have to wait a very long time."

Immediately after he said this, he suddenly stopped and froze. A faint sound of movement was audible in the distance. Anton heard the sound too, the sound of quickly moving footsteps, and he grew nervous and excited. In the distance, they saw two shapes running. The two shapes were Fane and Vad, returning at a leisurely pace from their recent rendezvous. The vampires usually darted across the forest at night in blazing sprints, but these two moved at a moderate jog, clearly neither in a hurry nor afraid.

Anton immediately reached for his crossbow and raised it, but Andrei stopped him and indicated for him to be silent. Anton silently mouthed, "We can't take two of them at once. Especially such old ones. Be Silent. Let them pass."

Anton stopped and slowed his breath, but when the wind blew through the trees, he was temporarily jolted and had to grab hold of the tree's trunk. In this hasty motion, his foot scraped against a branch and his crossbow bumped against the tree. Neither sound was particularly loud, but they caused the two vampires to suddenly break off their run.

Vad gestured to Fane and nodded in the general direction of Anton and Vasile. Vad and Fane both raised their noses to sniff the air. Vad silently questioned Fane whether he smelled anything, and Fane shrugged his shoulders. Nonetheless, they decided to cautiously approach the direction from which they heard the sound.

Vasile slowly pulled an arrow from his quiver and strung it on his longbow. He silently mouthed, "Arm yourself. Don't shoot until I do. Aim for the neck."

Anton picked up the crossbow and began to aim it. He lowered it, and looking at Vasile, he silently mouthed, "Let me have the longbow," miming with his hands at the same time.

Vasile took a deep breath, looked at the longbow contemplatively, and relaxed it and handed it to Anton, raising one of his crossbows instead.

Fane and Vad continued to move in the same direction, slowly while they sniffed the air. Anton leaned over to point his weapon directly at them, his bow taught, eager to fire. Vasile cautioned, silently, "Patience!"

Anton's heart started pounding in anticipation, and as his body warmed up, sweat started to leak from his pores, releasing his human odor into the air.

Vasile knew from experience that it would be difficult to kill both vampires, especially since the two appeared to be fairly old, both some sixty to eighty years old, he guessed. A sixty-year-old vampire would prove much harder to kill than the youngster he'd just killed a few days ago, and the two of them together would be well nigh impossible. A single, well-aimed shot could kill a vampire, even an old one, but he didn't want to risk it from this distance unless necessary, especially since he didn't know how precisely Anton could fire.

Fane and Vad continued walking aimlessly, sniffing the air as if they had caught to scent of something important but couldn't place its location.

Fane finally threw up his hands in frustration and said to Vad: "What are we after?"

Vad hastily gestured for him to be silent, still hoping they might be able to catch by surprise whoever it was they'd heard.

"We are chasing hares," Fane said, using an expression axiomatic among the vampires for going after something too trivial to be worth the effort.

"Obedience, underling!" Vad snapped at Fane.

"The night retreats," Fane complained.

Vad hissed in aggravation at Fane's complaints, but he couldn't argue with the apparent truth of what Fane said. He screeched with condescension, "You will follow my lead, underling." Then he led Fane at a rapid sprint in the direction they had been originally heading.

Once they left, Vasile lowered his weapon and followed them with his eyes. As they receded into the distance, he squinted as much as possible, hoping that perhaps this time he might finally see them disappearing into their hole. In some thirty years of hunting, he had never found the entrance to whatever cave or hole they slept within, but he nonetheless always believed that the discovery of it would be just around the corner.

Divining Vasile's thoughts, Anton asked, "Have you ever tried to track them to their cave? I'm a great tracker. The best around. I'm sure I could follow their footprints right to their doorstep."

"Tried but never succeeded," Vasile said, "We could try again. Not now. Still too dangerous. But at morning, perhaps."

Just the mention of morning made Anton expel a vigorous yawn and reminded him how long he had gone without sleeping. His father and he had arisen the last morning, as usual, before daybreak, meaning he had gone for nearly twenty-four hours without sleep.

"Or I can track them alone while you sleep," Vasile said, noticing Anton's fatigue.

"I will join you," Anton said sleepily, "I don't need sleep. Sleep is for the weak."

"No you won't," Vasile said, "At sunrise, I'll lead you back. And you'll sleep while I track. We can practice with weapons in the evening after we've both slept."

They did as Vasile said, Anton being led back to Andrei's where Vasile left him. Ileana let him in through the back door and asked him, "Are you hungry? Do you want some food?" but Anton shook his sagging head. She understood and led Anton to a guest bedroom, where she presented him with a bed.

Anton's eyes opened wide with amazement as he saw how beautiful the room was. The one thing he noticed above all was how abnormally clean it was: the floor swept, the sheets clean and the wallpapered walls free of dirt. It also lacked that conspicuous smell he'd grown so used to from his usual sleeping place, that admixture of human and animal stench that seemed to permeate every corner. Though he didn't have time to appreciate it, since sleep beckoned him, he thought to himself that he'd like to bring his sister Constanta here and share it with her.

He undressed and dropped onto the bed. It was infinitely more comfortable than the bed he was used to, and sinking into it felt like sinking into a warm bog. Though he was so tired that he could've probably fallen asleep on a nest of pinecones, this bed was exceptionally inviting, and he fell asleep almost right away.
Chapter 6

After the Last Sunset

After what seemed like only an eye blink, Anton was roused from his sleep by the sound of a fist pounding on a door. Truth was that several hours had passed, but he progressed through such deep sleep that it seemed like nothing.

As he looked around, he momentarily forgot where he was, so accustomed was he to waking up in his one-room cottage with his family. He looked around and gradually remembered his surroundings. He saw Vasile sleeping soundly in a bed across the room from him and was able to recount how he'd arrived there. All the while, the distant sound of someone ferociously pounding on the door continued.

The pounding wasn't on his bedroom door but rather on the thick exterior door of Andrei's, the back door that led into the workroom. As he began to focus his ears, he heard a voice that accompanied the pounding. It clearly was shouting repeatedly, "Andrei! Open this door!"

He then heard the voice say, "Give me back my son! You can't take my son! The magistrate will hear of this!" before the voice returned to the repeated refrain of, "Andrei! Open this door!"

Anton now recognized, in the sound, muted through the thick walls, the incensed voice of his father.

Andrei arrived at the back door and opened it up, permitting Josif to enter. The middle-aged man was transported with rage and huffed with deep breaths as he lunged inside. His large, broad-shouldered body eclipsed the wiry, old frame of the aged merchant, who recoiled with some fear as Josif said, "You've taken my son! You're holding him here. I've come to take him back."

"The boy is resting," Andrei said, with some attempt at a calming voice, "Let him sleep. He's been out all night."

Josif didn't seem to even hear Andrei and began moving around the room, calling "Anton!" and looking for the boy, as if he would find him hidden under an overturned bowl, all the while asking, "Where is he? Where are you hiding him?"

Anton appeared at the door, drowsy and sleepy-eyed, and said in an irritated voice, "Dad, what are you doing here?"

Josif ran over to Anton and grabbed him by the arm, telling him, "Come on. We're leaving this place, now!"

Anton removed his father's hand from his arm angrily and pushed it away, saying, "No, dad! I've decided to come here. I just told you yesterday you can't stop me from doing this. Just let it be."

"That I don't believe. No son of mine would decide to do this. I think I know my son. This apothecary has persuaded you by unnatural means. What potion has this magician given you?"

"None!" Anton started to scream, grabbing his father by the shirt and shaking him, "I've come here to earn money. I am doing this for all of us." But as soon as Anton noticed himself growing angrier, his hands trembling, he restrained himself, letting go of his father's shirt and backing away.

"Your sister misses you," Josif said, "Your mother misses you."

"I will come and see them. I am less than a league away and have only been gone for one night," Anton said.

"So, is this how it is to be?" Josif said, shrinking like one wounded, "You live here and only come to visit us? You don't want to eat or sleep with your own family anymore? You'll earn money and we'll be too poor for you?"

Anton lowered his eyes when he heard this and said to his father, "Just go. We'll speak of this another time."

"Vasile is taking care of your son," Andrei interjected, "He will keep your son safe."

"I don't want to hear from you, sorcerer," Josif said to Andrei, and he turned around and left the workroom, slamming the door as he left.

"You should go back to sleep," Andrei said to Anton who hunched over despondently.

Anton returned to his room and lay back in the soft bed, tired but unable to sleep as his heart raced. His thoughts drifted to his family, and particularly to his sister Constanta, and he realized that he missed them too.

* * *

In Terem that morning Cezar began his day by ascending the stairs to the wall walk and following it around the circumference of the wall. As he walked, he passed from overlooking the city of Terem, which took up the majority of the area within the wall, to overlooking the convent, which occupied a corner in the south. The buildings on the southern edge of Terem formed a dense cluster of stone houses, built side-by-side, one after the other. The backsides of these houses formed a continuous barrier, which transversed the area within the wall. The garden and the nun's quarters and the back of the church all stood just to the other side of this division. The only connection between these two separate segments within the walls of Terem was the wall walk, the continuous walkway at the top of the wall.

Thus, as Cezar walked along this wall walk, he overlooked the lively, prosperous city of Terem, saw it come to end, and then began to see the quieter and more modest monastery of Terem. The convent itself was, in its more subdued way, a lively community, and there below him many persons moved in several directions, the nuns in their habits and the young novices similarly attired, while a smattering of servants and slaves hastened to their duties.

He saw Sister Oana speaking in what appeared to be a reprimanding tone to one of these servants, and he called out to her, "Sister Oana! Could I speak with you?"

Sister Oana dismissed the servant when she saw the solider and approached the wall. Multiple body-lengths above her head, Cezar leaned over and looked down on her.

"I came here to tell you that I saw something last night," Cezar said.

Sister Oana hastily indicated for him to be quiet and looked around to make sure no one had heard them. She led Cezar to the small gap between the church and the wall, where it was out of the way and she would be less likely to be overheard.

Cezar hovered above her atop the wall. In a quieter tone, speaking downwards to Sister Oana, Cezar said, "You said you wanted us to look for a novice, about fourteen years old trying to sneak out."

"Yes," Sister Oana nodded.

"Last night a sentry saw someone entering the novitiate. She was small, so I'm guessing it may have been the girl in question."

Sister Oana moved a bit closer to Cezar, and she asked him, somewhat perplexed, "You saw Madalina entering the novitiate? You mean, through her bedroom window?"

"No, through the front door, of course. He saw her crossing the courtyard and entering the novitiate through that door," he said, pointing across the courtyard to the door leading into the hallway of the novitiate, "He didn't get a good look at who it was. It was just a brief flash of movement: a little figure in a dark cloak. I couldn't tell you for sure if it was the girl you're looking for."

"Did she leave the convent?" Sister Oana asked, "Did she come from outside the wall?"

"I told you all he saw," Cezar replied with a shrug, "It's possible."

"Thank you Cezar," Sister Oana replied, "You continue to keep watch for her. I am sure this is not the last time she'll try to sneak out."

As she walked away towards the novitiate, she confessed to herself that she wasn't quite sure how to deal with the situation. Madalina was not leaving through the window, meaning she'd found another way out of her room, probably some way to unlock her door from the inside. Sister Oana herself would have to be more vigilant in keeping an eye on Madalina, since clearly Madalina's roommates were not up to it.

As Sister Oana contemplated these things, Madalina sat on the grass beneath the plum tree in the Sisters' garden with the other novices. Around the edges of the garden, flowers bloomed, and, in the center, a small pond ringed with stones glinted with sunshine fragmented by ripples. In front of the novices, Sister Elisabeta sat on a rock, looking over them and reading from the Book of Psalms.

Madalina sat alone and while Sister Elisabeta read, she glanced over the faces of her companions, including her three roommates. It would have to among these three girls that she would choose her prey for Vad, but which one she couldn't decide.

"Which one has been meanest to me? Which one has done the most to make my life here unpleasant?" Madalina thought to herself. She considered taking Mirela, who was in a certain sense the leader of the group, but she was tempted to take Nicoleta as revenge for telling on her to the other girls last night. But on the other hand, Dorina was a bit smaller in size, and thus easier for Madalina to carry.

"If only they knew what power I wield over them right now," Madalina thought, "Would they mistreat me as they have before? Would they repent of all the times they ostracized me and teased me? Would they be kind to me for once?"

She remembered the many embarrassments she'd experienced at the hands of these three girls and only regretted that she could only pick one. She remembered once when they captured a spider and put it in her sheets just before bedtime; when they'd poured water on her bed in the morning and tried to persuade everyone that she'd wet her bed; the multiple times when they'd hidden her cassock while she slept, so that she couldn't be properly attired for Matins.

After finishing up her reading, Sister Elisabeta closed the bible and said to the girls, "Now one of you had asked me if I could talk about where vampires come from." The girls looked at one another inquisitively, and Sister Elisabeta asked, "No, it wasn't any of you? Well, maybe it was one of the Sisters who asked me to tell you about it," thinking to herself.

"No matter," Sister Elisabeta finally said, "We will talk about it anyway, since I think it is instructive. It is not usually an important part of your theological education, but I think it is an illuminating example of the ways that evil operates in this world.

"We know that vampires were not created on or before the sixth day because when God surveyed his creation on that day, he declared that it was good. This means that the vampires, like other abominations, such as the giants, were created after the sixth day. The giants, the Bible tells us, were created in the time before Noah from the union of wicked women and fallen angels, and they were all killed in the flood. The same fate would've ended the vampires, had they existed then. Thus, they must have been created much later. Their creation is only obliquely alluded to in the Bible. How many of you know the story of Ahab, the king of Israel and the husband of Jezebel?"

Some hands were raised and Sister Elisabeta called on a girl, asking, "What do you know about Jezebel?"

One of the older novices said, "She married Ahab and persuaded him to worship Baal, and kill the true prophets, but she was stopped by Elijah."

"Yes, very good," Sister Elisabeta said, "She led her husband and the people of Israel into wickedness by switching from the worship of the true God, to that of pagan demons such as Baal and Asherah and, the even more wicked, Moloch, who was worshipped by sacrificing children by fire in Topheth. Ahab raised many statues to these pagan demons in many cities, including in Samaria. Ultimately, he died in battle at Ramothgilead.

"When he died, he was shot by an arrow and bled into his chariot. After his death, they decided to clean his chariot, so they took it to the pool of Samaria to wash off the blood, which drained into and polluted this pool. In this pool, the prostitutes also washed, such that they washed in the sinful blood of Ahab. And these prostitutes became infected with that blood, as they were prone to such infection from living an immoral life. These prostitutes infected the men who came to them in sin, and those wicked who were infected, infected yet others, until vampires became a scourge upon the earth, which will not be wiped away until the second coming of our Lord, when He will wipe away all sin from the earth.

"Are there any questions?"

"Yes, Sister," Dorina said raising her hand, "Are all vampires evil?"

"I'm afraid so, Dorina," Sister Elisabeta sighed, the idea that there was any evil in the world clearly upsetting her, "What they do is wicked in the eyes of the Lord."

"But any of us could become infected," Madalina couldn't help objecting, "It happens to people by accident."

"There are no accidents, Madalina," Sister Elisabeta replied, "Everything is according to God's plan. But should any of you ever, God forbid, become infected, then you must remember the words of our Lord Jesus Christ to his disciples: 'And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell.' Likewise, if you should ever become a vampire then it would be better for you to starve and enter the afterlife pure than to sin by staining your lips with human blood." Sister Elisabeta spoke severely and in an ominous tone that chilled the young novices.

"So, if we become a vampire, we should kill ourselves?" Dorina interrupted, quite confused.

"No, dear, that would be a sin," Sister Elisabeta admonished, in a nonetheless pleasant tone, "For your body belongs to God, and it is an affront to God for you to destroy it."

She tried to soften up these dark discussions and raise their spirits with a smile, saying, "But you shouldn't worry because I don't believe that God would ever permit that fate to befall a virtuous person. Vampirism is a disease of the sinful, and so long as you are good, God will protect you from it."

"I heard they eat livestock too," Mirela spoke up, "Though they don't prefer it."

"Well, if that's true, then that's what you would have to do" Sister Elisabeta conceded.

"Would it be a sin to drink the blood of other vampires?" Madalina asked.

"I would think it might be. Though it is no different than consuming vampire wares" Sister Elisabeta replied, vacillating, "But this is all idle talk. None of you will have to worry about, since this will not befall any of you, so long as you remain virtuous."

Sister Elisabeta told them more about the second coming and the infectiousness of sin, and concluded with a prayer. When she finished her lesson and the novices dispersed for further prayer, Madalina approached Elisabeta and said, "Sister I have a question I was hoping you could answer for me."

"Not about drinking vampire blood, I hope," Sister Elisabeta said, "It is a difficult question, and I am afraid I cannot answer it."

"No. I was wondering if you knew why my parents left me here at this monastery."

"You sound as if you regret that you were put here," Sister Elisabeta consoled, "I think you underestimate the value of being in a place of peace and isolation. Out beyond the walls of this convent the world is in turmoil, with many people fighting for power. And members of your family are at the center of it."

"Really?" Madalina asked, suddenly interested, "What are they doing?"

Sister Elisabeta hesitated, thinking about it for a moment, before she said, "Your father has been fighting in wars with the Ottomans, and some of your relatives have been leaders of Ardeal vying for power. But there has been much change of power and it's not for us to keep track of all these conflicts and intrigue. Which is the reason why your parents put you here, to save you from all of this turmoil and danger and live in peace and virtue."

"Your parents left you here as a sacrifice to God," Sister Oana interrupted them, "They saw giving you to our monastery as penance for their numerous sins. That's the real reason they did it."

They turned to see Sister Oana approaching them through the garden. Sister Elisabeta tried to interrupt and say something at this point, but Sister Oana cut her off, "Fortunately, this has presented an opportunity, as Sister Elisabeta said, for us to bring you to the virtue that so escaped your family. And we will teach you virtue. So long as you listen to us and cooperate."

Now standing next to Madalina, Sister Oana reached down and raised Madalina's chin so that she was looking directly into the Sister's eyes. Sister Elisabeta again tried to intervene, but Sister Oana raised her hand to hold her back. "You didn't try to sneak out again last night?" Sister Oana asked, while looking directly into Madalina's eyes.

"No," Madalina said without hesitating or breaking eye contact, "I didn't sneak out last night." She then turned her head to be released from Sister Oana's grip and lowered her eyes in meekness.

"Good. If that's true, then we might be having a good influence on you," Sister Oana said with an attempt to mimic the sweat and pleasant smile of Sister Elisabeta, "But, we are still watching you closely, to make sure you do nothing you shouldn't."

Madalina said, in a quiet and meek way, "Yes, Sister."

"You may go now," Sister Oana said, and Madalina began to dash off. But she stopped herself before she left, wrapping herself around Sister Elisabeta and giving her a warm hug.

Sister Elisabeta squealed with joy, "Oh my! What is that for?"

"I just wanted to thank you for everything and for being really nice to me," Madalina said.

Sister Oana looked at Madalina suspiciously, but Madalina ignored her, letting go of Sister Elisabeta and running off to attend service.

Madalina took special opportunity to watch the sunset after she finished the evening meal. She stood out in the courtyard and could just see over the wall the pink and purple clouds that were spread across the sky while the sun disappeared over the horizon. "This might be the last time I'll see you," she quietly said to it. This rather dismal thought was almost enough to make her want to give up the whole thing.

She reflected on how she'd probably never see again anything in this convent, the church, the novitiate, the gardens, the plants and trees and all those people she knew. This was the only home she'd known since she was barely old enough to remember. She couldn't remember the castle she'd grown up in, and the long journey to this place. She only had heard about such events from others. Every memory she had was in this convent, and she would be seeing it no more after this night.

That evening, after the Compline service, Madalina returned to her room and found her three roommates there ahead of her. The three girls stood, waiting for her and watched her intently as she walked into the room.

"Are you going to sneak out again and get us all into trouble? Mirela asked, in an inquisitional tone.

"No," Madalina said, avoiding their looks and moving to her bed to change into her nightclothes."

"Don't bother lying to us," Mirela continued.

"I guarantee you won't have to worry about me anymore after tonight," Madalina said.

The girls didn't say anything, waiting for Madalina, who was now changed into her nightclothes, to step into bed and lie down. Once she lay on her back, the girls closed in, swarming around her in a body.

"We're not going to take any chances," Mirela said, while the three of them restrained Madalina, who squirmed and struggled. They took her blanket and wrapped it around her tightly, like a rolled up parchment, such that her arms were pinned to her side and her legs were held together.

Mirela asked the other girls, "Did you find a rope or something to hold her?"

Nicoleta pulled out a few pins and said, "Only this." They affixed several pins to the fabric of the blanket so that the wrap wouldn't unravel.

"I think this should hold," Dorina said, tugging a little at the sheets.

"You should be able to sleep fine like this. It's not too tight is it? Not uncomfortable?" Mirela asked, with feigned concern on her face, "Don't worry we'll let you out for Midnight Office and Matins. We wouldn't want you to get in trouble."

Madalina tried to push outward with her arms but the sheet wrapped around her held firm. The sheet was wrapped around her multiple times, and she didn't possess the strength to tear the fabric.

As the girls watched her squirm futilely they became more confident the restraints would hold. They retired to their beds and relaxed, wishing each other a good night. Slowly they fell asleep while Madalina lay awake, unable to sleep or move.
Chapter 7

From the Grip of the Convent

Madalina waited until she knew her roommates were asleep before she renewed her efforts to escape, but, even as she pushed as hard as she could with her arms, it was to no avail. She wanted to bang her head against the wall in frustration. Her body could barely move, and when she exerted herself to the full extent of her strength, she accomplished nothing. She let out a few sobs before she took a deep breath and resolved to keep trying.

When she pushed with her legs she was more successful. After some attempts pushing outwards, she heard that sound of ripping fabric. She pushed even harder, but was only able to make a partial rip at the edge.

She decided to quietly turn her whole body so that her feet were hanging over the bed. She sat up and wriggled downwards until her feet touched the ground, permitting her to stand.

She contemplated hopping out of the room and trying to find someone who could free her, but decided against it. She was on her own. She looked around the room for something to snag herself onto, thinking that maybe if she could snag the cloth onto some sharp hook, she could thereby use it to rip the fabric. But she didn't see anything and gave up.

Instead, she tried to bend down and reach the pins with her teeth. This was not as easy as she expected. Her spine was simply not flexible enough to touch her mouth to her belly button, and certainly not flexible enough to reach any of the pins above it. She wanted to stomp her feet in frustration, but held back and simply lowered her head for one sob before she continued.

With effort, she was able to reach one of the pins, one affixed just above her knee. By bending her legs and curling her back and neck downward, she could just take the pin in her teeth and carefully pull it out, spitting it onto the floor.

She was disappointed in how little additional freedom this gave her, beyond giving her legs a bit more room to move. Her hands, though, had more freedom. Her arms were still pinned to her side, but she could freely move her wrists and fingers. She decided that with her fingers she would pick up and collect into her hands the entire blanket below her waist. After a minute or so of gathering up the blanket, she was finally holding the lower part of the blanket, bunched up in her hands. From here she was able to bend her wrists and touch the exterior of the blanket. She couldn't reach anything right away, but one of the needles was just beyond her grasp. With a little bit of squirming and pushing with her arms, the needle was just reachable. With two fingers, she pulled the pin that was affixed below her navel and dropped it to the ground.

The blanket loosened more, and with the additional freedom of movement this afforded, the last steps were relatively easy. She could just reach the other six pins and pull them out. She shimmied until the blanket unfurled around her and fell to the floor at her feet.

To celebrate, she crouched down to her knees and, placing her face in her hands, she firmly clenched her teeth and silently screamed.

She didn't want to think yet about how difficult the next step would be. She would have to bundle up and drag one of these ponderous wenches out of the novitiate, through the gates, and far out into the forest.

As she contemplated which one to take, she quietly ripped away a strip of cloth with which to gag the unfortunate victim. She spent a few moments assessing the situation, planning out how she would do everything and in what order. She feared that the only way to make this work would be to do everything properly, without a single stumble or hesitation.

Madalina's first step was to open the door out of the room. Then she quietly approached her chosen victim, Nicoleta the tattletale, with gag in hand. Everything that could be done noiselessly she would do first, and she would perform those tasks slowly and carefully. Madalina slid the long strip of cloth she held around Nicoleta's head. Even as she slipped it under her head, Nicoleta lazily dreamed away, with the side of her face buried in her pillow. Then Madalina slowly wrapped Nicoleta's sheets around her, borrowing this idea from the girls. She pinned the sheets shut. It was nowhere near as tight as Madalina's wrap, but it would probably hold long enough.

She knew of no way to perform any of the remaining tasks noiselessly. Thus, she would have to perform these tasks quickly and smoothly. First, Madalina abruptly tightened the gag, jolting Nicoleta awake. Madalina muffled Nicoleta's mouth with her hand, just as she started to shout. Her stifled shouts were not enough to wake the other girls, but she still flailed and struggled against the sheets.

Madalina bent down and lifted the small girl on her shoulder. Her legs almost crumpled under the weight, but she was able to walk through the door. What she was less successful at doing was in keeping Nicoleta quiet at this point. Nicoleta screamed against the gag in her mouth, a cry that made more than enough noise to rouse the other girls.

Mirela and Dorina blinked and sat up, not quite sure what sound it was they'd heard. Madalina was already out the door but heard the sounds of movement coming from her room.

When she came to the door of the novitiate, she almost screamed with shock when she saw Sister Oana sitting in a chair in front of the entrance. It was dark enough that Madalina couldn't tell that her eyes were closed, but she could hear the soft snoring. Nicoleta tried to make noise, and Madalina had to muffle her mouth. Nicoleta carefully tiptoed by, while holding onto Nicoleta's mouth.

She slipped through the door of the novitiate and across the courtyard without hesitation, and without checking if the sentries were out of sight. Mirela and Dorina saw the open door, saw the empty beds of Nicoleta and Madalina, and leaped out of their beds in pursuit.

Madalina struggled to push Nicoleta through the hole she'd squeezed herself through those many times before. She was having trouble because Nicoleta wouldn't stop squirming and because Nicoleta wasn't quite as small as Madalina. But as she stuffed the girl through with her foot, she could hear the sound of a sentry as he called, "Hey! You! What are you doing?" She heard the shuffle of stamping feet as he circled around the wall to approach her.

Madalina didn't look back, now shoving herself through the hole and unlocking the outer door. She pushed the door beams aside as she heard the stir of commotion. Her two other roommates were in the courtyard by now. They'd roused Sister Oana who stood beside them. They, with their shouts, added to the noise that was being made by Cezar, the sentry, who called out, "Sisters! One of your girls is out here! She's going to the forest. Hurry!"

"Where did she go?" Sister Oana asked, looking around. Mirela and Dorina both pointed to the door, which was now slightly open. Madalina was pushing Nicoleta through the gap with all her energy. Her body was sweating from exertion and she was pale with fright.

"Madalina, No!" Sister Oana roared. When Madalina heard the sound, she turned back and looked at Sister Oana with terror just as she squeezed herself through the door.

Sister Oana approached the gate and pulled the lever to raise the portcullis. The machinery stirred, the counterweights dropped and the portcullis slowly rattled upwards as more of the nuns emerged from their quarters.

Once the portcullis was open, Sister Oana pulled open the outer doors, and continued her pursuit out beyond the walls into the darkness of the forest. The rest of the group looked out at the dark forest, to which they were now naked and exposed, and shivered with dread. A few nuns reluctantly stepped forward to the threshold of the gate and peaked out into the night, afraid to go any further and uncertain what to do.

Atop the wall, the sentries silently watched the distant figures disappearing beneath the trees, Madalina struggling to run with a great weight squirming on her shoulder and Sister Oana behind her and gaining ground.

Sister Oana could see Madalina just ahead of her carrying Nicoleta. The little girl tried to run as fast as she could but Sister Oana, larger and unencumbered, was far faster than her.

As she was just about to reach the little girl, she heard a sound in the trees, and traded her anger for fright: the sound of the sighing of the tree trunks and the rattling of leaves as the trees bent and swayed under the weight of vampires that leaped from one tree to another.

The sentries saw the movement of the trees from the wall, and, though they could distinguish no shapes between the leaves, they knew that it was not the wind.

Cezar shouted at the top of his voice, "Vampires! They're coming! Close the gates!"

This roused everyone into motion. The nuns closed the outer door, locked it with the two beams and lowered the portcullis behind it. The two sentries ran around the wall towards their canon.

They used this canon to fire a signal high into the air, which those who saw it would understand as a sign that vampires were near. A hollow cannonball that was doused in oil and lit produced the signal. Due to the fire, these cannonballs were particularly difficult to handle. The cannon would be charged with gunpowder and pointed upwards towards the forest. Then a rod would be placed at the mouth of the cannon to prevent the cannonball from falling in. The cannonball, first doused in oil, was set atop the opening and lit. As the flames circled around the circumference of the cannonball everyone stood back and covered their ears. Then the rod was removed. The flaming ball would ignite the gunpowder as soon as it touched it, launching it high into the air. An arc of flame streaked across the sky. If all went well, the flame would snuff itself out part way through its descent and crash harmlessly onto the forest floor.

Approximately a league away, Vasile and Anton sat high within another tree, waiting and in anticipation of vampires that evening. They heard the sound of the cannon as a faint pop in the distance. It drew their attention to the sky where they saw the flaming ball rise and sink.

"Vampires," Vasile said, "In Terem. We have to get there as fast as we can."

Vasile dropped from the tree, with Anton close behind him, and they both began to run in the direction of Terem.

Madalina heard the sound of the cannon and saw the beautiful dot of light float above her. The light of the cannonball faintly lit up the trees as it soared above them. Madalina didn't know what the flaming cannonball signified, so long had it been since Terem had faced a direct assault from the vampires.

Sister Oana did know what it signified. She had been alive at a time, decades ago, when the vampire raids were a persistent, terrifying threat and she froze in her tracks.

"Madalina stop! There are vampires near," she shouted with panic, just before a net dropped around her. Sister Oana stumbled to the ground, shouting "Run Madalina! Run! Save yourself! Get out of here!"

She scrambled to her feet to try and free herself, but two vampires were already there beside her. They pulled at a rope to bring the net closed, sweeping Sister Oana off her feet as the net whisked under her.

Another flaming cannonball was launched into the air and they all watched it fly above them and again begin to sink and disappear.

Vad landed right in front of Madalina and told her to hand him the body. Once Madalina handed over Nicoleta, Vad looked at her and said, "This one's good." He wrapped Nicoleta in a net and handed it off to Fane.

Sister Oana, entrapped and lying on the ground, turned her head to look at Madalina. She saw Madalina handing over Nicoleta and the vampire talking to her, unmolested, and asked in a voice of utter disappointment, "You're helping the vampires? Why?"

Intoning with her question that everything she'd ever tried to do to help Madalina become a virtuous girl was all in vain, she asked again, "Why?"

Madalina glanced in Sister Oana's direction when she heard these questions, but she merely turned away.

The first volley of arrows landed near them, dangerously close. Vad looked at his three companions and said, "We can't wait. Go now!"

Vad bent down and told Madalina, "Get on my back."

She leapt onto his back, gripping him around the neck and putting her legs around his hips. "Hold tight," he said, and he began to run.

From their vantage point, the sentries saw imperfectly the action taking place within the forest. The vampires gathered beneath the canopy of the trees, and the sentries could just see movement through the leaves. They launched several arrows in the direction of the vampires with blind hope, but no apparent success.

A moment later the vampires were gone; the attack was over; all three persons were lost.

Cezar related to the nuns, with disappointment, "They're all gone. Vampires have taken them all. I'm sorry."

Quiet weeping crossed the eyes of several nuns as they bowed their heads. Whispered prayers were heard and several made the sign of the cross in petition for the souls of all those lost. With a slow and solemn step, they retired to their quarters, many wiping away the tears that dripped on their cheeks.

Sister Elisabeta led Dorina and Mirela back to their room. As they passed down the hall of the novitiate, doors were being pounded from the inside, with voices asking, "What's happened? What's going on?" Every novice in the building was awake and wanted to know what they'd missed, but they were not permitted to leave their rooms.

Sister Elisabeta helped the two girls into bed and said, to console them, "The fate of Madalina and Nicoleta is in the hands of God now. And God is a benevolent being. We will pray for them, all of us. Please try to sleep. It'll be alright."

After Sister Elisabeta left the room and locked the door, Mirela hopped out of bed and opened the window. She leaned out over the windowsill and called out to the novices in the neighboring rooms in a whisper, "Psst, Camelia, Andrea. You there?"

Several windows opened on either side of her with various young faces poking out of the window to look towards Mirela. The narrow gap between the outer wall and the novitiate was dark, with no moonlight reaching down into it, so that the faces only looked like vague silhouettes of the various girls.

"I'm here. What happened?" Camelia asked, the first to speak up.

"Madalina, Nicoleta and Sister Oana are all gone—taken by the vampires. It looks like Madalina kidnapped Nicoleta, and Sister Oana chased her down. Then they were all captured by vampires in the woods," Mirela whispered in Camelia's direction.

"What!" Camelia responded in a surprised whisper, "All three? Why did Madalina kidnap Nicoleta?"

"That's all I know," Mirela responded, "Pass it on." Mirela retracted into her room and closed the window, as further whispers relayed the message to others.

Dorina sat on her bed clasping her knees in her arms and looked up at Mirela with eyes on the verge of tears. When Mirela leaned in to hug her, she began to bawl onto Mirela's shoulder.

"Oh it's so horrible," Dorina sobbed, "Horrible. Why Nicoleta? She never did anything? Madalina was asking for it, but Nicoleta.... She was nice; she always prayed; she always followed the rules."

"I know" Mirela comforted, "It's just not fair. I'm going to miss her so much."

"Did we do wrong?" Dorina asked, "Should we have told Sister Oana Madalina got out? If we'd told her, we would've been punished, but it would've prevented Madalina from leaving. What's any punishment compared to getting Nicoleta back? If only we could just do it now, and have her back. I'd scrub every corner of that church. I'd live inside the crypt for the rest of my life, if only it'd bring her back. Will we be forgiven?"

"God will forgive us," Mirela assured, "Though we erred and acted from ignorance, God will forgive us. If it's any comfort, remember that every event that happens is part of God's divine plan."

"How?" Dorina leaned back and looked at Mirela with a skeptical frown.

"I don't know," Mirela said, "But that's what they tell us, anyway. And I believe it."

While the young novices talked in this way, Anton and Vasile ran. They raced through the forest toward Terem in pursuit of the vampires that the signal had led them to expect. They weren't sure if they would ultimately reach Terem still under siege from the vampires or if they would, if fortune were on their side, encounter the vampires somewhere in the forest. Ignorant of what was going on, they plowed forward in the hope that they might be of help, and that they might bag a vampire or two in the process.

Fortune did smile on them that evening. Right in the middle of their run, Vasile suddenly grabbed Anton by his cloak from behind and yanked him downwards, pulling him towards the nearest bush. As he did this he whispered with the profoundest urgency, "Down! Now!"

After they collapsed to the ground and the previous sounds of the two men subsided into silence, the faint sound of approaching vampires could just be heard.

The sound of vampires in full run was distinctive. It was somewhat like the sound of a galloping horse, but without the punctuated four-hoof cadence. It was a continuous, light thumping of feet on ground in a quick, staccato beat.

It was apparent just from the sound that there was more than one vampire. In fact, it sounded like several, and Vasile was prepared to wait it out and let them pass. But as he peaked through the shrubs that him and Anton hid behind, he saw that they bore three captured humans.

Sister Oana had been secured, using the net, to a long, wooden sled, with two runners underneath. The sled was designed to make it easier to drag victims, and one of the vampires dragged this sled behind him. Nicoleta was wrapped in her net and simply was being hung between two of the vampires, like a pot suspended over a fire. Lastly, Vasile noticed what appeared to be a little girl clinging to the shoulders of one of the vampires, causing him to say to himself, "That's unusual. Why isn't she tied up?"

He shook off that thought, realizing there was no time to contemplate it now. He turned to Anton, leaning close into his ear and said as quietly as possible, "They have victims. Three of them. We have to attack."

Anton was undeterred by numbers and nodded. He raised his long bow with an arrow, eager for his first kill, whispering to Vasile, "It's about time I get to show you my skill."

As desirous as Vasile was to try to save all three persons, Vasile and Anton alone couldn't take on four vampires. Their only chance was to attack one of the vampires, saving one person, and hope the rest continued running. Vasile decided that the vampire with the sled was the most vulnerable and he said quietly to Anton, "Aim for the one with the sled. Keep firing until it's dead." He then added with special emphasis, "Don't miss."

Vasile raised his crossbow just above the top of the shrubbery, took quick but careful aim and fired. Anton's arrow was hard on the tail of Vasile's and both of them lodged into the body of the vampire in quick succession, Vasile's landing in the back of its thigh just below the buttocks and Anton's piercing the side from behind and exiting out the front, through his stomach.

The vampire stumbled with a cry of pain as its blood splashed from out its wounds. The rest of the party turned to look at their fallen brother, but Vasile gave them no opportunity to recover, raising his second crossbow and placing a bolt with surgical precision in the neck just below the jaw. Anton was quick to unload another arrow, putting it through the stomach of the vampire now prostrate on the ground.

Fane, who was holding Nicoleta, dropped her and lunged for their brother, but Vad screeched, "Leave him! He's dead! Just the sled."

Fane grabbed the sled before Anton or Vasile could get a good shot, though Anton threw one wild, hasty shot that flew wide of its mark. Vasile told him, "Save your arrows."

Vasile's head fell under the weight of disappointment. The three remaining vampires continued on their way rapidly while Vasile and Anton watched them disappear.

Anton couldn't contain his anger and frustration and he pounded his fists against the nearest tree, finally letting out a few tears of frustration once he stopped. He sat down despondently. Vasile looked at him with concern as he reloaded both his crossbows.

Vasile admitted despondently, "We failed. But we still have a vampire we have to take care of."
Chapter 8

Into the Arms of the Coven

Vasile pulled out two bird-shaped masks and handed one to Anton. "This'll keep you from becoming infected," Vasile explained as he placed the mask on his head. Anton put on his mask and smelled the pungent odor of the vinegar and spices as he watched Vasile through the glass eye pieces.

"The smell keeps you from breathing in the infectious miasma, and turning you into a vampire," Vasile explained, "Try to breath through your nose."

Anton nodded, standing up and following Vasile forward towards the body. Vasile had both of his crossbows ready and pointed at the vampire, and Anton imitated him by pointing his longbow at the motionless creature.

"Keep your weapon ready," Vasile instructed, "They're still dangerous. If he's able to, he'll try to attack. And if he can attack, he'll kill."

There was no perceptible motion from the fallen vampire whom Vasile and Anton approached, but Vasile put two more crossbow bolts into the vampire's head and neck from a safe distance, while Anton, following his master's lead, put one arrow through the chest, just to be sure.

Assured that it was dead, Vasile stepped forward and placed the two hooks under the shoulders to drag it. Anton stepped forward to grab the rope and Vasile warned, "Remember, we don't want to get infected. Don't touch him. Don't let any of his blood touch you. Don't even let his smell touch your nose."

Anton nodded and began to pull, discovering that the vampire was incredibly heavy, especially for what looked to be a lean twenty-five year old male of only average height.

"They're very heavy," Vasile smiled understandingly with a small laugh, "And they only get heavier as they get older. This one's probably as old as I am."

"How can you tell?" Anton asked, inspecting the vampire with a puzzled look.

Vasile strained to think of a way to explain this to Anton. He finally said, "Vampires don't age like you and I. Once a person is infected they age towards their peak. If they're older than about their mid-twenties, they get younger; if they're a child, they get older. Once they hit their peak, they stop aging and just get stronger, heavier, leaner, and... well, to be honest, more beautiful. You'll be able to tell after a while. It's not something I can really teach you, just something you'll learn by experience."

Anton looked down at the vampire again, pierced through with arrows and bleeding from many wounds and saw the image of a martyred St. Sebastian he'd seen in a book once, bound and writhing while arrows pierced his body. The vampire was pale and slender like a sickly young adult, but strong as a horse and nearly flawless in handsomeness. It was a figure that looked at once attractive and yet also pitiable because it looked so weak and vulnerable.

"You'll find it's a long slog to Andrei's," Vasile said, interrupting Anton's musings, "And dangerous. This is the time when the vampires would most love to catch us. And we unfortunately can't just leave him here in the open until morning. We have to take him now."

Anton began to rapidly drag the body, while Vasile pulled with him alongside. When they finally reached Andrei's, the apothecary was at the door in a flash, putting on his cloak, hat, mask and gloves, and opening the way for them to enter.

He openly admired the vampire as they dragged it into the cauldron, saying with pleasure, "This one is very ripe." He explained to Anton, "The older vampires make better medicine. The vampire wares we get from them are more potent. Whatever it is that extends the lives of the vampires seems to accumulate in their body as they age."

Vasile removed his outer clothes, put them in a separate pot to heat and boil and instructed Anton to do the same, telling him, "This'll remove any of the infectious miasma that might have been absorbed in your clothes. We take many precautions."

Once he removed his own outer clothes, Andrei was eager to congratulate Anton on his first kill, rushing forward, shaking his hand and hugging him. Andrei added with excitement, "And we'll have to pay you of course. Let me get the gold right now." Andrei walked away, continuing to talk, "I pay Vasile monthly, but you and I can work out whatever schedule you prefer. For this first time we'll pay you some gold up front."

Andrei was still speaking while he was out of sight in the other room. When he returned Ileana was besides him in her nightdress.

"Your first kill already," she said to Anton and gave him a smile, then addressing Andrei, "You know what this means about me winning our bet?"

Andrei shook his head in disappointment at his wife and then dropped four beautiful gold coins into Anton's hand. Anton looked at the coins, silent and astonished. In his hand was as much money as his father would earn in a year.

Andrei explained the calculation, "This vampire weighed about two hundred twenty-five fonts, and I pay Vasile a font of gold for every five hundred fonts of vampire mass. That adds up to forty-five hundredths of a font of gold for you two, which is seventy-one and one tenth of a dram. Divide that by two and you each get thirty-five and fifty-five hundredths of a dram. So, that adds up to three ten-dram coins, with a little left over. But, as a gift for your first kill, we'll round it up. So, that adds up to 4 ten-dram coins."

Anton had nothing to say, and Andrei tried to encourage Anton's smile by spreading a large smile on his own face.

The only thing Anton could say was the understated comment, "My family will be pleased."

Despite this joyous occasion, Vasile had to deflate the mood. "Though we bagged the vampire, tonight was a failure," Vasile soberly admitted. Andrei and Ileana looked to Anton, who lowered his head and nodded.

Vasile continued, "Apparently there was an attack on Terem. We saw the signal and ran in that direction."

"It's been years since the vampires have launched any serious attack on Terem or anywhere, for that matter. They used to happen all the time, but the last time it happened Anton was probably still a boy. Now people just quietly disappear, and they don't even do that as much as they used to," Andrei said.

"The vampires aren't out at night as much," Vasile said, "As I said to you before: I think they're in decline. I can't imagine there's more than five or ten of them left in all. But as we were heading towards Terem, we saw four vampires and they had taken three females hostage. All three women appeared to be alive. And we couldn't stop them. We only got the one vampire."

"Alive? Why?" Ileana asked, "Have you seen them taking people alive before?"

"It's usually hard to say. It's hard to get a good look at something that's flashing by in the middle of the night," Vasile admitted, "Tonight they were definitely alive, but I don't know why?"

* * *

Madalina, Vad, Nicoleta, Sister Oana, Fane and the other vampire arrived at the coven soon after their encounter with Anton and Vasile. They had made quick progress on foot, zipping along at the pace of a horse at gallop until they reached the entrance of the coven.

Nestled in the base of a dry channel surrounded by a thick throng of trees, the entrance was covered with a canopy of shrubs, which they had to push through. Beneath the shrubbery was a large, heavy stone. It appeared to be immovable and set into the ground, but Vad, a strong and aged vampire, lifted it with ease. The stone hinged on one end so that it opened like the mouth of an alligator, revealing the entrance to a cave. Once everyone was within the entryway, Vad lowered the stone.

Madalina's eyes had adjusted to the sparse light of night, but once the stone was lowered into place, all light was snuffed and it was complete blackness. Madalina heard movement in the darkness and when she looked in one direction she could see the faint outlines of light. A moment later there was a knock and a door opened. Orange, flickering light appeared and she could see two silhouetted shapes standing in the doorway. She followed Vad and the vampires down a sloping path.

She could barely see her feet in front of her, but the floor looked clean and the walls looked flat and smooth. The ceiling was held up by supports in the form of a series of archways through which she passed. The archways themselves were made of metal-reinforced wood, which was polished and painted. From what she could see, the hallway through which she was passing looked more like the entryway to some great castle than to the underground hovel or rude cave that she imagined.

As they moved further down, the light grew brighter. It was dim and still quite difficult to see, but she could make out the outlines in the hallway. When they turned a corner, a great room lit by a selection of scattered fires opened up before her.

The room was enormous, larger than the interior of the church she'd attended at the convent. The ceiling was as high as a tree, perhaps ten times the height of an adult, and the length and breadth of it were even longer than the height. The ceiling was supported by four rows of round, stone columns, decorated with ornate capitals, displaying images of vampires carved into their surface. The floor of the place had been flattened and tiled, with a central mosaic of a dragon in the middle. At one end was a raised platform with a chair, apparently a throne, now empty. The rest of the room was crowded with vampires mulling around, waiting perhaps, and talking in their strident voices, which collectively sounded like the sound of a distant waterfall.

As the vampires in the room heard the returning group approaching they turned to look up to Vad, Madalina and the others.

The returning group was, at this point, on a walkway that was raised above the room, and Vad led Madalina down a set of stairs until they were at the level of the other vampires, whose many eyes stared intently at her the whole time.

In this massive room, known as the Great Hall, were some sixty vampires, and they watched the group now entering. Madalina stood to the side of and behind Vad, while the other two vampires, who bore Sister Oana and Nicoleta prisoner, stood behind her.

Asha arrived, with a large shout of, "Stand Aside!" The crowd of vampires parted down the middle, and she walked towards the throne without impediment. Asha wore a simple beige dress, but behind her trailed a long cloak of thick, ornamented fur, which dragged along the tiles behind her.

When she reached the platform, she turned around, pulled the cloak up towards her and dropped it onto the ground.

She sat down on the throne with relaxed confidence. Her radiant face had the severity of a person of power and experience, a person who measures time in centuries and expects to never die. The dress she wore hung on her body loosely, like a toga with a belt around the waist. It was in stark contrast to the typical puffed-out, hoop-skirt dresses that one would find in the courts of the aristocracy. The loose light fabric of Asha's dress was something more appropriate to the warmth of the Mediterranean than to the cold winters of middle Europe. Thigh-length, sleeveless, and with a low neck line, it revealed the physical perfection of Asha's body, her pale white, flawless skin, her precise curves and the strength of her, sleek, toned muscles.

"Send those prisoners off," Asha said, screeching her command to the vampires that were carrying Sister Oana and Nicoleta. Madalina watched as Fane and the other vampire dragged Madalina's two acquaintances from the convent down a separate cave.

"Present yourself!" Asha said, addressing Vad and Madalina. Vad started to move towards the front of the room, grabbing Madalina by the hand to take her with him.

Once there, Asha said to Vad with a certain personal intimacy, "This is the girl who will join our coven?"

"Yes," Vad replied, and Asha asked, addressing Madalina, "Name?"

"Madalina," she replied.

Asha addressed herself to Vad and said, "And you agree to be the one to infect her, before all these witnesses, understanding all the risks burdens and responsibilities this entails."

"Yes," Vad responded, "I agree to take care of her. She is my responsibility."

"And you're willing to become infected, understanding all the risks burdens and responsibilities that entails?" Asha said, now addressing Madalina.

Madalina had no understanding of the risks, burdens or responsibilities that Asha was referring to. She was aware of certain limitations of being a vampire, such as being unable to see the sun anymore and her dependence on humans for food, but she was otherwise ignorant of what a life she was trading her convent for. Nonetheless, she told Asha, "I'm willing."

"So be it," Asha said. From a sheath she drew a dagger and raised it so that everyone could see. She said to Vad, "This will be your sacrifice." She grabbed his hand, pulling it toward her and exposing his wrist.

Delicately she sliced across his wrist, to open a small sliver in his skin. A single dark red drop of precious blood appeared and swelled at the surface.

Vad turned to Madalina and said to her, "Drink."

She looked uncomfortably at the blood before her. It appeared neither appealing nor appetizing.

Embarrassed by her reticence, Vad shouted at her once more "Drink!" grabbing her head and pulling it towards his wrist.

She put her lips to his wrist, and took the large drop in her mouth. The salty, bitter taste touched her tongue and she swallowed it. She backed away and looked up at Vad, and he nodded to her to indicate that she'd done well.

Vad warned, "You'll feel light-headed. You'll develop a fever. You may pass out. It should subside in a day. If you survive, you'll be a vampire."

Madalina's eyes spread wide open. She hadn't been told there was some chance of death. She wanted to protest with anger, but she was starting to feel the effects of the infection as her body rebelled against the pathogens swirling in her blood. Her head was feeling light, and she was sapped by a growing weakness that was taking her legs from beneath her.

Vad reached forward and picked her up in his arms. Her forehead was already beading with sweat and she felt as if the whole world was disappearing from her. Before she lost her consciousness, she heard Vad say to her, "Don't worry. I'll take care of you."

* * *

Anton slept deeply that day after the hard exertion of last night. The four coins he'd earned were in the pocket of the shirt he wore to sleep, and, when he woke up in the afternoon, they jangled in his pocket.

When he stepped into the dining room of Andrei's abode, the room was empty. A large table was spread with a beautiful white tablecloth and a loaf of bread with some cheese wrapped in a blanket beside it. He eagerly tore off some bread and placed some bits of cheese he broke off onto it and began to eat.

Ileana heard him and entered the room. When she saw him, she said to him, "I hope you slept well. How about I help you break your fast with some eggs and beer?"

She returned a few minutes later with some boiled eggs and a frothing mug of beer. Anton opened the eggs and wolfed them down between large gulps of beer, with little attempt at civility.

"Slow down, slow down," Ileana cheerily admonished.

She brought out a small bowl of the same foul-tasting vampire wares that he'd eaten the day before, along with a steaming bowl of beef stew, remarking, "We got the stew cooking up for Andrei's dinner tonight. You might try mixing in the medicine with the stew to take the edge off the taste."

"Are you crazy?" Anton replied, "That'll just ruin the stew. It smells too delicious to be ruined."

"Suite yourself," she said. Anton raised the brown liquid to his lips and closed his nose while he put it in his mouth. It tasted at once sweet and rotten, like rancid milk mixed with honey, with a hint of sour like an unripe berry. He could feel it coating the interior of his mouth and slipping down his throat with a stench that wouldn't wash away no matter how many gulps of beer he took.

After Anton finished eating, he announced to Ileana, "I'm going to visit my family."

Ileana said, "Alright. But don't be too long. Vasile will be up shortly and I'm sure he'll want to train before dark—target practice with the bows and knives and all that."

"I'll be quick," Anton said, and he rushed out through the back of the house. He tried to rush home, but the food weighed heavily in his stomach, and the overpowering taste of the vampire medicine was still in his mouth.

When he saw his family's farmhouse, he felt like it'd been an eternity since he'd seen it, even though it'd only been some two days. Apparently his sister's Constanta felt the same way, since she joyously ran out to come greet him with her arms outstretched.

"Oh, brother, I worry so much about you. These past two nights I've been dreaming about you being bled dry by some frightening vampire. It's horrible."

They walked inside and his mother who was baking bread was there to meet them. Anton's father, Josif, was soon to follow. He still looked displeased and asked earnestly, "Does this mean you've given up this vampire-hunting business?"

"No, father," Anton said, and he reached to his pockets to pull out his gold. He placed the four coins on the table, saying, "My formidable hunting skills earned me this. One for each of us."

The three of them marveled incredulously at the wealth that he'd thrown on the table.

Anton turned to his father, saying, "I told you vampire-hunting would be worth it. I told you I would lift us out of this rut. What do you say now father? This is only my first week."

Constanta and Viorica were dazzled by the coins and picked up one each, his mother asking, "For us? This is too much."

His sister gushed and gave Anton a warm hug saying, "I have the most wonderful brother, ever."

Anton's father picked up his coin, bit it and inspected it closely. He said, "What am I going to do with this? I can't pay for anything with gold coins. Am I supposed to go down to the blacksmith and buy a horseshoe with one of these? Cornel wouldn't have enough money in his whole store to change this."

"I can get Andrei to change it for you," Anton sighed with growing frustration.

"Then you can just give him back the whole coin," Josif sneered, "We don't need his charity."

"It's not charity!" Anton said, starting to yell, "I bagged a vampire. I mean, we, Vasile and I, did. We shot him through with half a dozen arrows, and this is what Andrei paid us."

"Oh my God," Constanta exclaimed, "I should thank heaven you weren't killed."

"You'll see that I was right to try to prevent you," Josif said, pointing his finger directly at Anton, "I just pray that you figure it out before you end up dead."

Anton had hoped that his visit with his family would raise his spirits, but it had failed to do so. They invited him for dinner, but he said that Vasile was expecting him and that he needed to commence training.

He walked out the door and Constanta walked him down the road some way so she could talk with him alone.

"Are you happy with this apprenticeship big brother?" she asked, "Do you like hunting?"

"It's terrifying," he answered, "The vampires are so cold and powerful. And it's even scarier to see them up close. I don't have much of an appetite for killing. But I've only just started. Things will improve. Though, I do miss spending time with you three—especially you."

"I love my big brother too," she said, giving him a big hug, "But I worry about you. If you died out there, it'd be horrible. I'd be all alone, and so very sad. I need a big brother to protect me."

"I always have protected you and I always will. You'll see," he assured her, adding, "You know what I'm going to do for you? I'm going to use my money to buy you some of Andrei's vampire medicines." He expected this to make her happy, but when he turned to look at Constanta, her reaction was less than positive. A disgusted look spread across her face. Anton said, "They'll make you stronger and healthier and more beautiful. You won't get sick anymore."

"I don't want to eat that," Constanta said, continuing to embellish the look of disgust on her face, "It's made from dead vampires. Yuck. It's almost like cannibalism."

"No, it's just like the medicine that old apothecaries make from human corpses and mummies—they take dried bones and grind them up and such. But these genuinely work. Vampire wares are just like any other medicine. And besides, it's not really cannibalism. Vampires aren't people. They're monsters. Evil vicious monsters that would grab you out of your bed at night if it weren't for Vasile and I."

Constant remained unconvinced, but she was willing to concede, just for the sake of placating her brother. "I guess I can try," she said.

This made Anton happy and he promised wholeheartedly to bring her something within the next few days.

He was then off, returning to Andrei's where he found Vasile impatiently waiting for him. Vasile told him as soon as he arrived, "We've got training to do. We'll start with the longbow. And we need to start practicing your crossbow handling and knife-throwing."

That afternoon, the two of them doggedly practiced until the setting of the sun, after which they went out for an unsuccessful night's hunt.
Chapter 9

Lucian

The next day Vallaya was astir with the return of Magistrate Lucian. He rolled into town in his elegant horse-drawn carriage, his usual powdered wig atop his head and a large smile on his face as he stepped out of the carriage door. Though he had not publicly announced it, the word had spread throughout Vallaya that it was concerning a treaty between vampires and humans. Lucian had met almost no dissent in his attempt to convince all of the nearby towns and villages as well as the landed aristocracy of the region to join him in this agreement.

When Andrei heard the sound of the horses and stepped out of his shop to see who it was, he saw Lucian, glowing with joy, waving to Andrei when he saw him. He could see that Lucian's quest had been successful in the way that Lucian glowed and swaggered. Beniamin, Lucian's secretary, seemed pleased with himself too and followed behind Lucian, if not with the same swagger and confidence, at least with the same pleasure of success.

Lucian approached Andrei and said, "How are you doing? It's so good to see you. You can't imagine how successful my trip was. I'm calling a town meeting. Maybe we can get everyone together tomorrow evening. Does that sound good? Is your lovely wife back? It'll be a pleasure to see her once again. I thank God every time she returns from one of those dangerous trips. It's so risky for a woman alone on these roads. I hope you're not bitter about this agreement. It's not good for you, but it is for the greater good. Without vampires to kill, your business won't be quite as lucrative I imagine. Though it seems like you have huge stocks of those vampire wares, which should take many months, maybe years to sell out. I think Vasile should be the one more disappointed. Though I've heard he has gold enough stored away to live like a king for the rest of his life." Lucian's words poured out of him in one continuous stream. He didn't bother to wait for answers to any of his questions, and finished up his sustained monologue by saying, "I'll see you tomorrow, it's been good talking to you," and shook Andrei's hand before he walked away.

* * *

That day Madalina woke from an awful sleep. In her fevered delirium she had dreamt many unpleasant dreams. In one, she had tried to return to the convent and the sisters rejected her and labeled her a witch and prepared to tie her up with her sheets and set her atop a pyre. In another, while walking in the forest, she was trapped in a net and bit by a vampire she didn't know on the neck, and it caused her blood to boil like it was molten lead.

When she awoke, the sheets she lay in were soaked with her sweat and were wrapped tightly around her due to all of the wriggling and squirming in her sleep. She felt like her whole body was in agony. All of her muscles ached, and her skin burned. It felt like she had been dipped in a bubbling cauldron and had been subsequently tenderized by a large mallet all night. Her throat was scratchy and sore, as if she had swallowed an acorn whole. Even her blood felt like it was in pain as it pumped through her veins.

Her first thought as she opened her eyes was that she was in her bed in the convent, and she turned to look beside her with the full expectation of seeing Dorina and Nicoleta across the room, but instead she only saw a wall. The memory of what had transpired, slowly dawned on her, and she looked around with apprehension at her new surroundings.

The room where she lay was beautifully decorated with tapestries hung on the walls, elaborate patterns painted onto the ceiling and a beautiful rug covering the floor. A wooden ceiling and a tiled floor covered the bare rock of the cave. A single candle illuminated the whole room, which was devoid of windows. Three doors led, respectively into a small toilet compartment, into an expansive wardrobe and out of the room into the hallway.

She decided to explore the room, even though her body was profoundly weak and she ached all over. Stepping out of the bed, she discovered, first of all, how cold the room was, and she shivered in her light nightdress. She hobbled over to the door to the toilet compartment and discovered Vad's private toilet, which drained into a communal pit. She was quite impressed; a private toilet was a luxury she'd never had.

When she walked over to the wardrobe, she found an array of clothes hung and folded: cloaks, gloves, elegant suits and a large collection of casual shirts and trousers of a soft, airy material she liked the touch of.

When she tried to door out into the hall, she found it locked and walked back to the bed. She could see just how ornate the bed was. The bedspread that covered it was an intricately embroidered fabric, replete with swirling shapes and designs. Underneath it were several layers of sheets, and beneath that were the many layers of cushioning that nestled her to sleep through the night. She climbed back in and relaxed in the soothing softness of the padding, sinking into the warmth that enveloped her.

Within a few minutes, the door opened and Vad entered. He saw immediately that Madalina was awake, and he approached her to inspect her more closely and feel her forehead.

"How am I doing?" she asked weakly.

"If you're alive, you're doing well. But the danger hasn't passed. We still must wait."

Vad pushed back her lips to look at her teeth, and said with approval, "Good."

Madalina felt with her tongue what he was referring to. Her canines seemed slightly longer, and her incisors also appeared to have grown. Seeing a vampire from up close, she could see that Vad's canine teeth were considerably longer than a human's, and that his incisors had also grown longer and more pointed. She could imagine those large, sharp teeth tearing into human flesh, which prompted her to ask, "Food for me?"

"You're not ready," he told her, asking, "You were Madalina, right?"

She nodded, "Yes."

He said, "From now on, we'll simply call you 'Lina.' You're our first Lina."

Lina asked in a weak and helpless voice, "When will I be better?"

Vad said in a way that seemed to her like callous indifference, "If we're lucky, soon. If we're not, never."

She felt his coldness like the sting of reproach. She was still unfamiliar with the vampires' manners, and she was especially unaware of what responsibilities this vampire had willingly taken on when he'd infected her.

* * *

That same morning Magistrate Lucian covertly exited his office in the church and snuck into the forest. He promptly walked in the direction of the vampire coven, constantly checking his back to make sure that no one had seen him. He was most worried about his secretary, Beniamin, whom he'd sent on an errand to speak with a few of the local farmers. This would hopefully keep him away for a few hours and leave Lucian plenty of time to perform his errand and return.

After some considerable walking, he could see in the distance the dry channel and thick nest of trees that surrounded the entrance to the coven. He plowed into the shrubs, through which he had to pass to reach the entrance. He had tried before to pick up the large rock that furnished the door to their coven but had been unsuccessful. When he tried it now, straining with all his might to raise the stone, he again made no progress.

Fortunately, there was a small hole in the ground that provided air and light to the interior of the coven. He tramped off in that direction. Some thirty paces away from the entrance a large boulder partially jutted out of the ground. It was cracked down the middle, forming two separate large pieces, between which was a significant gap. The gap appeared to simply look downward into an empty blackness, but it, in fact, extended into the cave of the coven.

Lucian put his mouth to this gap and called out loudly, "It's Lucian. Open the entrance. I can't open it."

He put his ear to the gap to listen for a sound of response. A few seconds later he heard a distinct shout, "Open it for Lucian."

Lucian hustled back to the stone, which now was gradually opening. It was only opened partially and Lucian had to descend to his knees and crawl through. On the other side a vampire, wearing his hooded cloak and gloves and a head-covering to protect his skin looked down at Lucian and closed the rock once Lucian was inside. In the darkness, Lucian rose to his feet, and the inner, wooden door was opened.

Lucian passed through, now walking downward through the entry hall, and finally turning the corner to reach the main room of the coven, the Great Hall. The room was almost empty, except for two vampires performing routine cleaning and maintenance. During the daylight hours, two small shafts of sunlight lit the room to a dim twilight. They were angled so that no direct light would ever touch a vampire. One of the shafts of light, penetrating through the hole that Lucian had spoken through, pointed directly downwards and terminated on an outcropping of rock. The other light, at the opposite end, angled sideways and terminated in a wall. The vampires didn't want to have to move around within their coven with cloaks and black clothes, as they found these stiflingly hot. For this reason, any direct daylight had to be redirected so it would not strike the skin of the loosely clothed vampires.

Asha was called into the room, and she walked to her throne, while Lucian stood waiting. "What is it?" she asked.

Lucian deferentially bowed to Asha and humbly reported, "I've visited and spoken with officials from all of the local villages, visited Count Gabor, a local landlord, as well as visited representatives of the Bathorys and Zapolyas, two of the biggest aristocratic families of the region. None of them have objected to your agreement to end vampire-human killings, and all said they are willing to honor it, so long as the vampires are faithful in their part."

"So you'll make a written agreement and we'll sign?" Asha asked.

"Yes, preferably in public, so they can see you when you're signing. It will make the peasants more willing to go along with it and make the agreement more binding."

"You want me to travel to Vallaya to sign?"

Lucian bowed his head and tentatively suggested, "It would be better if we did it in Terem. That's the biggest village around here. I know it's a longer journey for you. I can provide you with a carriage. You'll travel in comfort."

"What I have to do to please you filthy creatures," she complained, "The carriage must be dark. Were you able to persuade them to destroy those infernal vampire medicines and stop the execrable practice of consuming our dead?"

"No," Lucian admitted, lowering his head, "They benefit from it too much, and I wasn't able to offer them anything in exchange. Unless you could give them some concession. I don't know exactly what, but..."

"You really are despicable creatures," Asha frowned and added through gritted teeth, "This agreement will have to do for now. But don't consider it our last."

Asha fell into thought after having said these things and started staring off into the distance. Lucian waited in silence for her to continue. He asked her cautiously, "Am I permitted to leave, now?"

"Yes," Asha said, "But remember, until this deal is completed, your debts are yet to be discharged."

"Yes," Lucan bowed with deference. He turned to leave with relief. The confines of this coven still troubled him deeply, and he looked on the walls of the cave with apprehension, an apprehension birthed by the most unpleasant experiences.

Some several weeks ago, he, his wife, and their two daughters had been snatched directly from their home by a series of nets wielded by the vampires, whisked from their beds as easily as an eagle plucks a fish from the water. The vampires had dragged them through the forest and had thrown them to the ground in the Great Hall.

Once there, he had beheld a terrifying sight: numbers of vampires that he hadn't imagined possible, more than fifty vampires, perhaps sixty. They stood around him in a crowd in the dim light of the cave, leering at him hungrily.

He had immediately begun to beg, "Please spare our lives. Please don't eat us. For the love of God, don't eat us. I'll do whatever you want. I'll do anything," over and over again. He had been surprised at his own willingness to degrade himself when not only his own life but also the lives of his whole family were on the line. All the while, Asha had sat on her throne, listening to his pleadings with pleasure and with patience. When he had looked at her, he had thought he saw a sympathetic face. He had thought he saw the face of a fellow human who would be swayed by his humble supplication. But in the end, she had only ordered to have him put in a cage with his wife and children.

They had been dragged down a cave, thrown behind a door, and locked inside. The four of them had been left alone in the dark in some subterranean room, dank and musty and so eerily silent. He had called out to the vampires over and over again to let him go, insisting that he would do whatever they wanted. He would give them endless mountains of gold and jewels and anything they could want. But it had been to no avail.

In complete darkness, he had had no sense of time, and there he had waited. Alone with his thoughts, he had dwelt on his apparently inevitable fate. He had imagined the vampires tearing off his flesh, eating his body until they were licking the blood from his bones. He had imagined that they would then grind his bones until they were dust, which would blow away in the wind, and then they would do the same to his wife and daughters.

Vampires had come to bring them food, and in the process had told him that they would start by eating his youngest daughter, since the young ones tasted best. They had seemed to salivate as they looked at her, only eight years old, her glowing hair and her innocent eyes only sheltered from the horror by her own naiveté, which had been unable to grasp the gravity of their situation. He had begged them to take him and spare his family, but they had insisted that his daughters would make mouthwatering delicacies.

In this way, they had worked upon his desperation until it had been raised to such a high pitch, that he would agree to anything to spare his family. And only then had Asha been ready tell him what he'd have to do.

When Asha had brought him to the foot of her throne, he had expected the worst, that he would have to kill some person who'd earned the enmity of the vampires, or perhaps that he would have to desecrate some holy place (for it was rumored everywhere that the vampires were haters of God and of Christ). He had been prepared to do it. He had been prepared to kill every soul in his village, even if he had to carve a crucifix into a stake and stab every last one of them through the heart, one by one; he had been prepared to stab nuns and set fire to churches and commit every sin. For his family, he had been willing to do it.

All she had wanted, however, was to negotiate an end to the violence. She had wanted Vasile to stop killing her kind and any future vampire hunting to be prevented. She had wanted, in fact, all killing of vampires to be strictly forbidden. And, in exchange, not only would she spare the life of Lucian and his family, but her coven would also agree to stop killing humans. He hadn't asked why she would want to do this. All he had known was that it was the most wonderful thing he'd heard in his life, and he had readily agreed.

After Magistrate Lucian had assented to Asha's agreement, he and his family had been released. Asha had told him that she would visit him when she was ready to formally begin their agreement. That had been several weeks ago.

When Lucian and his family had returned to their home after having been absent for almost three days, people had questioned where they'd been. He and his family had looked tired and disheveled, and when their servant had greeted them at the door of their home, Lucian had had to provide them with lies. He had told them that they had been summoned to the home of a sick relative.

After reflecting for a few moments on the history of his experience in the caves of this coven, Lucian exited through the entrance from which he'd entered, with the same vampire raising the stone to let him out again, and he returned to his office in the town hall to plan for the future town meeting.

* * *

While Lucian visited, Lina rested in Vad's capacious bed. As time passed, the unpleasantness slowly subsided from her body. Her head still exploded with the sensation of a profound headache; her muscles still ached and she still felt overall unhappy and displeased. But this time when Vad came in, felt her forehead and inspected her teeth, he told her, "The period of danger is over. You shouldn't have to worry about getting sick—ever again."

Lina smiled weakly when Vad told this to her and thanked him for his help.

"Don't thank me yet," he told her, "You still have yet to try your food."

The smile fell from her face, and she looked anxiously at a wooden bowl that he now carried towards her. She sat up and looked at it. A thick red, syrupy fluid swayed back and forth as he moved the bowl towards her.

"Drink," he said.

The liquid was warm, and it emitted an odor that was new to her and she didn't find pleasant. "Blood?" she asked.

"Among other things," he said.

"Is it of anyone I know?" she asked, the possibility that this might be the last remains of Nicoleta or Sister Oana popping into her head.

"You will drink it," he answered, "When you've drunk this, you will be a vampire and a member of this coven for now and forever."

Lina looked around. For the first time, she noticed that innumerable vampires were crowding at the door to Vad's room. She could barely see them in the dim light, but their presence urged her insistently to drink. She couldn't back down with all those eyes watching. She took the bowl in her hands, and she touched it to her lips. Her feelings were overwhelmed by guilt as she imagined herself consuming her former acquaintances, but she pushed forward. The warm liquid flowed into her mouth and down her throat, and she emptied the bowl in several large gulps.

The taste was familiar. She'd cut herself many times in her life, such as on her fingers or on her hand, and when she put the wound to her mouth to relieve that pain, it transferred to her tongue the same flavor she now tasted. But the sweetness of her own blood was no longer the same when she tasted someone else's blood. It disgusted her. The disgust was not in the taste itself, but in the idea of tasting someone else's blood, especially of someone deceased. Still, she could not show her disgust. She had to present the best she could make of a smile to all those who watched.

"This will be your bread and butter from now on. Forever," Vad told her, "Don't worry. You'll grow to love it."

From behind Vad, out of the shadows, Asha emerged and told Lina, "Welcome, Lina, to our coven. If Vad has deemed you worthy to join us, I'm sure that you more than are." Asha tenderly kissed Lina on the cheek and left. Then from the halls of the coven the loud sound of a collective howl emerged, as all the vampires at once celebrated the entrance of a new member to their numbers.

When everyone had left and Vad and Lina were alone she asked, "Who is that woman who was just here. She was in the throne before. She's so beautiful."

"Asha," Vad said, "Our ruler. The first and oldest vampire among us."

"How did she become ruler?"

"Because she is the oldest. To become oldest she had to kill several vampires that preceded her. But this was decades ago."

"Why don't others near the top kill her?"

"Because they know they'll fail," Vad responded, "She is strong, agile—dangerous. And many would defend her. Most of us like her. She has transformed this coven for the better."

"How?"

Vad laughed at her, "You ask endless questions. Like a curious little child. She has changed this coven by bringing order to it. You'll see. I'll tell you more about it in due time. For now, you rest. That first drink will tire you as much as if you've eaten a harvest feast. You must sleep."

* * *

Late that afternoon, in the forests near Vallaya, while the sun was still above the horizon, Vasile and Anton trained. Vasile forced Anton to fire shot after shot from his longbow into a tree. Anton's skill with the longbow was already quite developed, and it showed. From one hundred paces, he was able to consistently place his arrow into the center of the trunk he aimed for.

When Anton tried his hand at the crossbow, though, he was not nearly as successful, flying wide of his target with most of his shots. Anton and Vasile were constantly searching behind the tree to fetch the crossbow bolts that he'd thrown off target.

Vasile explained as they searched, "The crossbow isn't as accurate as the longbow, but it is easier to aim and more effective. I've modified the bolts of the crossbow so that they induce more bleeding."

The shaft of the crossbow was much thinner than the arrow's. The head of the bolt consisted of two iron arrowheads, crossing perpendicularly to one another. The arrowheads were not parallel with the shaft, and in fact curved partly around the shaft, like ribbons curling around a maypole.

"The curved arrowheads do more damage to the flesh when they penetrates the skin," Vasile explained, "The most important thing is to get vampires to bleed. Unless you can hit them in a vital organ such as the brain or heart, which can kill them immediately in one shot, it's blood loss that will weaken and ultimately kill them. The problem with most arrows is that the shaft of it mostly plugs up the hole when it penetrates, and they don't bleed as much. This is why I use larger arrowheads and thinner shafts."

They practiced by throwing the knife, which Anton greatly struggled with. His knives either slapped against the tree with their handles or weren't being thrown hard enough for the blade to penetrate. Vasile warned him, "If you use the knife, keeping your distance is important. The last thing you want to do is get any of their blood on you. Close combat with vampires is simply not feasible."

When they went out to hunt that evening, they saw nothing. The vampires were quiet and Vasile told him, "You have to take solace in your one and only kill. Our days of vampire hunting are probably numbered."
Chapter 10

The Pen

Lucian's meeting was convened the next day in the early evening. Crowds sat on the pews of the church. Everyone of importance was there. Andrei and his wife Ileana sat next to each other, speaking quietly and confidentially. Cornel, the blacksmith, sat in the middle, still wearing his work attire, not speaking to anyone but sitting stiff and confidently in his calm and stoic way, his short black hair combed for the evening. Beniamin sat near the pulpit in colorful, formal dress, anxiously reading a long scroll. He sporadically stopped to adjust his wig, or straighten his jacket. Josif sat in one corner in his dirty work clothes, huddled by himself and with a posture of anger and bitterness. He stared at his son, Anton, who sat next to Vasile and hadn't addressed his father. Josif's eyes burned into Anton's back, but the boy wouldn't turn around to notice them, occasionally trading words with Vasile but mostly remaining silent.

After some minutes of waiting, Lucian emerged from his office, dressed formally in doublet and hose, his usual white, powdered wig on top. He bowed before the crowd with extra flourish and began his speech, "My fellow villagers, I have called this meeting to apprise you of the latest developments, development which I think you will find eminently fortuitous in our situation. As you know, the threat of the vampires has been a peril looming over our village since long before any of us here crawled from our mother's womb. Yet, nothing has been done about it, except to lock ourselves in at night and pray that the vampires fail to knock down these flimsy doors we hide behind. That is, nothing has been done about it—until now.

"In the interest of all citizens of Vallaya—and in fact of all citizens of this great land and of Ardeal and Valahia and all our neighboring countries—I have taken it upon myself to negotiate an end to all hostilities between vampires and humans, from hereon and in perpetuity."

Lucian's announcement brought a sudden clamor of speech from the crowd. Many people had already anticipated this development and it only confirmed that the rumors were true. Yet still, to hear it now from Lucian's lips brought emotions pouring out. Many of the citizens cried out in celebration, including Josif, who cheered on the news with a vociferous shout. Others among the crowd expressed quiet hostility and anxiety towards the vampires.

"No longer will we have to fear them stealing our children at night!" Lucian jubilantly announced, trying to ride the wave of excitement from the crowd, "No longer will we have to fear them raiding our towns. The threat of the vampires is over, from hereon and in perpetuity. One day in the future we will look back on this era with a quaint reminiscence and wonder what it was that made us once so afraid. We will say to ourselves, 'what could've made us cower in fear? These vampires are our neighbors, and our friends.' For, from now on, the monsters of the night are no more monsters but companions.

"From now on anyone caught murdering a vampire will be treated the same as any other murderer. No longer will vampire killers be excepted from our rights and laws. And we no longer from theirs: we shall be given the privilege to punish vampires who commit crimes against us, the same as if it were one of our own. Today we leave behind those old fears and embrace a new prosperity in which progress will no longer be hindered by fear and in which possibilities will reach higher than we once thought possible."

"When will this agreement take effect?" Andrei cut in at this point. It appeared as if Lucian had quite a few more words to say, though not really any new information to convey.

"We will make an official announcement at Terem, in three days. A binding agreement will be signed before all present, and our town's practice of vampire hunting will cease to be legal, and, the great power of God be thanked, will cease to be necessary or desirable as well."

Anton looked at Vasile, who gripped Anton's shoulder to comfort him. He quietly told Anton, "We'll continue to hunt until the agreement is signed. I promise we'll bag you another kill before you have to go back to farming."

At the end of the meeting, Andrei's only response was to quietly tell Ileana, "We'll have to raise the prices on our vampire wares to control supply."

Anton could not react so calmly. Once back at Andrei's, he unleashed the full passion of his disappointment and despair. He pounded the walls, he wept and cursed himself for his stupidity. "My father was right and I was such a damn fool!" he told himself over and over again as he hurled tears from his eyes and fell to his knees.

It was only with great difficulty that Vasile was able to coax him into attending the hunt that evening. Anton's stubbornness tried the patience of even the infinitely patient Vasile, who told him, "Our time is limited. We must get out there and do our work as soon as possible."

Anton could only moan and complain, "What's the point? It makes no difference. I might as well just go back to father, concede that he was right and give up this whole business."

Eventually Anton did concede, and he followed Vasile out that night, but they found no success.

The next afternoon, Anton went to Andrei's and purchased the vampire medicine that he had promised Constanta. Andrei had a dizzying variety of different products, which Ileana explained for Anton, "We have medicines for bones, skin, liver, brain, eyes, and more. They're made from the respective parts of the vampire's body: the bone formula is made from vampire bones, and the skin formula from vampire skin and so on. Just make a request. We also have a general formula, which is a mixture of most of the varieties together. It's not quite as potent as the individual medicines, and if you've got a particular problem, I'd recommend getting something specifically for that. But it is our most popular product and good for general health."

Anton indicated he'd like the mixture. Ileana brought to him a small wooden box, which was tied closed with a string. Ileana carefully opened it to display the contents inside. Wrapped in a red cloth was a brown mixture, ground down like grains in a mill to a course powder that emitted an awful stench.

Ileana continued to explain: "Our products are of the finest quality. Our philosophy of business is that reputation is as valuable and easily swept away as gold dust, and the only way you're going to weigh down your reputation is with consistent, high quality. We could dilute our products with dirt or chalk or human remains, but we don't because they wouldn't work as well; some of our customers would notice and our reputation would be trashed. We might be able to sell, but we couldn't continue to demand the same high prices without the reputation. That means we wouldn't make nearly as much money as we do now. So, we also aim for the best possible quality."

Anton brought the medicine to his little sister, who was glad to see her brother and happy to receive presents, but looked on this particular present, with mixed emotion. "It's very kind of you, brother," she acknowledged with a forced smile. Anton pressed her to eat some immediately, to see how her body responded.

Anton told Constanta, as she held the vampire medicine: "You'll want to mix it with something." He fetched a bowl of boiled oats and mixed in some of the medicine. It made the otherwise lightly flavored oatmeal potently awful. But Constanta ate it down to appease her brother.

After retching a bit at the taste, she calmed down and could begin to feel the effect. It was overwhelming. She could feel it inside her body like a vapor slowly suffusing from the pit of her stomach to her fingertips and toes. A rush of energy, which surged through her body, followed behind.

She leapt up and told Anton, "This is the most wonderful thing I've ever eaten in my life," and kissed Anton profusely on his cheeks, leaping about and cheering with excitement.

Anton smiled and said, "Wow! It seems to work even better for you than for me. I'll definitely have to get as much as I can for you."

* * *

Lina too was feeling better. The feeling of sickness was subsiding and her state of health continued to improve even beyond its previous norm. Soon it felt like her body was humming like the string of a violin. She felt like she could run a thousand miles without getting tired and could leap over the tops of the trees. Her body also felt much warmer than it had before. She seemed to pump heat out of her innards like an oven, like someone could stuff raw dough inside her and pull out a baked loaf some minutes later.

"You're recovered," Vad told her as he entered his room and saw her energetically hopping around, "Let me show you around."

They stepped out of the room, into a hallway extending in both directions with doors on either side, all of them leading to the vampires' private bedrooms. Up a set of stairs to one side was another level, with more of the same doors. On the wood surface of all the doors animals were carved in relief to distinguish one door from another. Vad's door had carved into it the image of a horse with its four legs extended in a full gallop while the hair of its mane streamed in the wind.

Vad led Lina up a set of stairs to a door on the upper level, which, unlike the lower level, was a curved hallway, with rooms only on one side. At the far end was a door inscribed with the image of a cat, standing on its two hind feet while its forepaws extended forward as if it were actively scratching some unseen foe.

Vad opened the door and told her, "Here is your room." Lina's room had a fine bed, with a good carpet spread on the ground and some decoration on the wall. "It formerly belonged to Tan, who was killed shortly before you and I met," Vad explained.

She didn't like it quite so much as she'd liked Vad's room: it seemed smaller, less elegantly decorated and was further away, but she was still delighted. "I've never had a room all to myself. I don't even know what I should do with it," she said.

As she stepped inside, she noticed, next to her bed hanging on the wall, a small mirror made from polished silver and glass, and she looked at an image she didn't often have a chance to look at. She'd never been proud of her face. She knew she was a girl of no particular beauty: she had an irregular face that was too long with a crooked nose, sunken eyes and an absent chin. But something about her face seemed to be different now that she studied it closely. She raised her lips and closely inspected her teeth, which continued to grow, her canines now significantly protruded and her incisors more pointed and sharp.

Lina remembered that Vad was standing there waiting for her, since he had more of the caves to show her. He watched her with a smile as she inspected herself. She sheepishly apologized and followed behind while he led her down the hallways.

Returning to the lower level, he led her deeper into the bowels of the cave. Their first stop was a room Vad identified as the granary. She only took a peak inside. She saw large overflowing sacks of wheat, barley, onions, potatoes, cheese, and more.

She asked, "What is this for? I didn't think you vampires ate this food."

He didn't answer her question directly, but with a smile said, "Let me show you the next room."

This next room was vastly larger in breadth than even the Great Hall. Its ceilings were average height, but it extended far, disappearing into the darkness. These dark depths were blocked from her by a row of bars that completely prevented entrance or exit. It was so huge and seemed to extend further than she could see, down many separate caves and recesses off into the distance.

As Lina peered into this darkness, she at first didn't realize what was on the other side of the bars. She started seeing many shadows moving around on the other side, shapes she'd assumed were vampires. But, their movements and the color of their skin gave it away. The room was filled with humans who drearily shuffled about.

"The granary is for them," Vad explained to her, "Their food."

The way he said this indicated that this room was a great point of pride for the coven. It was like a rich man showing off his costly jewels and furs, or, perhaps more appropriately, showing off the vast herds of cattle that grazed in his fields. It would take Lina a long time to appreciate the work that had gone into building this hoard of humans, but her reaction would probably have been unswayed had she been aware.

All she could feel, when she looked at the numbers of persons within sight, maybe eighty to a hundred, not to mention those she couldn't see, was a deep, unsettling revulsion. It was all the worse because, with Vad beside her, she sensed that this feeling was not something she could outwardly express and thus tried her best to hide her reaction.

At that moment a face passed in front of her vision: Oana. She was among the sad faces that shuffled about, and she turned and saw Lina. Lina remembered that moment in the forest just a few days before when Sister Oana, upon realizing Lina was cooperating with the vampires, had tried to impress upon her the profound guilt that she should feel. Sister Oana, now behind the bars, looked at her in the same way. Lina felt the sting of that look, and it was even more of a struggle for her to hold back her reaction.

"You are not your blush of shame; you are not your tears; you are not that weight on your chest. All of those are not you and can be put aside and stomped beneath your feet," Lina silently told herself as she closed her eyes.

"This is our granary," Vad explained to her, "The pen where we keep our food."

Vad gestured for them to leave, telling her, "You won't be working here."

They stepped out of the barred room and Lina felt a sense of relief to be released from that room. The next room he showed her was simply called "the kitchen," though there were no fires or ovens or anything resembling cooking going on inside.

"This is where we prepare our food. You will not be working here either," Vad told her.

The room had a low ceiling and was furnished with several tables and shelves. There were now two vampires, Ada and Nicu, who moved around actively. Ada stirred a large pot while indiscriminate ingredients were being added. Lina wasn't enthusiastic about knowing the source of the food they were preparing or their methods of preparation, as she imagined it would only make the experience of consuming the food more repellent than it already was.

The final room he showed to her was simply identified as their cache. It was something between a treasure horde and a junk pile. The room was stuffed high with acquisitions that the vampires had made from their various raids over the centuries. It included quite valuable sums of precious metal and jewelry, furniture and artwork of varying states of condition and grades of quality, as well as mountains of clothes, linens and fabrics. Many of these items were clearly useful and valuable, but others seemed as if they'd simply been left, with no one wanting them but no one bothering to throw them out either.

"If you want, you can comb through the cache for clothes or decorations for your room," Vad explained. She tried to give a feeble smile, but she didn't have much excitement left in her.

She stepped inside and looked through the dresses halfheartedly. She didn't want to be searching through piles of junk now. She, in fact, didn't want to do much of anything at all right now. She told Vad, "I hope you don't mind, but I'm tired. Can I go and rest. I'd like to give my new bed a try."

"Of course," Vad replied and he led her back to her room.

When they arrived, Vad told her, "After you rest, you'll start your work assignment. You'll be cleaning. You'll find me in my room."

She nodded and told him she would see him soon. Then she closed the door and went to the bed and lay on top of it. She wasn't sleepy, simply drained of energy and emotion. She wanted to close her eyes and escape from all this unpleasantness in dreams, but she couldn't. Too many thoughts passed through her head, and in her thoughts she wondered if Nicoleta was in the pen, whether she had survived. After many minutes of restless cogitation, she resolved to immediately find out if Nicoleta was there and still alive, for the sake of her own peace of mind.

She stepped out of her room and closed the door quietly, something she did by habit. It had been what she'd done every time she'd snuck out of her room at the convent at night, though it seemed hardly necessary in these circumstances. The coven here appeared to permit her considerably more freedom.

When vampires passed her by in the halls, they looked at her with cold, threatening stares, which she was unsure how to interpret: were they suspicious of a new vampire wandering about unchaperoned? At first, when she'd met Vad, she'd found him abrasive and hostile; perhaps this was normally how vampires treated new members. Vampires were not, to all appearances, warm and friendly with one another, and she would have to take this into account.

She walked in the direction of the holding cell, ambling silently over the stone floor. Entering the room she'd only just recently left, she again saw the long row of bars that stood between the vampires and the humans. She looked around to see if any vampire was nearby spying on her before she cautiously approached the bars.

People recoiled from her when she approached, even though the bars kept her out just as much as they kept the humans in.

Holding onto the bars, she called out in a loud whisper, "Nicoleta! Where are you? Does someone know Nicoleta?"

The humans looked at Lina with suspicion and malice. One even took the brazen step of spitting in Lina's direction, but most of them simply backed away and tried to hide in the shadows.

Lina continued her pleads, "Nicoleta! I have to know if you're alive! They didn't kill you already did they?"

"They wouldn't kill her," some anonymous person spoke from the shadows, "Too young."

"You know Nicoleta? And she's alive?" Lina asked with some excitement, "Oh, please could you find her for me, so I can see her with my own eyes."

All Lina could hear from that direction was a sort of dismissive huff, as the person expressed their disparagement of Lina's request and made no movement to help.

A shape approached her, and when it got closer, Lina saw once again, Sister Oana, looming still tall and imposing above Lina. The experience of being confined underground for days had certainly cowed and disheartened Oana, giving her a more frightening and disheveled appearance than before.

"What do you want?" Oana asked.

"Nicoleta. Is she alive? Can I talk to her?" Lina asked.

"She's alive. I don't know if she could be easily found. There's a vast web of caves back through these halls with limited illumination. It's shocking to think how much of this underground the vampires have dug out beneath the surface. But why do you need to speak with Nicoleta?"

"I just want to talk to her. To see if she's alive and doing alright," Lina pleaded.

"You are the reason she is in here, and the reason I am in here. You are cooperating with infernal creatures that have no part in God's law, and you are asking for us to help you. For what? To ease your own conscience? Is this it now? Now you are feeling guilty, while you're still human? After it's too late for us? If you want to ease your conscience then release us all and kill every last vampire from the earth, and only then will God, perhaps, forgive you."

"I'm here," a weak voice called from out of the shadows, compelling Oana to stop her tirade.

"Nicoleta," Lina said, addressing her roommate as she saw her stepping out of the shadows. Lina reached her hands through the bars as if she wanted to touch Nicoleta's hand, "They're taking care of you, aren't they?"

Nicoleta simply nodded. She didn't approach Lina, whose actions confused her more than anything. Here was the girl that had kidnapped her and handed her over to the vampires, and now she seemed to be acting like they were long parted friends.

Lina heard from behind her the gruff and screeching voice of one of the vampires, causing her to jump and pull away from the bars of a sudden. "What are you doing here," a strange vampire she didn't know, named Mir, said to her. She turned around cautiously.

Mir looked at Lina once she'd turned around and said to her with a dismissive grunt, "The new girl. Vad's infected. Right? What was your name? Lina?" Lina nodded, and he continued, "I'm Mir. Access to this area is not for casual visits. Don't want to infect our animals. What were you doing here?"

"Just talking to one of them," Lina innocently replied, "I didn't know it was restricted."

"Well don't talk to them," he stringently ordered, "One shouldn't become emotionally attached to one's meals. This is not your place. Tell Vad to keep a closer eye on you. You're his responsibility. He'll get punished for your wrongdoings. Now, get out of here."

Lina looked back momentarily in Nicoleta's direction before she left and saw Nicoleta looking back at her with a confused look. Then she left and went directly to Vad's room, telling him she was ready to start her cleaning duties.
Chapter 11

Last Victims

Nicoleta asked Oana, "What was that about?"

"She wanted to know whether you're alive," Oana replied.

"It makes no sense. Why would she care? What did she think would happen when she handed me over to the vampires? As far as she knew I was supposed to be dead and eaten by now."

Nicoleta wandered away from the large "barred room" and went deeper into the caverns of the humans' vast pen. A few narrow and barred holes in the ceiling supplied air from the surface and some dim snatches of light.

She walked towards the so-called "arena." Unlike the clearly artificial walls of the barred room, the arena appeared to be one of the original natural caverns the coven was built around, since the ceiling was populated by a forest of stalactites that hung in long spikes. The ground had been smoothed out and mostly flattened, with many random pieces of furniture scattered about, but the ceiling and many of the walls were untouched. Many people sat in the room, some relaxing, some talking, others sleeping, and others alone and preoccupied with thought.

Nicoleta sat down on the cold floor and also became preoccupied with thought, wondering what would happen to her here. She had already learned that there were people who had been here for decades, even a few children who had been born here. Was this to be her permanent home from now on?

Many events had transpired since the night she was taken from the convent and Nicoleta recollected them in order. It began when Madalina had suddenly woken her from a sleep, tightly wrapped in her own sheets, her mouth gagged and Madalina ominously looming over her. She had been carried on Madalina's shoulder, stuffed through tight orifices and ultimately placed at the feet of the vampires like a pagan offering. Then she was placed inside a net and carried by the vampires' rapid steps through the woods to the entrance of their cave.

Once inside, she remembered seeing that vast room with vampires in numbers she simply couldn't count. She'd repeatedly tried to swing her head this way and that to catch all that was going on. While being carried through the forest, her fears had been able to slowly subside and hibernate in her chest, but seeing such sights and in disbelief that there could be such vast numbers of vampires hidden under the surface of the ground, her fears were potently revived. The only possibility that crossed her mind was that she was to be food for these monsters and that they would tear her body limb from limb and eat her every fragment of flesh until she was finally relieved from the suffering by the oblivion of death and her soul's ascent to heaven.

However, that wasn't what they did. The one vampire, that female who entered with such a regal presence, ordered her and Oana taken away, and so they were. Passing through halls and rooms, until a door was opened. She and Oana were untied and thrown through the opening, just before the door was closed behind them.

When she stood up, she grabbed Oana for comfort, and they looked around terrified, not knowing what horrors to expect from the shadows. They cautiously began to explore the space, with great trepidation, staying close to protect one other.

The first person to approach them walked with a crooked step and had black hair that splashed out in all directions atop his head. He seemed to have only one good eye, and bent his ugly face towards them to give them a good look.

He asked them, "What's your names," and likewise introduced himself as "Dragomir." He was, in a sense, the leader of the humans of the pen, and only advised them of one thing, "Stay out of the way of the vampires if you want to last."

The next day, Nicoleta would discover what Dragomir meant when she witnessed a person being removed from the pen. She first noticed Mir stalking through the pen covered in a heavy, hooded cloak with leather gloves to protect his hands and boots to protect his feet. As he walked through the halls, looking from person to person as if in search of a suitable subject, people stepped aside, and many tried to avoid his eyes. They seemed to believe, perhaps quite reasonably, that if he didn't see them, they might escape, but, in fact, it appeared as if he was looking for someone. When he saw a woman who was trying to discreetly hide her wrists, which were stained with two red X's, he grabbed her.

The woman in question appeared to be past middle age, with grey hair on her head and traces of wrinkles. Mir reached out and grabbed her from behind, restraining her arms, which almost immediately began to flail about. The woman screamed and cried and pleaded for help, but no one moved.

Nicoleta herself was at first afraid to move, but she gathered courage and ran at the vampire with all her strength. She expected that if she knocked him down to the ground, others might follow and help. But, knocking into Mir's body was more like running directly into the trunk of a tree than knocking into a person. Nicoleta painfully thudded into Mir's side, and he nonchalantly kicked her away, sending her skidding across the ground.

Seated on the ground, defeated, Nicoleta shouted at the other humans, "Why don't we all attack him? Together we can overpower him."

By this time Mir was gone, dragging the screaming woman out the door into another room. The distant screaming accelerated into a crescendo before it was abruptly stopped. Though for the other humans this was a daily experience, for Nicoleta it was the first time she'd ever seen such a horrible thing, and she could do nothing but cry several tears as she sat upon the ground.

Oana stepped forward to comfort Nicoleta, at which point Dragomir finally spoke up in answer to Nicoleta's question, "Don't you think we've tried before? We've attacked them. We've ganged up on them. We've lied in wait and ambushed them. It never works. It takes so many of us to overpower just one, and then another vampire comes to help and all we get for our efforts are bruises and broken bones and a few more of us dead and eaten. The faster you learn to give up, the better things will work out for you little girl. Just be happy that young girls are more valuable as baby-farms than as food."

Oana and Nicoleta together went to the dining hall where food was being served. The pen had its own kitchen, where several of the humans acted as cooks, with the raw ingredients being regularly supplied by the vampires. The food was an almost unremitting monotony of the same meal day in and day out: large batches of stew, made from onions and potatoes, and a bit of bread and cheese on the side. The chefs prepared cauldron after cauldron of stew, intersected with a continuous chain of loafs of wheat and barley bread. There were several hundred humans that had to be fed multiple times each day, from an almost completely unvarying supply of raw ingredients, leaving very little room for creativity.

After Oana and Nicoleta sat down with their food, a woman decided to join them as they ate. She introduced herself as Crina. She had brown, ratty hair, which she kept cropped short around a pretty face. She had the appearance of a person who can take delight in anything, and when she spoke, her eyes frequently flashed with excitement.

"Just ignore Dragomir. He's right that we've tried many times and failed, but that doesn't mean we have to give up. He doesn't want us to try to escape because he prefers the life he's made for himself down here. But there's quite many of us who haven't given up. I've always found that even after every disappointment, there's always just a little bit more hope, even as you think you're scraping the bottom of the bowl," Crina said, as Nicoleta ate up her last spoonfuls of soup.

"I want to believe you," Nicoleta told her, feeling somewhat better.

As Nicoleta sat in the arena and recalled all these events, from her kidnapping up to the conversation with Crina, she still had some hope.

* * *

In another part of the coven, Lina cleaned, pushing a broom through the hallways to capture all the accumulated dirt and dust that settled throughout the floors of the caves. It was an endless task, but Vad only required her to do it for an hour or two at a time. Every vampire had their assigned task and she, as the least senior vampire in the coven was left with sweeping the floors.

She finished up a careful sweep of the upper floor and sat down for a break. While seated Vad appeared around a corner, and she immediately picked up her broom and pretended to have not been sitting. He told her to put down her broom for the day, explaining, "There's a meeting in the Great Hall."

She walked with him there, where a large crowd of vampires was already assembled, quietly waiting for Asha to speak.

The light that streamed in through the gaps in the roof of the Great Hall was almost completely absent, indicating that it was early night now. This light was the only sense of any passage of days that most of the vampires would perceive, since the coven was mostly kept in a continuous twilight of low light and flickering flames.

After a few moments of waiting, Asha announced to the vampires in a forceful screech, "Silence!" and the many quiet conversations that had produced a continuous murmur throughout the room, ceased and quietly faded as an echo through the caves.

"As you know, I'll be visiting the village of Terem for an agreement that will officially end all hostilities between vampires and humans. Thus, tonight is our last night of freedom. We're going fill it full, to overflowing. I want four teams, and I want you to bring back four humans in your nets. Four pathetic humans, who will wail for mercy at my feet," Asha explained, "Success is essential. Failure will be punished."

Asha successively addressed three of her most aged and experienced vampires to lead three separate teams to three separate villages. She saved her favorite for last and gave Vad the most important destination, telling him, "You'll attack Vallaya. Bring three with you. Also, take your little minion. This'll probably be the only time she'll ever get to experience the thrill."

Vad turned to Lina and smiled after Asha said this, telling her, "You're with me tonight."

Vad organized a party much like the one that had fetched Lina, Nicoleta and Oana, including Fane and two other vampires named Lea and Sil. They gathered together their equipment, including a weighted net, an unweighted net, a pair of bolas, and substantial lengths of rope. They stuffed these into bags that felt overwhelmingly heavy to Lina. Fortunately, she wasn't required to carry anything. She only had to follow along. They dressed lightly in loose fitting clothes that moved just as silently as the vampires moved while they walked about.

To fortify themselves for a long run through the night they all drank hearty bowlfuls of nourishment. Lina, too, drank the still unpleasant red mixture, but as it suffused through her body she felt a rising energy, which thrilled and excited her.

Before they left Vad explained to Lina, "You're just a passenger on this ride. Do what you're told and be sure to stay close. Vampires that stray away on their own have a tendency to get sniped by vampire hunters."

The five of them walked up through the halls to the exit where Vad opened the door for them and they all three departed in a line, stepping out into the moonlit forest.

Lina could already run faster now than she was able to before and was noticing both her speed and her strength improving, but next to the four aged vampires she was with, she was slow. For this reason, Lina again had to climb onto Vad's back. Vad bent down, and she wrapped her legs around his midsection, gripping him tight around the neck and resting her head on his nape. Even in the cold of the night, Vad felt so warm, and she could hear the quick thumping of his heartbeat.

Before she had a chance to brace herself, Vad was off in a mad dash through the woods, raising clods of dirt beneath his feet. Just to show off, he leapt into the air, landing on the branch of a tree and leapt from it even higher into a grand arch above the trees. Lina screamed as she was carried with him high into the air and gripped him even tighter as she looked down at the receding ground below. With his hands, Vad snatched a bat flapping through air, and dropped to the ground with the panicked animal between his two hands. Before the bat had a chance to bite him, he threw the animal out of his hands and continued on his run.

The first building they passed was the complex belonging to Andrei, where his business and his home were joined into a solid stone structure. Lina asked if they were going to attack this building, and Vad told her, "No, that's Andrei. It's well built. Very hard to break into."

Instead they passed by it, zipping through the heart of Vallaya, across the main street and by the church, moving rapidly and unseen. They headed beyond the village center, towards the nearby farms and the small houses that the farmers occupied.

Several houses sat atop the horizon in front of them, including the small, single-room farmhouse inside which Josif, Viorica and Constanta silently slept in their beds.

"Which?" Lea asked Vad.

"That one," Vad said, randomly picking a house directly in front of him. But as they passed near Josif's house, Vad smelled the air and slowed down. "No, this one," Vad said, pointing at Josif's house, "One of the people in there smells of vampires. Must've been eating vampire wares recently. Yes, this one."

Vad and the other vampires closed in on Josif's house. They slowed themselves down to a quieter step that wouldn't disturb any of the sleepers inside. Silently they pattered towards the house, equipment on their backs.

Upon arriving, Vad walked around the house in search of an entrance. The window shutters were closed, and the door was locked. As he walked, he smelled the air to ascertain who was inside and where they were. He could smell three bodies inside on the side of the house opposite the door.

They decided that they would enter through the window nearest the three persons, net the youngest of them, and speed out of there immediately.

* * *

Constanta was startled from her sleep. She'd heard a noise she couldn't identify outside. Instinctively she reached to the side of her bed where her brother Anton would normally sleep. He wasn't there. He was out somewhere hunting vampires, and she felt a cold chill to think of him so far away. Her parents slept peacefully in the bed next to her, and she wondered whether she should wake them. The sound had frightened her and she needed comfort. Anton would always wake up at night whenever she awoke, and he would help her to sleep. He would sleep right next to her, so that he would keep her warm, and he would put his arm over her to protect her from the monsters of the night.

Before Constanta had a chance to approach her parents, a sudden crash startled her so much that she nearly fell over. Turning her head behind her in a flash, she saw the shutters being ripped from out of the window frame, such that now the window was open to the night. Cold air poured in, and the settling dust was illuminated in the moonlight that glowed down upon her. She didn't have a chance to react, since immediately a net was cast over her. One end of the net was pulled beneath her to sweep her inside of it, and she was hoisted bodily out through the window.

In those brief moments between the initial crash and Constanta's disappearance, her parents had also been startled from their sleep. They'd leapt from their beds, and they'd lunged for their daughter who was plucked out of her bed like a fly being plucked from the air by a frog's tongue. But they could only watch as she was snatched from them while screaming her final plea of "Anton! Help me!"

They were too slow. Her voice was already fading by the time they reached the window. Looking out, Josif and Viorica watched helplessly as the four silhouettes disappeared: two of them carrying Constanta between them in a net, one carrying a bag of equipment and the fourth carrying a young vampire on his back.

Viorica couldn't contain her despair, and in one great wail of pain she screamed out the name of her daughter, "Constanta!" such that her voice echoed across the plain. Lina heard the sound of the lamenting mother even as the house faded in the distance, and she turned back to see if she could make out the distant shapes of her two grieving parents.

Vasile too heard the cry, but only faintly and indistinctly. "What was that sound?" he asked Anton, who sat beside him as they were perched high in a tree, "It came from the direction of Vallaya. Did you hear it?"

Anton had to confess he hadn't heard anything, but he was curious, "What did it sound like?"

"Like a human scream," Vasile said uncertainly, "But it was distant."

"Do you think there were any vampires involved?" Anton asked.

"How could I know," Vasile responded, "But if there were, they're likely to pass near us. We should get ready."

Vasile raised his crossbow while Anton raised his longbow, with an arrow armed and in position. They both turned in the direction of Vallaya and tried to pierce their sight through the darkness and forest, but all they could see was the swaying of branches in the wind and the glistening of the moonlight reflected on the flickering leaves.

After what seemed like an eternal wait, Vasile began to hear the faint sound of vampires running. He silently mouthed to Anton, "Vampires" and pointed in the direction of the sound.

Vasile and Anton gazed in the direction of the sound of the approaching vampires, until, after many long seconds, four indistinct shapes appeared through the leaves and the darkness. The vampires moved with their characteristic swiftness, and between them a captured prey swung back and forth.

"Damnit!" Vasile quietly whispered when he saw there were four and they had a prisoner in tow. Vasile lowered the crossbow in frustration.

Four vampires was too risky, especially if it was for only one victim. Vasile couldn't help feeling they'd been lucky when they'd attacked the group of four vampires a few nights before and survived. He didn't want to tempt fate again. As he'd told himself many times, the only way a vampire hunter could survive was by playing it safe.

Anton saw Vasile lowering his weapon and offered a quizzical look in the darkness. All Vasile could do was shake his head and indicate for Anton to lower his weapon too.

They watched the party approaching and pass by almost right beneath them. Vasile clenched his teeth to hold back his anger.

As the group of vampires passed, though, Anton could see the face of the person that was in the net. She was facing backwards, and Anton could clearly see his sister Constanta.

* * *

As Constanta sat within the net, she watched the forest retreating behind her. She tried unsuccessfully to hold back her tears with all her might. She'd managed to quiet herself, but truth was she was completely petrified. Then, out of nowhere, with a suddenness that startled her, she saw movement from out of shadows high in the tree and a streak of color flashing in her direction. An arrow lodged itself into the upper thigh of Lea, one of the vampires holding her. As Lea faltered and started to trip, Constanta was tossed about inside her net. Another quick flash of color and an arrow was lodged in Fane, the vampire to the other side of her. Though Fane winced with profound pain, he didn't falter and continued to run.

Then Constanta saw falling from the tree a human shape that dropped to the ground, raised a bow and arrow, and in a blink lodged another arrow in Lea's buttock. Lea this time didn't just falter but fell. Fane completely took Constanta from Lea's grasp and reached out a hand to help Lea. Picking herself up, Lea continued, but the arrows didn't stop.

From his vantage point in the tree, Vasile was able to place a crossbow bolt in Lea's side, thinking this might finally take her down. But Lea continued, undeterred, though deeply wounded. The failure to bring Lea down and free the prisoner was more frustrating than Vasile could take. Out of pure spite, he decided to hit at their most vulnerable spot, the small vampire that rode on Vad's back. It was clear to him that she was a vampire, and just as clear that she was newly initiated and thus preeminently impotent. So, he put a crossbow bolt as close to her neck as he could, landing it high in the center of her shoulder. The bolt pierced so deeply through her that it poked Vad, just before he felt a moist cough spew from Lina's mouth.

This attack on Lina compelled Vad to turn and face his attackers. He pulled Lina from his back, wounded and bleeding, and he handed her to Sil. Sil gingerly cradled her in his arms, and kicked up a flurry of dust as he sped away. Lea and Fane were on Sil's heals, limping along, but still alive. But Vad, seeing Anton with bow and arrow in hand and poised, ran towards him. Anton had time to fire one arrow, lodging it in Vad's shoulder, before Vad was on top of him. Vad choked Anton's neck while he beat his head to the ground.

With Anton's consciousness quickly fading, Vad hurried to lean in. He wanted to macerate Anton's neck before all his life went dark. But just then, arrows started to rain from the sky. Vasile was reloaded with two bolts and placed them both in Vad's body, one quickly after the other. The first one landed just as the base of his neck, and the second landed high in his neck and pierced through below his chin. Blood spurted out of Vad onto Anton who was below him.

The debilitating pain of this latter wound, made Vad cry out a squeal of pain. The agony of the wound sapped his will to fight as energy drained out of him, and he let Anton go. But he wasn't ready to die. Vad leapt up to the ground and ran. Moments later, two more crossbow bolts pierced his left buttock and right thigh, but he was blind to this pain now, and simply ran, directly aiming for the coven.

When he entered into the coven, arrows sticking out of him in every direction, blood pouring in long rivulets down his chest and back, his vampire comrades stood back stunned, immediately grabbing him to have his wounds tended. But all he wanted was to know was: "Is Lina alright?"
Chapter 12

Asha

Vasile watched Vad flee out of the range of his arrows and conceded that they'd have to let him go. He dropped down out of the tree and attended to Anton. Anton was now coughing due to the choking and looked as if his neck was deeply bruised. What concerned Vasile, though, was the blood that covered Anton's face and neck.

Anton, after another bout of coughing, was on his feet shouting, "We have to go after Constanta. We can't let her die." But Vasile restrained him.

"There's a stream nearby. We need to wash you off," Vasile insisted. It was all Vasile could do to restrain Anton, who was determined to break free of Vasile's grip and catch the vampires.

Vasile had to shout at him, "It's too late! You saw how fast they run! They're already underground. We're not going to catch them. Now let's get you washed off so you don't get infected."

Anton settled down and let Vasile lead him several hundred paces away to where a tiny stream trickled. Anton was quietly crying as he walked, tears streaming down his cheeks, which formed tracks through the now dry drops of blood. Anton leaned down into the stream and dipped his whole head into the water, splashing water over his face and neck and clothes and through his hair.

When he lifted his head up, the water dripping off of him, Vasile told him, "We really should take you back to Andrei's. He has some medicines which should neutralize any infection you may have contracted."

"No," Anton refused, "We have to track them. We have to find their cave. We have to get in there and get my sister. She may not be dead yet. We still have a chance."

"Your sister was the girl?" Vasile asked, now finally understanding. He took a deep breath, uncertain, conflicted. "Did you get any blood in your eyes? In your mouth? Did you taste any of that vampire's blood?"

To each question Anton answered "no," until Vasile asked him, "Did you smell the vampire?"

"I did," Anton had to admit, "He smelled like sour onions," trying to put to words the peculiar aroma that emanated from beneath Vad's skin.

"Diseases are passed by scent," Vasile explained, "At least, I think, most of them are. Perhaps even vampirism. That's why we have to wear the masks. Even you know that. One is supposed to never breathe in the odor of a sick man no matter what. I fear that you may have contracted their disease in your contact with the vampire. If we get you back to Andrei's immediately I think we can forestall it."

"I don't care," Anton told Vasile, "If I become a vampire, then I'll use my powers to rip apart all those responsible for my sister's death with my bare hands. All I care about is finding her, and there's no time to waste."

Vasile didn't want to try and force Anton. He simply nodded in the direction they'd seen the vampires flee, and he said, "This way."

Vasile had watched Vad by the moonlight for a substantial distance. He had a general idea where Vad had disappeared, and he took Anton to the area, which was only a few hundred paces from where they'd been perched in wait. It consisted of a dry streambed, where some dense patches of shrubbery grew. Several exposed boulders poked out of the ground, and they were in the mist of a large array of trees.

Vasile told him, "To the best of my ability, I would say this is about where he disappeared. It's hard to see any traces of blood in this dark, but the few drops of blood I've seen, seem to lead to here. I can guarantee I've searched this patch of woods before, and if there is an entrance to a cave around here, I can't find it."

As Vasile calmly said these words, Anton's anxiety was palpable, scrambling around looking everywhere in the bushes for any sign of the vampires. Anton clambered about, kicking up dirt and pounding the ground and swearing to himself under his breath.

After watching him for a minute or two, Vasile suggested, "We should wait and watch."

Anton conceded, and the two of them climbed a tree within sight of the streambed and watched. Anton couldn't keep himself still and had to be constantly calmed by Vasile, who silently watched the ground below them and kept his ears open for the sound of vampires.

After a long wait, once the night was about at its nadir, their patience was rewarded.

In the distance, Vasile and Anton saw another troop of vampires approaching. The vampires were in a group of four and they too carried a young prisoner between them. Vasile watched this group pass by close to the tree where he and Anton were perched.

The vampires walked down into the dry streambed, into the midst of a thick nest of underbrush, and disappeared. At this moment, Anton was ready to go follow them, but Anton restrained him, since he heard more vampires coming. In fact, there were two other troops of vampires arriving, each with four members. One of the troops bore a victim in his early twenties, and the last bore no victim.

All eight of these vampires followed the same path as the first four, streaming in a line into the bushes and disappearing.

By this time, the first lights of dawn were creeping over the horizon, and Anton was unwilling to wait any further. He dropped down from the tree and hustled towards the bushes where he'd seen them disappearing, pushing the branches aside and plunging himself in. But all he saw beneath was another of the exposed boulders jutting out of the ground. He pounded on the boulder again and again, as if he could break it with his bare hands. He tried to push it, to lift it, to do anything he could, but the rock wouldn't move.

Finally giving up, he sprawled himself across the boulder and let out a long pent up flurry of tears. He buried his eyes in his arms and sobbed repeatedly, imagining the worst indignities afflicted upon his sister and thinking about enduring an entire life without her. Her absence would be something he'd never be able to shake off, something more persistent than his shadow, which at least had the decency to quit him in darkness.

Anton turned to look at Vasile there with him, his eyes red and his cheeks still wet, and he said to him, "She's gone forever."

* * *

After the final three squads returned to the coven, they presented their plunder before Asha in the Great Hall. Fane and Sil had already presented Constanta to Asha, who congratulated them on this acquisition, saying, "Of course Vad has brought us the finest catch this evening." The next prize was a boy around fourteen, whom Asha was also pleased to see. The third prize was a young man in his early twenties. This prize was not nearly so agreeable. Not only were male humans of considerable less value than the females, but Asha also preferred them younger. Her ideal trophy would be a girl close to menarche, who would grow to be a fertile and productive mother.

Lina, standing next to Fane and Sil in the back of the Great Hall, watched Asha pour forth a warm flow of derision as she insulted the lead vampire for his poor haul. But, this was nothing compared to the last group. Lina had yet to see Asha angry before this moment, and she watched Asha's anger in full display when she lashed out at the leader of the empty-handed vampires.

"You had hours to find someone. You had a whole village full of people, and you couldn't find anything."

"Well, you see Asha..."

The vampire began to spin out an excuse, but Asha cut him off, "You had your chance, and you failed."

Then, with a speed and dexterity that made Lina leap back from fear, even though she was some twenty paces away, Asha lunged at the vampire. In one quick movement, she pushed aside his head to expose his jugular and sunk her teeth in, while knocking his body down onto the floor with her feet. She savagely gnawed at the neck while his arms flailed about in some futile attempt to escape. Before the vampire could react, his body was already nearly drained of all life, and his muscles were twitching with his final death spasms.

With the body now motionless and sprawled across the ground, Asha stood up and pushed him away with her foot. She wiped her lips, which were stained with blood, and she announced to all those present, "We have kidnapped tonight because we need to fill out our herd. If we cannot create a self-sustaining population of humans then there will not be enough food for all of us, and some of us will have to die. This is thereby the punishment for all those who fail. Are you all clear?"

Lina was rendered motionless by what she had seen, but she was able to nod her head along with all the other vampires present in response to Asha's question.

Asha ordered one of the vampires, "Take him to the kitchen," and two vampires carried the dead body away.

After watching the vampire body being carried off, Asha addressed the crowd again, reminding them, "I will be leaving for Terem in a few hours and will need a volunteer to replace Vad as my personal guard, since he is currently incapacitated."

A few volunteers stepped forward, and Asha settled on a female vampire named Eta who, though young and thus low in the vampire hierarchy, was well known for her speed and agility. Asha dismissed the rest, and Lina ran off to see Vad.

Vad was stretched out on a bed in the infirmary, with several visible wounds. He was propped up in bed with a bowl, from which he drank being lifted to his mouth. Vad smiled at Lina when she entered and told her, "Glad to see you're well."

Lina touched her chest to feel the arrow's exit wound and reached over her shoulder to feel the entry wound. The spots were still tender, but were already scabbed over. For such large wounds, they had healed surprisingly quickly.

As soon as Sil had returned her to the cave, another vampire had carefully extracted the arrow from her, which was considerably more painful than the process of putting the arrow into her, especially since it had penetrated so deep through her body, just poking out the front of her chest. The arrowheads were deliberately barbed, so that they did just as much damage when being removed as when being put in. But once the arrow was removed, and she could finally relax, the blood started clotting, and she was soon on her feet.

The process had been much worse for Vad, with five arrows sticking out of him. Pulling so many arrows out of him was vastly more painful, and the barbed arrowhead scraped against his inner flesh. With the amount he had bled he was severely weakened and passed out before all the arrows were removed. Blood was pouring out of him on all sides, and they had to clean him up and slap him awake so that he could eat some food lest he should promptly expire.

Lea was on a bed next to Vad, and she'd been almost as bad. She'd not bled as much and had more strength, but removing the arrows was just as painful for her.

Lina told Vad, "We were more worried about you than me. You came within a hand's breadth of death."

"Old vampires like me are hardy. We worry about young vulnerable vampires. I can't believe he shot you. What threat did you pose?"

Lina leaned in close to Vad and said to him, "I've got a question." He turned to look at her as she approached and she continued, "Asha killed one of the vampires just a few minutes ago. He didn't bring back a victim. So, she drank his blood until he was dead. Then she ordered him taken off to the kitchen. Why?"

Vad looked at her warily, apparently reluctant to answer her question. He confessed, in a whisper, leaning close into her ear, "She'll eat him."

Lina stepped back with some shock, but Vad gestured for her to come close to him again and listen. "Have you heard of vampire wares?" he asked.

Lina nodded, saying, "I've heard of them. They're medicines made from vampires."

Vad continued, "Vampire wares make humans who consume them healthier and stronger. They work the same for us. If you ate another vampire, you'd become much stronger and healthier too." Lina wrinkled her nose at the thought of eating vampires.

Vad then told her, even quieter and more confidentially, "I told you Asha killed all of the vampires older than her to become our leader. She didn't just kill them. She ate them. Older vampires make the most potent vampire wares. They make one dramatically stronger, faster, healthier and hardier. Asha vastly surpasses the next oldest vampire in all these. That's why no one could usurp her. She's simply too strong. And she just grows more so as time passes."

"Do people want to usurp her?" Lina asked innocently.

Vad simply laughed and flashed a smile. "I can't speak for the minds of all vampires," he said, "but I don't think so. She's made many changes that have improved this coven."

"How did she improve the coven?" Lina asked.

"There it comes again. That endless string of questions," Vad said, smiling again and giving Lina a wink, "You'll make me talk until I grow hoarse."

Nonetheless, Vad explained to Lina: "Asha took control of the coven about forty years ago. It's hard to keep track of time after living for more than a century. When you get as old as I am, time will change.

"Back then, the coven was different: more disorganized, more chaotic. We had no steady food supply. When we'd get hungry, we'd gather raiding parties and grab whatever humans we could and just gorge on their flesh until we were sated. And since we were careless, we'd accidental infect people all the time and get picked off by vampire hunters, of which there were many. The caves were just a place to hide out during day. No one really took care of this place. It was a mess. We lived like animals, always getting into vicious fights. Even worse, the human populations in the surrounding villages were in decline. We were overgrazing our herd.

"Until Asha seized power. To do so, she had to kill a very ancient vampire, a man about five centuries named Luce. Luce was fierce and intimidating. He was also hard and intense and more than willing to kill any vampire that offended him. Asha wasn't the first to try and kill him, but she was the first to succeed."

Vad paused to rest, relaxing in his bed and taking a few breaths. He was clearly short on strength at the moment.

Finally Lina had to ask, "How did she kill him?"

"No one knows for sure but her and Luce," Vad answered, "Rumor is she coerced one of his guards who let her enter his room when he wasn't there, and she hid. Since he was paranoid, he would check every corner of his room before sleep and always locked the door with a full guard to protect him. The only place she could hide was in the toilet, by which I mean down the hole of the toilet. After he was asleep, she crawled out of the toilet with a blade strapped to her back, quietly approached the bed, and decapitated him. She swung down so hard on his neck, the blade sliced completely through his mattress down to the stone floor. Then she drank his blood. After that it was easier to kill the five other vampires that stood between her and the leadership."

"How did she crawl out of the hole of the toilet?" Lina asked, "It's not that big."

"She's a svelte woman," Vad said, shrugging his shoulders, "And flexible. That's what they say. So, after she takes control, she changes everything. First, she thinks there're too many vampires. We had maybe one-twenty or one-thirty vampire in here. Slowly she killed them off, either by deliberately sending them in the way of the vampire hunters or just killing them for crimes or incompetence. She wanted to bring the coven down to exactly sixty-one vampires. She regarded sixty-one as the perfect number. She wanted to keep it permanently at that number. Though you being brought in was unusual, you were brought in to replace Tan, who'd died recently. She also had to stop us from infecting humans and had to try and eliminate all the vampire hunters to keep them from picking us off.

"She made us kidnap humans instead of killing them. We expanded the caves, and she barred off a huge section of our caves to contain them. She wanted to eventually accumulate enough that we could maintain a stable breeding population. To feed the humans we had to persuade some local farmers to give us grains in exchange for protection.

"Inspired by the techniques of the apothecaries, she helped craft new ways to process dead humans, so that we would eat the whole body instead of just the blood. And she also cleaned up the caves so that they looked much nicer, adding new rooms and giving us all assigned work, which was essential, since we were now spending more time down here and were trying to build a self-sustaining community."

"Has she succeeded?" Lina asked.

"Mostly," Vad said, "We're finalizing an agreement that will end vampire hunting. And as you saw, the number of humans we have is in the hundreds and could sustain us indefinitely, if they were cooperative and bred like we want them to, which they don't. There's always new problems, but we're coming close to achieving Asha's goal."

* * *

As the first light of dawn crept over the horizon, Anton still waited in a tree overlooking the dry streambed where he'd seen the vampires vanish. Vasile had left him there a short while ago, tired and in need of rest. Vasile had told Anton outright, "It's pointless to wait here. They never come out during day. You're wasting your time." But Anton was undeterred.

He held his position and he intently watched the shrubbery into which they'd earlier seen the vampires disappear. He positioned himself at an ideal vantage point, high in the branches and near the streambed. It permitted him to look down directly into the shrubbery.

He was willing to wait all day and all night if necessary. And wait he did. For several hours, as his eyes grew heavier and his concentration waned, he continued to wait. He focused his eyes on the spot on the forest floor where he hoped to uncover the entrance to the cave. As each minute passed, he grew sleepier and sleepier, such that he had to focus harder and harder just to keep awake. Then he saw something.
Chapter 13

Perpetual Peace

When Anton saw movement in the direct center of his sight it poked his drifting consciousness back into awareness. The shrubbery rustled, and he saw the great boulder, the one that seemed to be embedded in the ground, start to move, start to rise up and permit an opening. Five dark-cloaked vampires emerged, one by one, into the daylight. Their skin was thoroughly protected from the light by their heavy cloaks, in which they moved with a lumbering gait.

At seeing this sight, Anton completely dispensed with caution and decided to confront them, all five of them, single-handedly. He was hoping that he could somehow force his way past them, enter the cave, and free his sister. His plan for how to accomplish this wasn't well drawn out or carefully articulated, but, without further consideration, he leapt right into the situation, climbing down the tree and plummeting to the ground.

He descended to the ground without grace or stealth and all five of the vampires turned to look at the loud noise behind them. Anton drew his long bow and pointed it at Asha.

"I've come to free my sister, Constanta. Let me in there and let me free her and no one gets hurt," Anton demanded while a taught bow pointed its arrow point at Asha.

The five vampires looked at him with some disbelief, not quite sure whether to take him seriously. Not seeing any action on their part, Anton launched his first arrow in the direction of Asha.

Asha's reflexes sprung into action, and she batted the arrow away in a swift sweep of her hand, sending it spinning away from her onto the ground. Before Anton had even the chance to reach for another arrow, she lunged directly at him, grabbing him by the neck and pushing him against a tree.

Anton's feet dangled above the ground, and the whole of his body weight was hanging by his neck, which was wrapped in an iron grip that barely permitted him room to breath.

"You don't shoot at me," Asha snarled at Anton while he hung there in her hands, "I could have you executed even for just attempting to kill a vampire. That's the way it is from now on. You want to join your sister? Just try to kill me. Just take out your knife and try to stab me. Come now? Your hands are free. It's there around your belt. Just try it." As she squeezed a little bit harder on Anton's neck, she repeated, "Just try it."

Anton was, once again, saved at the threshold of death by fortune. A whistle in the distance made Asha stop and turn her head. Two carriages waited for her and the other four vampires. The carriages were barely discernible in the distance, and her actions were undoubtedly all but invisible to the human occupants of these carriages, but she nonetheless, decided to toss Anton aside instead of killing or enslaving him. With her one hand, she hurled Anton through the air such that he painfully crashed onto the forest floor.

Asha and the other vampires walked away in the direction of the carriages.

Anton picked himself up off the ground and began to walk. He was finally willing to give up on waiting and take the sleep that he needed. He walked in the direction of Vallaya, towards Andrei's, where Vasile was undoubtedly resting. But Anton didn't stop at Andrei's. He continued walking in the direction of his home, passing by the church and steadily approaching the farmhouse, visible on the horizon in the distance.

As he approached, he saw his father repairing the window and shutters, pounding away at it with a hammer and swearing to himself. When his father saw his son in the distance, he gave him a cold look and didn't take a step towards him.

He shouted in Anton's direction, "Well, look who's come back. You ready to admit you were wrong?" When Anton didn't say anything, Josif grunted and turned back to his work, paying Anton no further attention.

Viorica was inside preparing food. When she heard Anton enter and turned around to see him, a smile passed across her face. But immediately after she wrapped Anton in her arms in a stifling embrace the tears rolled down her face. "Oh Anton, it's so horrible! They took Constanta! They took her right out of our bed while we slept," she wailed.

"I know," Anton told her.

"You know?" she asked, raising her tear-soaked eyes to look up at her son.

"I saw her being taken away, in the forest last night," Anton admitted, "I saw them carrying her."

"Well, why didn't you stop them?" she asked.

"I tried," he told her quietly, "I tried as best as I could, with all my strength, and more. You almost lost me to them too. They almost killed me. But they failed, and I failed too. I just wasn't good enough. I should've never gone to work for Vasile. I was wrong. If I was here I could've protected her."

"I should thank God that I haven't lost you too," she said, crossing herself and lowering her eyes. Then she asked, without much interest in hearing an answer, "What will they do to her?"

Anton traversed the room to the bed where he and his sister had slept, to the spot from which she'd been taken the night before, and he sat down on her side of the bed, touching the tussled sheets she'd only just recently used.

"I don't want to know. All I know is that she's dead by now," Anton said, before he sank down into the bed and cried.

* * *

When Constanta was taken down into the vampire's coven that previous night, she was, just like those before her, tossed through the door to the pen.

She toppled to the ground, and, just as with Nicoleta, the first person to introduce himself to Constanta was Dragomir, who asked for her name, told her his name and advised her, "Stay out of the way if you want to last."

Constanta asked the grizzled, ugly man just as he was walking away, "Where am I?"

"You're in the pen," he explained, turning back to her with a wily grin, "Welcome to your new home for the rest of your life. And if you want that life to last, do what you're told, and keep out of the way."

Nicoleta and Crina were there beside Constanta right after him. After hearing the commotion of Constanta's entrance, they rushed to go see the new arrival and bent down to help Constanta up.

"You don't need to listen to him," Nicoleta said to Constanta, before she asked her name.

"Don't dare think you'll be here for the rest of your life," Crina added, her eyes narrow with defiance.

They took her to the dining hall to sit down. Nicoleta and Crina comforted Constanta while they explained the way things worked in the pen.

An hour or so later, after the two subsequent prisoners were thrown in and things were beginning to quiet down, a small uproar began to spread over a piece of paper that had been dropped into the pen by a small solitary vampire. Lina had, once again and with considerably more caution and circumspection, entered the barred room. But, instead of lingering, she simply dropped a piece of paper inside and left, hoping that it would find its way to its intended recipient.

The person who picked it up couldn't read it and handed it off. It ended up in the hands of Dragomir, who scrutinized the lines on the page and openly declared that it was a confidential communiqué directly from the vampire leadership to himself and that he couldn't divulge its contents.

Oana had to directly confront Dragomir and pry the letter out of his hand with Crina's help, much to Dragomir's annoyance and against the resistance of Dragomir's bodyguards. She examined it and confirmed that it was, in fact, nothing like what Dragomir had claimed.

Oana walked into another room where Nicoleta and Crina were seated and dropped the letter into Nicoleta's lap. Nicoleta looked up at Oana and asked, "What's this?"

"Madalina left it," Oana said.

Nicoleta opened the folded up piece of paper, which was a small scrap torn out of a book with letters inscribed on one side using some sort of ad hoc red ink. Nicoleta read the written words out loud to Oana, Crina and Constanta, "Nicoleta. You'll see the sun again. I promise."

* * *

Asha and Eta sat in a carriage looking directly across at Lucian and Beniamin, seated opposite them. The carriage bumped around violently on the rough forest road, while in the center of the carriage the knees of the two humans and the two vampires were dangerously close to touching. With each new jolt Beniamin stiffened to prevent himself from lurching forward and accidentally coming into contact with Asha. He had come to believe that any direct physical contact with a vampire would automatically lead to infection making this carriage journey a terrifying ordeal for him.

He asked Lucian leaning towards him and trying to speak quietly, "Are you sure there's no risk of infection?"

"There is no risk," Asha loudly proclaimed in response, "Your damn worthless physicians have fed you more mountains of ignorance than I could possible push aside, but I will tell you this: vampirism is not spread through bad air; it is not spread through touching. It is spread through fluids. It lives in our blood, in our sweat, in our spit, in our tears. So unless you decide to drink one of these fluids, then you needn't worry. Though, I suppose a kiss would work as well. Are you interested in kissing me Beniamin?"

Asha said it in a taunting way, but Beniamin blushed when she said it. Though her head was hooded and covered in a black cloth that enshrouded her face, Beniamin was familiar with Asha's beauty from their previous meeting. To his mind, she was the most enchanting creature he'd ever seen, and he yearned for her to remove that covering and reveal her face again. The carriage's interior was dark, with the doors and curtains closed, but though stifling heat oppressed her, she didn't deem it safe and preferred to remain covered.

The ride was long, but they eventually pulled in through the gates of Terem. The horse hoofs echoed on the stone pavement as they pulled into the center of town. The market was alive with crowds bustling about in a loud hum of activity, but when Asha and the four vampires accompanying her stepped out of the carriages, the crowds stopped and fell into silence.

Asha had never been inside the walls of Terem. They were high and well guarded. She'd always wanted to breach them, but only now, after she'd made peace, did this become possible.

Flaviu, the captain of the guard was there to greet them. He was a short, stout man with white hair and a red-cheeked face, flushed like one drunk. He extended a hand to shake but Asha ignored him and strode forward towards the town hall where she supposed the meeting to be held.

The town hall was a red brick building with several white-framed windows and a pair of chimneys emerging from either side of the roof. When Asha opened the door, she saw a large open room crammed with pews that were now filled with onlookers. Above her head was also a gallery section, and she could hear the shifting of feet as people heard her entrance and moved in anticipation of seeing her and the other vampires.

Most of the villagers had the good fortune of never having seen a vampire, fortunate since most of those who saw vampires were victims or the families of victims. When Asha walked down the center aisle, all eyes were turned to her.

Rows of windows on either side of the hall flooded the room with light, until, at Flaviu's command, the shutters to these windows began to be shut. Darkness spread across the room in a slow wave that proceeded behind Asha as she walked towards the front.

Once all the windows were closed, the room was only faintly illuminated. The crowds of people began to mutter in evident alarm, and some people even cried out in panic. Flaviu had to shout out in a powerful voice, "Quiet! You're all perfectly safe." The commanding voice stunned the crowd into obedience, and, even though they looked on nervously, they at least remained silent.

Reaching the table at the front where a candle burned, Asha took off her hood and her head-covering and exposed her face to the crowd, while the four other vampires with her did the same. Though it must surely have been difficult for most of the townspeople to see her clearly in the dim light, the effect was transformative. They had never realized how stunning the vampires were.

Eta was a small, arresting beauty, with a pleasant softness to her features—a curved nose and a round face with large, open eyes—and many people turned to look at her with admiration when she removed her head-covering. But Eta was still young, and it was Asha who drew the most attention, eliciting a slight gasp of awe among the collected spectators as she exposed herself. Asha displayed to them her creamy, soft skin, her high cheekbones, her long, thin nose and clear blue eyes, and they found it difficult to dislike her, even though many had lost acquaintances and family members to her coven.

She looked over the crowd silently like a queen surveying her subjects, and the crowd stared back, drinking deeply of her beauty.

Lucian, who was waiting behind her decided to step forward to speak and break this silence. "I thank you all for coming to witness this historic event: the end of the war between vampires and humans. I hope you will heed me when I entreat you to attend to every detail displayed before you today, since for generations to come your children and their children after them will ask you to describe how it was to witness the forging of history. I pray that this event may be retained in our collective memory for their benefit. Just like many great events in the past, the full gravity of this event is not fully fathomable to us here in the midst of it, but in time to come it will be recognized as a great turning point that will define all future affairs to come."

Asha had to interrupt at this point with a loud assertion of "Let's get on with this." Her strident voice had an effect on the crowd quite the inverse of her appearance, and they recoiled a little to hear her assert herself with such force.

Lucian respectfully deferred to her and walked back to the table where sat the treaty that had been drawn up. Expounded in standard legalese was a description of the conditions and penalties of their peace arrangement, beautifully inscribed in Beniamin's excellent hand. Asha examined the document perfunctorily, though she couldn't read. She trusted that Lucian had not tried to sneak in any provisions of which she wouldn't approve.

"We will receive all of your capital criminals?" Asha asked Lucian. He nodded, adding, "And we yours."

She picked up the pen, dipped it in ink and wrote, in a crude, barely legible script, "Asha."

A whole line of officials and representatives, representing the various villages and landlords that controlled the region were standing in the front with Asha and Lucian. They all, in turn, signed the document, with handwriting considerably more refined and polished than Asha's, until the whole bottom of the treaty was crowded with a congeries of signatures.

No handshakes were exchanged, but Asha and her four companions gave short bows to each of the representatives after they signed.

When all was completed, Lucian rolled up the document and raised it in the air in triumph. Asha put back on her head-covering and hooded herself, the other vampires following her lead. Without further formalities, she left, walking down the center aisle and exiting through the front door. Lucian and Beniamin followed behind and led the vampires into the two carriages. They departed from the village as abruptly as they'd come, heading back to the coven.

* * *

Lina was preparing to make a small, unauthorized excursion out of the caves. The timing was ideal, since Asha was away and Vad, who was supposed to watch Lina, was still infirmed. For this purpose, she entered her room and found a head-covering, gloves and a hooded cloak in her closet, all of which she folded into a sack.

She travelled to the Great Hall, which was, at the time, mostly empty. The sole entrance and exit from the coven was the passage leading up and out of the Great Hall. To exit, she would have to pass through the locked wooden door and then lift the boulder on the other side.

The region between the door and boulder was under constant guard. A number of different vampires shared this duty, and they cycled frequently among them, sometimes leaving the place unguarded for several minutes while one of them went out to fetch the replacement. It was a job that wasn't practiced with much seriousness, since no outsider had ever actually successfully discovered the entrance and it was doubted that any ever would. In addition, with a peace deal being signed at that very moment, it seemed all the more pointless. For these reasons, it wasn't uncommon for guards to be found in profound dereliction of their duty.

It was this failing that Lina was counting on, hoping to sneak through during one of these gaps of duty. From the Great Hall she climbed up into the dark passage leading out, unnoticed by the few vampires present.

Upon reaching the locked wooden door, she put on her dark clothes, and she waited. She could smell the vampire on the other side and knew that it was only a matter of patience.

For many long minutes Lina stood, her back pressed against the wall, faintly hearing the sound of the vampire breathing and occasionally pacing back and forth. Lina was understandably nervous about getting caught, and as each moment passed, the probability that someone might chance upon her only increased. She anxiously stood against the wall, trying to remain silent while the vampire on guard aggravatingly remained at his post.

Finally, her patience was rewarded. The door opened, swinging inward towards Lina. As the vampire passed through and walked downward towards the Great Hall, she was hidden behind the door. He didn't even bother closing the door, casually strolling away from her in order to gather his replacement.

Lina sprang forward as soon he was out of sight. She decided to close the door behind her so that she would be less likely to be seen by someone approaching from behind.

The section between the door and the boulder, where she was now confined, was almost completely dark. Unlike most of the coven, which was dimly illuminated by numerous candles, torches and flames, there was no light whatsoever here. She could see the outline of the door behind her, as the faint light from within seeped around the edges. She could similarly see the daylight that filtered through the cracks around the edge of the boulder.

The great rock above her could be pushed upwards as it would rotate on a hinge located at the very top of it. Lina thus applied herself to raising this rock. She had noticed her strength beginning to advance without any effort on her part. She had lifted the bed inside her room with an ease that surprised her, but as she now attempted to lift the boulder, it resisted as much as if she were trying to press it into the ground. She felt like she was able to almost push it upwards a finger's width, but only that by stressing her muscles until they burned.

Sweat rolled down her face, and she finally gave up, deciding to give up her whole plan, return to her room and reserve herself for a future attempt. But when she turned back to the closed door and tried to open it, it failed to give way. The door must have become locked from the inside when she closed it.

Lina struggled to open the door with the same effort she'd put to the rock and with the same success. It was built of thick boards of wood and was thoroughly secured to the stone walls. She was trapped.

At first she resigned herself to being caught, figuring that when the replacement guard returned, he would open the door and she could leave. But she decided against this after only a few moments of meditation. She passionately wanted to exit the caves, even if only briefly. She surprised herself by the strength of this desire and pursued it with freshly discovered energy by applying her strength to raising the boulder once again.

To her surprise, the massive rock began to rise with ease, even so much that it seemed to be lifted without effort. The brilliant light of daylight poured in with a brightness that she believed she had never in her life seen, and even with the head-covering to protect her eyes, it was overwhelming enough that it made her squint.

As the rock rose above her out of her reach, she fell forward onto the ground, and only then did she realize that it was another vampire that was raising the rock from the outside. From the ground, she looked up and saw the youngish Eta looking down at her with a perplexed look. She suddenly rose to her feet as she saw Asha approaching, accompanied by the vampires that had joined her for the treaty.

"Are you guarding the entrance?" Asha asked, with a peculiarly confused, even somewhat suspicious look, "I thought I had you sweeping the halls."

Lina was ready with an answer with little hesitation, "I was just looking after the entrance for a few minutes between shifts."

As if perfectly timed to confirm Lina's lie, the door was at that moment opened and a vampire stepped through. The vampire was surprised at the daylight. His hands were still exposed and he was marked with a mild sunburn after only a second or so of exposure, causing him to step back and hide in the shade.

Asha didn't linger any further, and she stepped right through the door, with her entourage following, as the boulder sank into place and cut off the daylight. Lina trailed them at the end, and she was given a strange look by the vampire who was supposed to be on guard.
Chapter 14

Flesh and Blood

There had been an older man preaching to the humans in the pen when Sister Oana and Nicoleta had arrived, but as soon as the people discovered that Oana was a monastic, they pressed her to offer what religious comfort and advice she could.

Soon Oana began preaching in the arena, where a few hundred people would collect to listen to her. Even at her first sermon, a crowd of people crammed into the arena, some occupying what sparse furniture was present, but most sitting where they could upon the ground. She stood before them in the back of the arena, difficult to see in the dim light, but easily heard, even as her voice echoed off the walls. She explained to them that despite the desperateness of their situation, they would still be granted bliss in the afterlife, which the vampires would be denied.

"It is better to be a slave in the vampires' coven, than a vampire yourself," Sister Oana stirringly began, "For all of you here, I tell you, your place in the afterlife is secure, so long as you continue to be virtuous and to seek forgiveness for your sins. But for the vampires, no such afterlife is prepared for them. For such is the fate for all who taste of the flesh of man. These caves are their Garden of Eden, and the flesh they eat, that is their fruit of the tree of good and evil. It is their original sin and temptation. And for that sin there shall be no redemption.

"For in the future when Christ returns, he will inflict a great judgment, and all of us will be brought before Him to be judged in body. For all of us that have already died, our bodies will be restored. Reassembled by the power of God, piece by piece. Even if your body has started to rot, even if the flesh has melted away from your bones and been eaten by worms, it will be reassembled. And it will be reassembled whole. So that, if you lost a hand in life, in the second coming that hand will be restored to you, whole. Even if you have only lost a finger or a tooth, it too will be restored whole. Your sight will be restored, your hearing, your strength, your youth, your vigor. All whole once again. By the power of God. For the power of God is great.

"But what about for the vampires? How will they be reassembled? Their bodies are made, piece by piece, from the flesh of the humans they consume. When they drink our blood, eat our meat and skin and gnaw on our bones, they take our bodies and make them part of their own. But God will need those pieces to reconstruct our bodies. Every last piece of the vampires' bodies will be needed to reassemble the bodies of those the vampires have eaten. If they have a hand that is whole only because they have eaten your hand, then God will take the hand from the vampire and give it to you. If they have a foot that is whole only because they have eaten your foot, then God will take that foot and give it to you.

"So, what will be left for them? Nothing, I tell you. Nothing. For the vampires, no part of their body will remain. They have lived by stealing the flesh of others, and that flesh will be stolen from them. For them, they will have no part in the final judgment. Without judgment, then they can have no access to heaven, no access to the afterlife. What then waits for them after death? For them, death is only oblivion, eternally. Nothing, eternally. They will die into the hell of oblivion that is reserved for those that live off the flesh of man. Eternally denied access to the grace of God and eternally condemned to nothingness. Nothing, eternally. But for you, heaven awaits. At the judgment, the arms of heaven will open up to embrace you and eternally wrap you in their warmth."

After Oana's preaching, many people stepped forward and placed small bits of stalactite in her hand as donation. The stalactites formed the backbone of the small economy of the pen. They'd been broken from the ceilings over the years and formed a monetary system that circulated throughout the pen, with larger stalactites having higher values and smaller ones lesser. Balances had been constructed to compare weights and manage trading, though there wasn't much to trade, mostly just clothing, services and extra food. The only wealthy person in the pen was Dragomir, who used his wealth to build around him a harem of women and occupy and furnish the best part of the pen.

Oana looked at the bits of stone and said to Nicoleta, Constanta and Crina, who were there with her, "With this money, I could employ some people to build an altar or a crucifix in here, don't you think? Something to give this place a more edifying appearance."

Constanta looked up at Oana and shook her head, "I don't think you should Sister Oana. It would be beautiful if you finished it. But you won't, because we won't be here very long. Between Madalina and my brother (who's an amazing hunter of vampires) it's just a matter of time before someone frees us. We will see the daylight again. Madalina promised. This is not our home. And we won't be trapped here much longer. I know it."

Nicoleta and Oana exchanged a concerned look, neither of them trusting to Lina or to this brother of Constanta's, whom they didn't know. But they still were touched by Constanta's optimism.

"We don't need their help," Crina disagreed in a whisper, "We can get out on our own."

"What do you mean?" Constanta asked, "How?"

In response, Crina pressed a finger to her lips as an indication for her to be silent.

* * *

Lina returned to her room and tried to sleep, but she had difficulty. Sleep wasn't the same since she'd become a vampire. She didn't feel the effects of sleeplessness like she used to. She did feel compelled to sleep from time to time, if for no other reason than to individuate her days and let her brain sort through and bring to a close all that had happened that day, but she no longer looked forward to sleep anymore.

Her dreams had become darker. In the world of her dreams were pervasive shadows, and the feeling of foreboding seemed to lurk around every corner. Even the most ordinary scenario, such as fetching a loaf of bread from the kitchen in the convent, took on a different color than it had before. She would feel, when she dreamt of that kitchen, that there was something waiting for her, hiding behind the potato sack, something that might leap out at her but didn't. Or if she dreamt of inspecting the forest from atop the wall, she would feel that there was something not quite visible in the forest that was heading towards her, something over the horizon or in the shadows. Every time she tried to sleep, the foreboding was always in the background, like the chirping of crickets at night, and when she would wake up, she would only be greeted with the loneliness of an empty room.

Other things had also begun to change since she'd become a vampire. Her strength was on the increase, along with her speed and agility. Her teeth were growing—now they looked more like the fangs of a cat than a human. With her teeth so much bigger, the feeling of them in her mouth was a disagreeable new experience; she was not used to always feeling her teeth on the inside of her lips. Her voice was also changing, growing more hoarse, more screeching; speaking had become more labored, more uncomfortable. Economy of speech became desirable.

Most notable were the changes in her beauty. Her skin looked better, though far whiter, and her hair was richer and more vibrant. Her face looked almost unfamiliar. She looked at herself in the mirror, and she still recognized herself, recognized her contours, but yet it wasn't quite her. Her face had, subtly, grown more pleasant. She had always been an awkward looking girl, plain and unworthy of notice. But now, as she looked at herself, she felt she had a face that would make boys go out of their way to catch a glimpse of, especially as she was starting to look older as well as more beautiful.

Lina left her room and went to the infirmary to find Vad. She passed Asha on the way out and politely stepped aside for Asha to pass before she went in to see Vad. Vad was about to leave, his wounds mostly recovered and his strength having returned. A surgeon was inspecting his wounds one last time before letting Vad leave.

Vad saw Lina and told her, "Good to see you."

"You almost look like you've never been injured at all," Lina said, observing the now only small and faint remnants of his previously near fatal wounds.

"We vampires heal quickly," he said, "You'll appreciate that."

Then Vad's expression turned darker, and he said, "Asha spoke to me. She thinks I've given you too much liberty. There is business in this coven a young vampire is not supposed to be involved in. You were seen in the barred room talking with humans and you were seen at the entrance. These are places where a young vampire is not supposed to be unattended."

Lina cut in to make an excuse, but Vad raised his hand to stop her, and spoke over her saying, "I need no excuse. I'm not here to punish. You're new. You have yet to learn. But you should know that you're my responsibility. As the one who infected you, I take care of you until you're ready to be independent. Being responsible means making sacrifices. It means I must work more and eat less, so that there is food enough for you. I accepted this willingly. I talked Asha into letting you join, which means you're even more my responsibility than if I'd infected you accidentally.

"Making sacrifices also means if you err, I bear the weight of the punishment. Asha looked the other way, since these are small and first-time transgressions. She won't do that for you again. I mean, she won't do that for me again."

Lina felt embarrassed when Vad told her these things and she blushed with a crimson blush that only the pallor of her vampire skin could make so bright.

"Don't worry," Vad assured her, "You won't do it again."

"But I want... " Lina began to say before she began to trail off. She was now ashamed to ask for it, and had to do it quietly, with head lowered, "I want to go outside."

Vad only replied with, "Why?" He turned back and looked at the surgeon, who was still in the room with him, to see if he had been listening in on their conversation. The surgeon looked back to Vad with a blank expressionless face, as if to suggest that he was only part of the background. "There's nothing out there for you anymore," Vad told Lina without waiting for her answer.

"I just want to get out of here for a time," Lina told him, not being entirely untruthful. She had often wondered how it was that all the other vampires could stand to be down in these caves for such extended periods of time without any of the fresh air of the forest above.

"You'll get used to it," Vad told her, "I remember how it was when I first arrived. You know I was accidentally infected by Ion. I was only admitted to this place after I'd tried to survive for months on my own above the surface. Trying to find a way to shield yourself from the sun during the day after your own family has kicked you out of your own home is difficult and was accompanied by many painful mistakes. Even then, after this place had become my salvation from the burning light, I still felt oppressed. I wanted to get out every night. After being nearly killed by vampire hunters a few times, the desire subsided. Now I hate going to the surface."

"But the vampire hunters are gone now. There's peace," Lina objected.

"It's best you stay in here," Vad told her, "You'll adjust."

This brought their conversation to an end. Lina considered it unlikely that she would bend Vad to her will this time. The two of them both left the infirmary for their respective rooms.

When Lina returned to her quarters, she found herself spread across her bed, deep in thought. Her thoughts dwelled on her sole present objective, of fulfilling her promise to Nicoleta by freeing her. At the moment, she had no grander designs than this. Even this simple task seemed difficult beyond her ability. She didn't know how to extract Nicoleta from the pen, how to bring her to the exit or how to lift the boulder that covered the exit.

Lina thought she could resolve the last step by waiting for her body to grow stronger, and perhaps in the interim, the other steps could be solved. She wondered how long it would take to gain sufficient strength (weeks? months? years?). "If only there was some way I could accelerate the process?" she thought to herself.

It was only when she finally articulated this thought in her mind, that she remembered that there was in fact was a way that she could accelerate this process: the same way that Asha had gained strength when she'd seized leadership over the coven. Asha had already done the killing for her just the night before. If she could only get to that vampire's remains. "Surely the vampire couldn't have been eaten and gone already," she thought to herself, "It takes time to process. How long, I wonder." She admitted that she knew absolutely nothing about how the vampires processed or prepared the thick red liquid that had become her sole source of food since she'd arrived, but it seemed reasonable. The liquid wasn't just blood. It was more, and though she'd been reluctant to let her curiosity pursue the question further, she suspected that processing those other parts took time.

"Is the kitchen off limits?" she asked herself. After a moment, she shrugged her shoulders and said, "I better hurry up and go in there before someone explicitly tells me I can't."

Lina exited her room in the direction of the kitchen. As a first pass, she simply walked by the room, slowing down somewhat and looking inside to see what was happening inside. There were two vampires in there. Neither appeared to be doing anything at the moment, both sitting back and relaxing. They didn't raise their eyes to look at Lina, and she simply walked right by.

Lina gathered her broom and began to sweep through the hall outside the kitchen, again looking inside as she stood before the opening. The room contained an assortment of cauldrons, jars, bowls and barrels scattered around the room, and none of them had any apparent labels on them to help her sort one from another. Many were filled with liquids of slightly different shades of red and one particularly large one was filled with what looked a writhing mass of maggots.

Lina decided to step inside with her broom in hand. She looked around the room for a few moments before one of the vampires looked up to see her. Several bowls were spread out on a table in the center of the room, and one of the vampires was ladling out the thick red liquid into the bowls.

The vampire looked at Lina, who was standing there, motionless with her broom in hand, and the vampire asked Lina, "You here for food? You can take one. It saves me the time of taking it to you."

She gestured with her hands towards the bowls, and Lina picked up one nearest to her and raised it to her lips. As the warm liquid slid down her throat, she realized how much she'd been thirsting for it. A sense of relief and pleasure spread throughout her body.

Lina raised her empty bowl in order to ask where she was supposed to put it, and the vampire gestured to a large pot in which whole stacks of dirty dishes were already sitting. Lina set the bowl inside.

The vampire then asked her, "Lina? Right?" She nodded and the vampire said, pointing to herself, "Ada." Then she gestured behind her where the other vampire was sitting down and staring vacantly off into the distance and said, "Nicu."

"You want me to sweep in here? Lina politely asked

Ada turned back to look at Nicu to hear his response. "This isn't really a place for young vampires," Nicu replied, in a noncommittal and lethargic tone.

Ada decided to ignore him and told Lina, "Go ahead. It'll save me work. He doesn't care since he does nothing anyways."

Lina thereby started to sweep the already quite clean floors of the kitchen. They were tiled a rather striking white that showed every tiny stain that touched them, yet, despite this, seemed quite pristine. As she moved around the room, she could see the various pots where their food was prepared. Seeing the various stages of the process, she intuited that the humans were slaughtered, separated, and left to dissolve in some sort of formula, which turned them into a liquidy mush; this was then blended into the blood, which they kept and processed separately. The images of these partially processed bits of human parts, did nothing to make the mixture she drank as food more pleasant, and she tried to push the images she'd seen out of her mind.

Ada noticed Lina looking into the pots and said to her, "Vampires way in the past used to just eat the blood. But if you do that, you have to kill many more victims. We no longer have the luxury of throwing the whole body away. We consume every part of it and can now afford to feed much greater numbers with fewer kills." Lina nodded her head at this piece of information and continued to sweep.

While she swept, she watched Ada out of the corner of her eye and noticed something quite interesting. After filling all the other bowls with liquid from one pot, Ada took another bowl of a distinctly different pattern and filled that bowl from a separate pot. She filled this bowl quite generously, and since it was the last she could fit on her tray, she set down the ladle.

Nicu spoke up at this moment, ordering Ada, "Fetch Mir. We need to start preparing another human."

Ada looked at him, irritated, and said, "I'm delivering. You do it." She picked up the large tray filled with the bowls and began to walk out the door. Lina assumed that Ada would be away for a while, leaving just her and Nicu.

Nicu huffed with frustration when Ada left. He saw Lina and felt suddenly thankful she was there, ordering her, "Go fetch Mir, little Lina."

Lina's first impulse was to obey, but instead she simply shrugged her shoulders and said, "Who?"

This was more annoyance than Nicu could bear and he huffed with frustration again, even louder this time. With a great display of effort, he dragged himself to his feet and lumbered ponderously across the room. "How can you not know Mir," he said as he passed her. As he stepped out the door, he reminded her, "Don't touch anything while I'm gone."

As soon as he was out the door, Lina saw the opportunity she'd been waiting for. She ran over to the separate pot that Ada had used to fill the single final bowl, reasoning that the single final bowl must be going to Asha and that this separate pot contained the remains of the deceased vampire.

She leapt up onto the counter and knelt before the great black pot of warm red liquid. She scooped several large ladlefuls of the thick substance into her mouth and gulped them down, one after another. She tried to cram as much of it into her stomach as quickly as possible, not knowing how effective it was or how much her body could take.

When she thought she heard the sound of footsteps in the hall, she dropped the ladle, jumped down to the ground and picked up the broom to commence her cleaning. Nicu entered, waddling through the entrance with loud and heavy breaths and with Mir behind him.

"Mir," Nicu said as an introduction, pointing at Mir, still clearly annoyed, as they walked by. Lina nodded at him and moved out of the way of Mir's imposing bulk. Mir went to the door that led into the pen and opened it with a large, brass mortice key that he carried with him. The heavy door swung open, and he disappeared into the pen. Nicu stood guard at the door, to make sure that no humans attempted to escape while the door was open.

Soon Mir emerged from the pen with a grey-haired woman wrapped in his arms. The woman flailed about, trying to hit Mir, trying to knock herself free and just trying to do whatever she could to escape. Nicu locked the door behind Mir with his own key, as Mir dumped the woman onto the table. In one swift motion Mir twisted her head on her neck with such force and abruptness that the whole body instantly went limp.

Lina felt she'd stayed too long and seen more than she'd wanted to. She hastily moved out of the room as the two vampires started to cut away the woman's clothes and shave her.
Chapter 15

Digging Upwards

Lina's departure was opportune for another reason as well: she was feeling the effects of the mixture that she'd drunk and needed to be alone. She put down her broom and went directly to her room. The first sensation she felt was of wanting to vomit up the entire contents of her stomach. Her stomach was bursting with food, as if she'd stuffed herself with a giant feast until she was ready to explode. She arduously resisted the urge to throw up, not enthusiastic about the possibility of having to try to steal some of the food again. She had to lie down on the bed, and almost felt light-headed, her head spinning and her body reeling. Wave upon wave of energy seemed to be flowing outward from her body's center to her extremities. Sweat glistened on her skin as her heart rate accelerated and her body grew incredibly warm.

"When will this be over?" she agonizingly asked herself. Her whole body felt terrible: her muscles sore, her throat ragged, her head pounding, her stomach aching, her body weak. And, as the moments passed, it only seemed to grow worse.

The symptoms were so unpleasant that, as Lina stared up at the ceiling, she began to worry. "Did I consume too much? Is my body really capable of handling that much? Is it more than a young vampire can handle?" she asked herself as the overriding feeling that she'd polluted her body with something deeply unhealthy dominated her thoughts.

After a long stretch of unpleasantness, she let her abused body plummet into a sleep from which it felt like she would never rise. In her sleep she began to dream. It was a moderately pleasant dream, of being back at the convent (always of the convent) with Sister Elisabeta instructing her in theology and Vad there to protect her whenever Oana should overstep her reprimands. Though she was very independent, if there was one thing that she truly lacked when she was at the convent, it was someone there to protect her. And when she stepped outside and watched the sun high in the blue sky, she thought to herself, "It doesn't burn so bad." In fact, the sun felt warm and she felt happy to be back at the convent.

It was at this moment when she woke up again, back in the darkness of her room, lying in her bed, her sheets wet with sweat and her body shivering from the cold. She opened her eyes, oblivious to how much time she'd lost to sleep. She suspected that it'd been a great many hours, since her sickness was gone. In fact, the sickness wasn't just gone; her body felt revitalized.

As her mind began to slowly open itself to wakefulness, she stepped out of her bed and moved herself about. Her body moved as if it was something new, like her arms were recently acquired appendages that had just grown in. There was a strangeness, an unfamiliarity to her movements. She went to look into the mirror and noticed that she looked different too—subtly but noticeably different. Her face was quite beautiful for one. She became enrapt in her own appearance, feeling for the moment like a person savoring the beauty of a new and attractive stranger. She turned her face in the glass to observe it from every angle, inspecting the different facets of her newfound resplendence, from her bright eyes to her smooth skin.

A worry crossed her mind. She feared that it would be a bit too obvious to the other vampires how beautiful she'd become and how quickly. It might raise questions, suspicions. But then she thought that none of them had really paid her close enough attention before to notice a difference.

She next wanted to see whether her strength had made any dramatic improvements. She approached her bed: a sturdy wood frame with a heavy feather mattress and several layers of sheets. As a novice, she would've barely been able to raise it off the ground. As a vampire, just a few days ago, she'd been able to lift it fully off the ground with only some difficulty. Now, as she tried to lift it, it seemed to float up into the air, like a piece of driftwood rising to surface of a stream.

The great rock that covered the entrance, that had been beyond her strength only just the previous day, was now, she was sure, within her strength. She was one step closer to freeing Nicoleta.

Lina now only needed to figure out how to enter the pen and how to sneak Nicoleta out. Neither of which she knew how to do. She had seen the key that was used to open the door to the pen: a large brass key. Both Mir and Nicu appeared to have a copy. How would she acquire it without being caught? She didn't know. And how could Nicoleta be taken through the halls of the coven without anyone seeing her? She didn't know the answer to that either, but she felt that there was a good place to look.

A few minutes later she was in the cache with a flame in hand. This was one room that she was sure the other vampires would not be worried about her visiting unchaperoned. What exactly she was looking for, she wasn't sure. Something that would be big enough to conceal Nicoleta and that she could carry in her hands. There were clothes aplenty, but she suspected these wouldn't really conceal her enough. There was a chest that looked suitable, but not ideal. Even better though, she noticed, a basket, a tall storage basket, perhaps pilfered from some large estate nearby.

The outlines of a plan began to shape themselves more distinctly in Lina's mind.

* * *

The sun was just above the horizon as Vasile walked across Josif's small allotment of land in the direction of Anton, whom he saw in the distance, submerged shoulder-deep in the sea of wheat. Anton was bent down with crescent blade in hand reaping the grain with long, flowing swings. He gathered the stalks into his hands and tossed these grains into a basket.

As Vasile approached, they greeted each other, and Vasile asked, "Where's your dad?"

"He's been having to work Gabor's crops," Anton responded bitterly, "It's that time of year when we have to fulfill our serf's duty."

"Is he happy to have you back?"

"I don't think that's the word I'd use. I don't think anything makes him happy. Though he's resisting the urge to gloat, I feel like he's pleased that he turned out to be right about me trying to be a vampire hunter. To him things are better off staying the same as they've always been, I suppose."

Vasile grabbed the scythe out of Anton's hands and took over his job while Anton rested.

"I've decided to stop taking the vampire wares," Vasile said. He squinted under the light of the sun. Ever since he'd started taking the vampire medicine so many years ago, the sun had gained an overbearing quality, and now it was, gradually, beginning to lose that overbearingness. "I guess it's time to start growing old," Vasile continued, "I've been trying to reschedule my sleep so that I'm actually awake through the daylight. It's impossible for you to understand how long I've been a vampire hunter and how many nights I've been out in the forest waiting alone in the trees for a vampire to cross my line of sight. Almost every day, for decades, alone at night: in summer when nights are warm and in winter when over half the day is left to the vampires. I've seen a great many sunsets and sunrises, but not so much of the day in between. Now it's finally completely over. No more vampire hunting. No more dragging my kills to Andrei's. No more waiting up all night in the trees. Just living a normal life again."

He took a deep breath and followed it with some extra long swipes at the wheat as he thought about his life. There was a silence as he continued reaping the wheat, and Anton sat looking up into the sky. Anton looked tired from a day's work, but there was also something else to his harried appearance—he looked sad.

Vasile asked him, "Do you miss your sister?"

The question brought some quiet tears to Anton's eyes, which he wiped away with the sleeve of his shirt, before he replied, "Every day." He asked Vasile, "Would it sound foolish if I said I think she's still alive? Is it false hope? Is there something to this feeling I have?"

Vasile shrugged his shoulders and said, "I wish I could tell you you're right. To be honest, I don't know what goes on in those vampire caves. I do know they need food, and no one's ever come back. So, it seems to follow that...."

"I know," Anton said. Then there was a long silence as Anton stared off into the distance.

* * *

In the pen, Constanta was bored. Living on her father's farm had meant a life of nearly constant work from morning to evening: rise in the morning, eat, work all day, eat in the evening, sleep. Sunday service, some holidays around the year and a lighter workload during the winter were about all she'd known of idleness since as long as she could remember.

The life in the pen, on the other hand, was almost entirely idleness, and Constanta was not the type of child that had learned to entertain herself. To stave off the boredom most of the people of the pen, besides sleeping and eating, mostly gambled and had sex. Others were more creative with their time: organizing entertainment such as singing and theatrical performances; others carved designs and pictures into the wall; others sought ways to access previously inaccessible stalactites that lined the ceiling, hoping to make their fortune; some fruitlessly plotted ways to escape; many told stories; and many simply sat around and talked, gossiping and complaining. None of this was for Constanta, though.

She sat and watched several men carving a massive crucifix and altar into one wall of the arena under Sister Oana's direction. Oana had begun her planned work and was employing the labor of several men to carefully chip away at the rock with crude stone tools. She paid the men, but they were mostly just glad to have something interesting to do. The crude tools made the work painfully slow, and it was only due to several persons devoting themselves with near constant labor that they made any progress.

Constanta turned around when she heard the sound of Dragomir's approach. He limped towards Oana, flanked by an entourage, including two intimidating thugs that he used to punish and intimidate recalcitrant dissenters and two of the women from his harem, both pregnant. Oana stood at the foot of the wall overseeing the work and relaying instructions when he announced, "Oana, I have to speak with you."

Oana turned around to face Dragomir and looked back at him impatiently as he prepared to speak, "Oana, I am concerned that you have made no effort to impregnate yourself since you arrived."

Dragomir acted as the hand of the vampires within the pen. The persons of the pen, some three quarters of whom were women, adamantly resisted pregnancy, none wanting to bring a child into the world of the vampire's pen, such that great force had to be applied to overcome this resistance.

"I am not going to break my vow of virginity," Oana told him, "So you can quit being concerned."

Dragomir's two thugs, started to step forward, but Dragomir stopped them. He had been reluctant to use physical force on a woman of God due to some residue of piety still lurking inside him.

"Then you will be marked for slaughter," he threatened.

"So be it," Oana replied with indifference, "Better to be dead than break my vow." She turned her back to Dragomir and his entourage and shouted at the men who were working for her to get back to work.

"I'll give you another week. That's it," Dragomir shouted at her, red with ire. Though he was infuriated with her, this week of reprieve was generous. Truth was that her unique popularity as a preacher made dealing with her particularly delicate, but he told her with perfect earnestness just before he walked away, "I won't wait forever."

Crina arrived as Dragomir left. She gave Dragomir a scathing look as she passed him and said to Constanta after approaching her, "That loathsome man."

She commented after looking up at the carving on the wall, "It's such a waste of labor. We could put it to such better use."

"That's an impious thing to say," Constanta responded with a frown.

"Perhaps," Crina replied, "But I have something I want to show you. Do you have some free time to sneak away?"

"Why not?" Constanta shrugged indifferently.

Crina gave Constanta a hand to help her stand up, and she held onto her hand as she led her out of the arena. Turning through several intersections and into caves that Constanta was unfamiliar with, Crina led her deeper into the pen. Beyond the arena and the barred room, light was scarce, and as they delved further away from these rooms, they slowly descended into a pitch blackness that was absolute. Crina continued to hold Constanta's hand, since she knew the way even through the darkness, and Constanta asked nervously, "You sure you know where you're going."

Crina ignored the question and instead told Constanta, "I don't want you to think I'm an impious person. I have nothing against what Oana is doing, but I think you'll understand when I show you that there are better uses of her money."

In the darkness they began to hear the increasing sound of a scraping and pounding, like rock being knocked against rock. At one point when they appeared to be almost right next to the sound, Crina stopped and told Constanta, "We're here."

Crina pulled out a piece of flint and she struck it in a way that it created a spark. The corner of the cave was dimly illuminated for only a moment, but it was bright and clear enough for Constanta to see what was there. Crina created another spark, and Constanta saw three figures using crude stone tools similar to the ones being used to carve the crucifix in the arena. Instead of carving, though, they were digging upwards into the rock.

"We've been doing this for a long time," Crina said, "We'll eventually reach the surface. I don't know how long it'll take, since it don't know how deep we are. Months, years, maybe. Then again, we might be mere days away."

Crina created another spark, and Constanta could see that they had made a wide hole several foot-lengths deep into the ceiling, and they continued to make progress as they slowly chipped away at the rock.

"I'm showing this because I hope you could help out. Whatever labor you can provide would help. And if you can persuade Oana to provide some laborers or labor herself that would help even more. We just need people we can trust. Dragomir cannot find out about this. If he finds out, he'll tell the vampires, and the vampires will track us down and probably kill us. Can you help?"

"I can," Constanta replied, "But I am rather small."

"No problem," Crina responded with a smile, "We cater to all sizes." Constanta heard a scraping sound as Crina pushed something underneath the hole for Constanta to stand upon. Crina placed a tool in Constanta's hand and guided her through the darkness up the ladder. The man she replaced sat down to rest while Constanta felt around with her hands, and Crina gave her a quick spark to help her see. Once she was ready, Constanta began to pound away at the rock. The sound reverberated and echoed around her with every blow, and bits of rock rained upon her.

* * *

Lina went to the door of Asha's room to speak with her. Carved onto the surface of the door was a lion standing on all fours looking directly at her, its mane bristling with pride. Lina knocked on the door, and a voice told her she could enter.

Inside she saw Asha naked, face down upon her bed while two vampires hovered over her, kneading her muscles with their hands.

"What do you want little Lina?" Asha hissed, still lying flat, without opening her eyes or turning her head, her face remaining buried in her mattress.

"What are they doing to you," Lina innocently asked.

"Is that what you came here for? They're massaging my muscles. It relaxes me and feels very good. If that's all you want, then you can leave me."

"No, no," Lina hastily interjected, "I wanted to ask your permission for something." The act of asking for something from someone else—even just asking permission—made Lina uncomfortable, and she hesitated as powerful internal restrains came to the fore. "I want to go up to the surface," Lina said.

Asha opened her eyes and turned her head to look at Lina. "Why do you want to go outside?" she asked, "It's daylight out now, isn't it?" Lina nodded, and Asha said, "I hate going out in daylight. You want to go out now?"

"I do, yes," Lina hesitantly answered.

"Why? What do you want that for?"

"I miss seeing the sun. I miss being out," Lina said.

"You're a creature of the dark now. You must get used to it," Asha vehemently asserted.

"I want to walk around in the fresh air. I want to do something. What do you vampires do all day? There's hardly enough work for me to fill a day."

"So you're bored? Take up a hobby. They taught you how to read in that convent. See if you can find a book to read. Do something creative. If I let you outside, what will you do there?"

"I don't know," Lina shrugged her shoulders, "Walk around."

Asha brought the massage to a stop by raising her hand and sitting up in her bed. Her naked body was exposed to Lina temporarily. Lina looked up at Asha with a distinct look of envy, but she quickly lowered her eyes when Asha noticed her stare. Asha put on her light indoor clothing and dismissed the two vampires from her presence. They left the room and waited in the hall.

"You wish you were beautiful like me, don't you?" Asha said, "You will be someday. Be patient. You've already become more beautiful since you came here. I can tell."

Lina blushed shyly, not because she was embarrassed by the compliment, but worried that Asha might infer her secret.

Asha continued, "Though I wonder why you would want it. It serves us no purpose anymore. As you may know, we vampires don't mate. In fact, I was quite beautiful even when I was a young human, but it was not a blessing, I assure you. You don't know what it's like to be beautiful. Being beautiful means always being seen, always being noticed. It can be quite oppressive to have eyes on you all the time."

"No worse than never being seen," Lina replied. This caused Asha to emit a slight laugh.

After some silence, not knowing what more to say, Lina reiterated her request, "Will you give me permission to go outside?"

"I will give you permission," Asha said. Lina turned, ready to leave, but Asha stopped her, saying, "But I want you to hear a story first. I want you to hear about my life as a human." Lina turned around and looked at Asha, who smiled in that arrogant, domineering way she always smiled and said, "It's quite instructive."
Chapter 16

Human Heist

"You grew up in a convent as a novice," Asha began, "left there by your parents, no doubt; perhaps motivated by some misplaced sense of piety to offer you as their devotional sacrifice to God. I grew up as a whore in a whorehouse, abandoned by my parents due to their own indifference and negligence. I was born a long, long time ago. All I know about my parents is that they were nomads from the East. And, perhaps, because they had too much to carry, they left me in a small city far from here, in the care of an older woman, who, if I haven't been misled, paid my parents to take me. She paid for me because I would earn for her far more in return. She took care of me while I was young, and I worked by cleaning the rooms of what I would later find out was a brothel. I would clean up after the sweaty sex that the other whores had in those rooms, until I was old enough.

"I imagine I was about your age when I started having to serve men as a prostitute. I hated it, of course. It was awful. The men were awful: they were ugly and they stunk, and they're breath stunk, and they would paw all over me with their grimy hands. So, from the very first man, who broke my hymen one painful afternoon, I started to make a list, an inventory in my mind, of all the people that had wronged me: my parents, the Madame at the brothel and the other men that profited from it, and all the men that visited and had me. I memorized their faces as well as their names and anything else about them I could learn. I still remember very clearly the very first man that broke me in: he had a bushy beard and long, greasy hair and this dull, stupid look in his eyes as if it took great mental effort even just to recall his own name. I held onto this inventory of persons because I knew with absolute certainty that I would take my revenge on any and all of them that I could when the time was right. I didn't know how. I didn't know when. I just knew that I would. I was waiting, biding my time until that opportunity came.

"And you know what? It did come. Our brothel was visited one night by vampires. 'Stormed' would probably be the more appropriate term since they broke down the doors and started killing women. It was an utter shock to me as well as everyone else. The vampires were completely new to the region. No one had heard a thing about vampires before, nor really understood what was going on when we were attacked. We assumed that the attackers were simply some heathen savages with a thirst for blood, and we tried to repel them accordingly, with no success. Half of the women were killed. I was not.

"I was deliberately spared. Luce, a vampire already quite old by that time, visited me, and he entered my room where I was huddling in the corner afraid, trying to hide from him. But he didn't kill me. Smitten by my beauty, perhaps, he simply raped me. When he finished, he told me that he had done me a favor. I thought that was preposterous. Being raped was even worse that those johns taking me for money. But he actually turned out to be right.

"I became very sick soon after, and when I finally recovered, I was hyper-sensitive to light, I had lost all sexual desire, and my menstruation had ceased. I was also strong, fast, and had gained a hunger that could only be satisfied with blood. I didn't understand what I'd become, or what I was, but I rampaged and killed. I first slew the Madame, who'd somehow survived the vampire attack and the two nobles who respectively rented out and taxed the brothel. I latched onto their necks and drank their blood and then eviscerated their bodies for due recompense. Then Luce found me out and took me into his coven, this coven, though we hadn't moved into these caves yet and there were only a few of us. He taught me what I needed to know about being a vampire.

"Then, with his and the other vampires' help, we tracked down every man I could find from my inventory. I couldn't find all of them, unfortunately. Some of them were soldiers or travelers who either died on their own or were settled somewhere far from here where I couldn't find them. Those I didn't get to. The rest I found, and I killed them; we killed them, together: drank their blood, desecrated their bodies and left them in the open air for the animals.

Because I had remembered. I had kept track of all those that had wronged me. I knew their sins, and was prepared to dole out justice, however long it took.

"I still haven't lost that habit. I remember. I always know how things stand, and I'm sure to bring justice to those who do wrong. Do you understand?"

Lina nodded. Asha lastly told her, "If you're going to go outside, be sure and cover yourself. The sun will burn you up."

Lina left Asha's room without a "goodbye" or a "thank you," going directly to her room and pulling out the cloak, shoes, gloves and head-covering that she would need to tolerate the daylight sun.

Lina hustled up the tunnel to the exit and pounded on the wooden door for the guard to let her through. The guard opened the door for her, and after she told him she had permission from Asha, he lifted the rock for her.

She was surprised how overwhelming the daylight sun was. Even under all the covering, it seemed to beat down on her like a rain of fire. She walked around for a little bit, but this was just to make it look like she was doing something. The reason she'd come out was to see whether she was genuinely strong enough to lift the outer rock on her own.

After what Lina thought was a sufficient passage of time not to appear at all suspicious, she returned to the rock and prepared herself for the task of lifting it. She squatted down before the rock, rubbing her hands together and taking a few deep breaths.

After a few moments of hesitation, she put her fingers beneath the underside of the rock and began to pull upward at the weight. Gradually, from the force of her strength, the rock began to move, began to rise. It didn't seem to float up by her strength the way the bed did, but it was achievable with the full extent of her exertion.

When the rock was finally raised above her head, she saw the guard on the other side looking at her with surprise. He actually held out his sword in anticipation, not really sure who it was who was lifting the rock, since Lina was the only vampire who was out. When he saw Lina, her face red with exertion and sweat pouring down her forehead, he dropped the sword and rushed forward to help her. With the weight out of her hands, Lina could finally take the breath that she'd been holding through her whole exertion, which was followed by many heavy gasps.

"You're already strong enough to raise the stone?" the vampire guard said, "You're quick."

Lina gave a shy "thank you," and walked inside like one embarrassed. Her body was sticky with sweat, and she was soon back to her room pulling off her heavy clothes, which felt hot and intolerable. Dropping them to the floor and changing into the loose garments that most of the vampires wore in the cave, she was soothed and relaxed by the cool of the cave.

She looked down at the muscles of her arms and legs and thought she could really tell the difference in how they'd strengthened, how they'd almost overnight improved in tone and seemed stronger, more adult, more healthy.

She needed rest, both tired by the heat and by the exertion, and she lay down on her bed and stared up at the ceiling.

The thought of how to acquire the keys to the pen suffused her thoughts. She recalled a conversation she'd overheard once. Sister Elisabeta was once reproving a repentant former thief, who'd told Elisabeta about his former life. At one point he said something like, "You'd be amazed that you can just snatch a purse right off of a person and they won't notice because they're paying attention to something else. All it takes is a bit of distraction, and you can pluck it right off of them." Lina was skeptical and had considered trying her hand at pickpocketing while she was in the convent to see if it worked as he said, not to steal money, which she had no use for, but to steal something more relevant to her, like the keys to the novices' rooms or some food. Ultimately, she'd never made an attempt, since her fear of being caught was greater than her curiosity. Now she chided herself, thinking that it might've been easier if she'd tried it in the convent where the consequences were still relatively small.

She slept first to recover her strength. She was willing to take her time. Though she felt there was a certain urgency to getting Nicoleta out of there as soon as possible, she also knew that she would have only one shot at this at this, and she wanted it to be done right the first time.

When the time was right, she grabbed the basket and placed it in the hallway near the kitchen. It was conspicuous sitting there, something vampires would have to move to avoid, but she trusted no one would take it. She took her broom and again began to sweep around and towards the kitchen.

Ada and Nicu were there in the kitchen as Lina peeked inside. After a long period of lingering, Ada emerged into the hall and departed, perhaps to attend to some errand, and Lina looked inside and eyed Nicu carefully. The opportunity for snatching the key from him seemed poor, both because he was, as usual, lounging on his seat and because she could see that he had two pockets sewn into his trousers, either of which might contain the key. But she decided to move forward.

"Nicu, I have a question," Lina asked Nicu, just entering the room and slightly moving in his direction, "How do you make these humans into the red liquid that we eat?"

Nicu raised his eyes, just noticing Lina's presence. He replied lethargically, "We call it 'the brew,' and the process of making it is too complex for a little girl like you to understand. Maybe some day if you apprentice in the kitchen, then someone can teach you how. Though I imagine not: not just anyone is capable of possessing the skills for it."

"Do you ever go into the pen?" she asked, just trying to look for something to talk with him about.

"No, I don't. It reeks in there. The collective smell of so many unwashed humans is far too much for a chef of such a refined nose as myself. Those beasts are disgusting."

Lina was now close to Nicu and decided to ask, "Do you have the key to the pen?"

All he said in response was, "Why?" But before he did, he touched his right pocket, just to check.

Seeing this, Lina decided to try her hand at distraction. Touching his shoulder, she pointed to a random pot on the wall and said, "What's in that pot?"

Though Nicu was far beyond the point of tolerance, he still looked in the direction where her right hand pointed and said with an annoyed sigh, "It's just another step in the process of making the brew." But as he was turned and was speaking, Lina reached down with her left hand into his right pocket, plunging her hand deep into it and clasping the metal object she found. She hid the key behind her back when Nicu turned to her.

She waited for him to notice, to ask what she was doing in his pocket, to angrily insist that she return the key she'd just stolen, but instead he simply asked, "Are we done here? I have work to do."

"Do you need to pull a human out of the pen for slaughter?" she asked, hoping this might prompt him to leave the room.

Instead he just asked, "Isn't there somewhere else that needs cleaning?"

Lina nodded and backed away. Holding the key firmly in her hand, she said, "I'll just clean up real quick in here." She grabbed the broom and swept in the kitchen. Nicu eyed her, irked by her very presence. But she didn't notice, since her mind was carefully running through her options.

Once she had circled around the room and noticed an empty pot sitting on the table, she made up her mind, deciding she would face up to the consequences of her actions later. After Nicu relaxed and stopped watching her, she quietly set down the broom. She picked up the large, heavy pot in one hand, and she swung it at Nicu's head with vicious force. The metal connected with the flesh of his head with a brute clang and knocked him to the ground.

Lina dropped the pot and ran straight for the door to the pen. She shoved the key into it and twisted hard at the bulky lock. The sweet click of the door unlocking was clearly heard, and she pulled with all her force to open it.

When Lina ran into the pen the humans looked at her with confusion and fear, used to only being visited by Mir. She called out, in a quiet voice, "Nicoleta, Nicoleta," again and again looking between the persons who timidly backed away from her.

After some frantic scrambling about that seemed to last agonizingly long, she finally found Nicoleta in the arena, still watching the work of Oana's altar, not even noticing Lina's entrance. Lina had no time for explanation. As soon as she reached Nicoleta, she grabbed her in one arm and whisked her away.

Nicoleta cried out in fright, screaming and panicked, initially thinking that she was being taken away to her death. Lina yelled at her in a whispered shout as she carried her out, "Shut up, shut up, shut up. I'm freeing you."

It took Nicoleta a minute to notice who was carrying her, looking up to her and asking in a confused voice, "Madalina?"

Lina had no time for explanations, now racing out the door and through the kitchen. She shoved Nicoleta into the basket and said, "You make a sound, and we'll both die!"

Lina looked around in all directions to see if anyone had noticed. At that moment, she heard a pained groan coming out of Nicu's mouth from within the kitchen.

Lina ran back into the kitchen and closed and locked the door to the pen. She dropped the key into Nicu's pocket, just as he began to move about, reaching up to touch his aching head.

Instead of trying to disappear before he saw her, Lina decided that it would be better to attempt some more misdirection. She leapt onto the counter and started eating from the pot of the special vampire brew that'd been made for Asha. She figured the consequences for knocking Nicu out and stealing some food would be much more modest than freeing a human, and she hoped that Nicu wouldn't be in as much of a hurry to chase after a girl who'd only stole a little bit of vampire brew. When Nicu opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Lina, gulping spoonfuls from the pot of vampire brew. He groggily asked, "Lina?" which she took as her signal to depart.

She ran into the hall, picking up the basket, running up the stairs to her room and closing the door behind her. She'd passed a few vampires in the hall, who didn't give a second thought to a young vampire taking a basket from the cache into her room, but she was worried that this large basket would become suspicious if she tried to carry it further.

Lina opened the basket and lifted Nicoleta out. "I'm getting you out of here," Lina told Nicoleta.

Lina pulled out her outdoor clothes. She started to put them on, reserving the cloak for last, and told Nicoleta, "Now hold onto my back." Nicoleta hopped onto Lina's back, piggyback style, her arms wrapped around Lina's neck, her legs wrapped around Lina's stomach. Lina put on the cloak to cover both of them.

She checked herself out in the mirror, the thick, flowing coat was an effective cover and hid Nicoleta quite thoroughly from the front. On the other hand, if someone saw her from behind or from the side, it was clear she had a massive bulge protruding from her back. The dim light of the cave would probably help, but she'd have to do what she could to hide her backside. That no one at all would notice the huge bulge on her back seemed unlikely, but she didn't have any time to think up a better solution. Someone may already be looking for her, and the first place they would look would be her room.

She stepped out into the hall, looking both ways, and saw no one immediately in sight. Walking quickly but in a way that didn't look hurried, she strode towards the Great Hall. When she stepped inside, she saw an unusually high number of vampires lounging around. The beams of light that pierced through the ceiling illuminated the room, and Lina felt immediately exposed.

Nonetheless, she kept on moving forward, trying to angle herself to keep her backside out of sight of the vampires. She climbed the stairs and moved towards the ramp. A few vampires looked in her direction, and their eyes lingered on her longer than a casual glance. If nothing else, it was unusual to see a vampire heading surface-ward during the daylight hours, and they perceived that something about Lina was unusual.

Lina though, didn't give them enough time to intervene, moving into the shadows of the ramp and up towards the wooden door.

She pounded on the door, and the guard opened up and looked through. He looked down at her with a wary look, asking her, "You're going outside again? Wasn't once enough for you?"

"I won't do it again for a while, I swear. Just a short jaunt outside," she pleaded.

He looked at her as if he didn't want to let her through, but he conceded and waved her through, saying, "Come on."

As he was about to close the door, a shout emerged from below, "Is Lina here? Have you seen her?"

Another voice answered immediately, "She just went up the ramp a minute ago."

The guard looked down at Lina and saw her guilty, frightened look, then finally noticed the massive bulge on her back. As he reached down to grab her wrist and hold her, he shouted back down the hall, "I've got Lina. She's right here."

Lina swiftly pushed his away hands and, mustering all the strength she had within her, pushed the guard through the wooden door. He was a strong, heavy creature with rapid reflexes, but he was unprepared for the surge of strength and energy from what he perceived to be only a tiny vampire. He tripped over and fell through the door, which Lina promptly closed behind him.

She applied herself to the rock. She had been barely able to do it before and now that sinking weakness from the food in her belly made her struggle. But the rock did give way and she had it raised above her head as she heard the sound of several vampires scrambling to unlock the door.

The vampires opened the door a crack, but immediately recoiled from the sunlight with screeches of pain. She leapt out and let the rock drop behind her with a resounding crash that was so loud that it caused Nicoleta to involuntarily jump and cry out. Lina had to tell her, "It's nothing. We're good. Now hold on tight." Then she began to run with all the speed she could muster.

The first thought that crossed her mind as she ran was that she was leaving the coven for good. She realized, now, for the first time since she'd planned on hatching Nicoleta's escape, that there was no going back: she was either going to end up dead or permanently banished and at enmity with Asha's coven.
Chapter 17

Reprisal

Lina accelerated with full intensity. Running in the cloak was hot and uncomfortable. The wind flowed around her, blowing off the heavy hood over her head, which she had to hold in place while her other hand tried to hold onto Nicoleta, whose grip was slipping after holding on for so long.

When she turned back for a quick glance behind her, she could see that there were already two vampires on her trail. The vampires had been delayed by the necessity of putting on their daylight coverings, but they were making progress reducing the distance between her and them. Lina was not nearly as swift on her feet as the older, stronger vampires, and she was slowed by the weight that she carried on her back. As she looked at them, she began to doubt that she could make it to her destination without them catching her.

She then realized she didn't know her destination. She'd been running aimlessly. As she turned forward, she perceived that she was heading towards the village of Vallaya. She'd instinctively run in that direction since it was the last place she'd gone with Vad. She recalled the fortified building that Vad had told her they couldn't break into. This would have to be her destination. How she would get in there, she didn't know.

She turned back and could see the two vampires even closer, their torsos bent forward, their arms punching with wrathful energy, and their legs wildly flailing beneath them. They seemed to be only a few paces behind her now.

When she turned forward again, she could just see Andrei's home in the distance. There was a door on the back of the building, and she aimed herself directly for it. When she reached it, she tried to pull it open, pounding at it with both fists. She had no time to wait for an answer. The two vampires lunged forward at her, their bodies landing upon the door as she just dodged to miss them.

Lina raced around the building. As she came around the front, she found herself in the main street of the village. Many people were about, and a dozen or so eyes immediately looked in her direction. She didn't linger to return their stares. The door besides which the "Apothecary and Vampires Wares" sign swung was just opening as two customers sought to leave. She pushed inside, taking them with her. Once inside, she closed the door and held it closed.

The two customers screamed with fright at Lina's pushy entrance, but she shouted at Andrei and Ileana who stood behind the counter, "Lock this door now! There're vampires after me."

Andrei was paralyzed with indecision, but Ileana didn't hesitate, leaping over the counter and quickly dropping two door beams into place just as a pair of bodies pounded into the door from outside.

Finding the door firmly locked, the two vampires applied their fists to it, striking the door repeatedly. One of them finally called out to those inside, "Andrei, we've only come for one of our own. Give us the vampire. We don't want you. This is an internal matter. Don't get involved."

All persons in the store turned to Lina in search of answers. Andrei was the first to speak up, asking her, "What is this? Who are you? Why did you come in here?"

A pair of feet touched the ground from beneath Lina's cloak as a human shape sank to the ground. Nicoleta flung the cloak off from on top of her, exposing her unmistakably human face. She looked around at the group with wide eyes and gripped Lina for support.

"Who is this?" Ileana asked, in a voice more warm and inviting than Andrei's. She bent down to speak with Nicoleta, who recoiled a little at the stranger, "Who are you little girl?"

"Her name's Nicoleta," Lina responded in a hoarse and screeching voice. She coughed to try to return her voice to its previous timbre without success, continuing, "She was a novice, until recently. Until the vampires took her. I mean, I took her for the vampires."

"I don't understand. Why are the vampires after you? Why are they banging on our doors right now asking for you?" Andrei asked in a quieter voice, so that the vampires outside might not overhear him.

"Because I stole her from them. I mean, I freed her from them. I want to take her back to the convent."

Outside, the vampires were still pounding on the door, reciting over and over again, "Andrei, Andrei. Just give us the vampire. We can have you killed for violating the truce. This is not something for you to get involved in. She is one of us. You just give her to us, and we'll go away and forget it. Remember the treaty. You cannot use her."

"Just leave! I'm not letting you have her. This is not part of your damnable treaty. She came here of her own volition, and she'll stay as long as she wants! I won't harm her," Andrei shouted at the vampires outside, with such force and conviction that they gave out the pounding and walked away.

Everyone relaxed a little at the sound of the vampires departing, but Andrei just smiled to them and said, "Don't worry. They'll be back. And there will be more of them."

* * *

By the time the two vampires returned to the coven, Asha had already sorted out what'd happened. She'd asked questions of several different vampires to reconstruct the events: Nicu had been knocked out; Lina had carried a basket through the halls; the basket, now empty, was left behind in her room; she'd put on a cloak; she'd walked up through the tunnel; the guard had seen a bulge on her back; he'd been pushed away, and she'd left.

It was only necessary to speak with Dragomir to confirm what she suspected. She stepped into the barred room and summoned him to her. He limped forward through the crowd, his scarred face emerging from the shadows, and he bent his good ear towards her.

"Do you know Lina?" Asha asked, "She's a young vampire, only recently arrived. Did anyone see Lina enter the pen and take someone out?"

"A few people saw a small female vampire snatch a youngster named Nicoleta," Dragomir replied, nodding his head, "It was odd not to see Mir do it. But we all thought she was new and Nicoleta had become food."

Asha felt hot anger rising inside of her to hear her suspicions confirmed. She responded, though, in an attempt to remain calm in front of Dragomir. "Yes. For food. She was taken for food," Asha said, adding emphatically, "And you make sure no one thinks otherwise."

When Eta and Sil returned to tell Asha that Lina had taken refuge at Andrei's, she was incensed. She slapped both of them across the cheek so hard they tumbled to the ground, her claws bent so that they drew four red lines across each of their cheeks.

She commanded them, hovering over them while they lay on the floor, "Get her back. Tonight. I want her here. Take as many as you need."

"My apologies Asha, but have you forgotten how heavily fortified Andrei's home is?" Sil objected.

Asha slapped him across the face and shouted at him, "I did not ask for counsel."

"He's right," Eta agreed, "We'll need at least a dozen vampires, and even then we should expect heavy casualties."

"Then be sure you do not stint on numbers," Asha snapped at them. Calming down, she added, "Perhaps it's best you two didn't lead this attack. We're going to lose a lot of good vampires over this. Put someone else in charge. Make sure they bring more than enough to succeed. No one too valuable. Also, I want Vad detained in his room. And I want to talk with Lucian before the day is over. Make it happen."

Sil announced Asha's orders, and soon several vampires were jostling for the opportunity to fetch Lucian for Asha. It was Eta who ultimately won out by ignoring this argument, retreating to her room, and slipping herself into her black clothes. She bolted through the caves and was out into the daylight before they could stop her. With her quick speed she left behind several other vampires that tried to join her, heading directly for Lucian's home, where he most likely would be at this time.

The house that Lucian occupied was significantly larger than any of the small farming cottages that most of the villagers possessed and was at the center of a large estate that Lucian owned. It had a gleaming white exterior with many windows and was abutted by a horse stable and carriage house.

Eta had to approach the house circuitously, since there were several laborers working Lucian's land, and it would not be profitable for a vampire to be seen approaching the home of the magistrate. Eta zipped behind trees and ducked through the grass, approaching the home out of sight of the many eyes that occupied the nearby outside.

Eta climbed the exterior of the house with ease, leaping up and grabbing an overhang, before pulling herself up to a second story window, which she was able to look in through.

From the exterior she silently searched the rooms for him. His wife and an indoor servant were visible moving through the halls, and Eta had to wait many minutes before Lucian was alone in his study.

Eta opened the window and silently dropped into the room, so quietly that Lucian only just saw the movement out of the corner of his eye and gasped with fright when he turned to see a vampire standing only a few paces from him.

"You frightened me," he told her, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself, "What is this about?"

"Asha needs to speak with you. Something's wrong. Someone's fled. Come with me," Eta whispered in a hissing voice.

"I don't see why she can't just send me a message. It'd be a whole lot simpler."

"No," Eta urged, moving towards Lucian and preparing to pick him up, "She needs to speak with you."

Lucian turned up his hands in a gesture of resignation, before walking to the door of the room and locking it. Eta snatched him up off the ground and carried him to the window. She leapt out of it and landed on the ground, immediately running for cover before she began her course back to the coven.

Lucian was carried rapidly on the back of the young vampire through the woods and was inside the coven once again after several minutes of running.

At the foot of Asha's throne, he was greeted and told, "One of our vampires has escaped. I would like you to get her back. Her name is Lina, and she is hiding in Andrei's home. Can you do this for us?"

"Yes," Lucian replied, "But as I told this young vampire, I don't see the necessity of bringing me down her. You could've told her, and she could've told me. What's the point?"

Asha smiled and said, "I want to guarantee your cooperation. And I like you visits. You come so seldom to pay me a friendly visit."

"I'll speak to Andrei as soon as I can," Lucian conceded, thinking of all the work that needed to be attended to back in his study.

"You'll speak to Andrei now!" Asha interjected forcefully. Lucian could do nothing but nod his head at this point. He bowed and withdrew himself.

* * *

There was a knock on the front door of Andrei's store. Andrei called out, "Who is it?" and the voice of Anton replied, "It's me."

Andrei opened the door and glanced at the beautiful colors of sunset visible in the sky. The clouds opposite the sun were painted a rosy pink and the sun, low on the horizon, enflamed the sky in a bright orange.

Andrei told Anton to come inside. He closed the door behind him and locked it. "What is it? Why did you ask me to come?" Anton asked.

Anton was still wearing his soiled work clothes, and he smelled of the sweat of a hard day's labor. His hair was dusty and messy, but he still smiled with that youthful confidence when he looked at Andrei.

"This way," Andrei gestured and led him into the workroom. There in the room was seated Vasile and Ileana. And beside them was a small female vampire, who immediately caught Anton's attention.

"I know you," Anton said to the vampire, though not quite able to place from where he remembered her face. Then it came to him: the night when Constanta was taken, the tiny vampire being carried on the other's back.

His brow furrowed, his eyes turned red, and he lunged at her as soon as he remembered. His arms were outstretched, aimed directly at her throat, which he grabbed as soon as it was within reach and squeezed as hard as could.

"What did you do with her? What did you do to my sister?" Anton shouted at her. Vasile and Andrei both leapt forward to restrain Anton, but it was unnecessary. Lina was able to easily remove his hands and kick him away with her feet, sending Anton falling backwards onto the ground.

Anton stood up and was ready to lunge at her again, but was this time successfully restrained by Vasile and Andrei. He still shouted at her, "Just tell me you killed her and we can put an end to all of this! I can kill you and you can turn me over to them so they can kill me! And it'll all be finally over!"

"We've brought you here to protect her," Andrei said directly into Anton's ear while him and Vasile held onto the boy.

"Her? Why?" Anton asked in disbelief, relaxing himself and stopping, "She's responsible for my sister's death. She was there when they took her."

"How old is your sister?" Lina asked, and Anton was able to hear the strident quality of her voice for the first time. She calmly sat in her place and stared blankly up at Anton after she spoke.

"She's twelve, almost thirteen. Why do you ask?"

"She's alive then. Most probably. I don't know exactly who've they've got in there, stored in their cage; there's many hundreds of them. But they hold on to young girls. They're the most valuable," Lina explained.

Anton paused for a long time as he stared at Lina, who placidly looked back at him. He was trying to gauge her, see if she was sincere and honest. He searched her face for some indication of trustworthiness. What he saw was a face that was surprisingly innocent looking and beautiful despite its experience.

Anton asked, "If she's alive, how do we free her?"

"That is why we are here to protect this vampire," Andrei interjected.

Anton turned to him at this point and nodded his head. "Alright," Anton said and sat down, ready to hear about the attack that they were expecting.

Another knock was heard at the door. This one Andrei was not anticipating, and he looked around to see if anyone knew who it was. He went to the front door and asked, "Who is it?"

"It's Lucian," said the voice on the other side.

Andrei opened the door, and there indeed stood Lucian, dressed formally and cleanly in his jacket and wig. Andrei led him inside and Lucian began without greeting, "I hear that you have a vampire in here. I've come to try to persuade you to return her to her coven."

Andrei let Lucian inside, only so that he could close the door behind him and keep the place secure, though he was not open to being persuaded.

"We just signed a truce," Lucian explained, "which is very valuable in saving the lives of a great many of the people around here: the parents and their children—especially the children, who are particularly vulnerable. Yes, I know what you're doing is not technically in violation of our treaty, but the treaty is built on mutual respect. We don't want to have to enforce it with arms; so we must take the precautionary approach and avoid aggravating our enemies. Most probably, this vampire is running from some crime she has committed against her fellows vampires, and we are only giving her harbor and undermining their laws."

"She has come with a human, a human she freed, a human that is supposedly one of hundreds," Andrei said.

Lucian was brought to the quite unusual experience of having nothing to say when he heard this. He could only ask, with evident shock, "What did you say?"

Andrei replied to Lucian by speaking as slowly as he could, "The vampires are keeping hundreds of humans prisoner in their coven. Hundreds."

"By the blood of Christ," Lucian swore with shock.

He fell silent as indecision pushed him to and fro. "Still can't we just release this vampire to them?" Lucian tried to compromise, "Just release her?"

"I think we'll need her help if we ever hope to free these people," Andrei said, "Besides, I don't want to imagine what they'll do to her if they should get a hold of her."

"For the love of God, she's a vampire," Lucian indignantly replied, "Why do you care? These things are beasts. You chop them up yourself and make them into medicine."

Andrei shrugged his shoulders and admitted, "So maybe I'm a hypocrite. But I won't back down. She's staying with us. She saved someone, a young girl. That's enough for me."

Lucian backed away at this point, opening the door to leave. Once the door was open, he turned back to Andrei and told him, "This issue isn't over." Lucian left and Andrei closed and locked the door behind him.

* * *

Vad lay alone upon his bed. He had been restrained, with his arms and feet tied to the bedposts, such that he was sprawled spread-eagle across his bed. His shirt had been stripped, exposing his strong chest and white, sweat-soaked skin.

For a long time he waited in that position, in agonizing anticipation of what he knew was undoubtedly coming. Asha herself stepped in through the door, which was guarded by two vampires who stood in the hall.

"This is disappointing," Asha told Vad as she entered, "You were my right hand man. You know what is about to happen. Since Lina is still new to this coven and is thereby your responsibility, you'll have to take her punishment in her absence. I won't quite give you the full sentence because I'm optimistic that she'll be returned to us and that she can thereby be punished. Thus, so long as there is a possibility she might eventually return, your life will be spared."

A vampire trailed after Asha carrying a tray on which were placed the remains of the arrows that had, only a few days ago, been removed from Vad's body after their last excursion. The curved metal heads of the arrows and crossbow bolts that he had been shot with had been cleaned and polished, such that they glinted under the candlelight.

Asha picked up the remains of one of the arrows. Not much of its shaft remained, since it had been broken close to the head. It was thus more like a short stick with an arrowhead attached. Asha took the arrow point and set it on Vad's skin, so that he could feel the coolness of the metal.

"I believe it's traditional for the first stage of torture to be the display of the torture devices. For those who take this seriously there's supposed to be a gradual crescendo, with the display being the first, relatively mild, agony of the process. I don't have time for this. So, I'll skip directly to the torture proper."

Asha pushed the arrowhead into the flesh of Vad's arm, and he was immediately wracked by a jolt of pain. Asha pushed the arrow in, and when she began to turn it inside him, the pain was amplified. Vad cried out, but at the same time tried to grit his teeth to control himself.

"Because we vampires heal so much more quickly, there's much less art to torturing us," Asha calmly explained, "There's less risk of killing you prematurely. Our bodies can endure so much before they gives in, especially a strong vampire like you."

Asha picked up another arrow and with a hard thrust, drove it into his leg. Then she pushed it in further, twisting it as it dug deeper inside of him. Vad's body convulsed as he tried to escape, to no avail, and he continued his screams of agony.

Asha pulled out the first arrow from his arm with a swift gesture that brought to Vad a single, profound rush of pain.

"I think it's better if I do it more slowly," Asha said, reconsidering, "I'm not experienced with this. I shouldn't be hasty. You and I will have quite of bit of time together to learn."

* * *

Andrei's home deliberately had few places for persons to enter and exit. There were only two doors, and both of these doors were thick and heavy and reinforced with metal. It would take several troops with a battering ram to break these down. On the upper floor were four windows. These were made to be too small for an adult person, human or vampire, to fit through, but from them one could see all sides of the house. The only other way for anything else to get in and out of the house was through the chimney, which was also too small for human passage.

The walls were made of stone, held together with strong mortar, and the roof was held up by a succession of stone archways. A cannonball would have to be used to knock through the exterior, and so far as anyone knew, no vampires had access to cannons.

In short, the house was meant to withstand any siege that vampires might be expected to attempt, and it had withstood several before, with improvements being made after previous attacks exposed weaknesses. Yet, as Andrei well knew, no walls of human construction could ever be completely impregnable, and any sufficiently strong force could smash its way in.

"I want you and Vasile at the two West windows," Andrei said to Anton, "If the vampires attack tonight, they'll probably come from that direction. If they get in here, they're going to do it by battering down the doors. You're going to pick them off before they have a chance to do that. In the past they've usually attacked in groups of five to eight and as soon as I've downed only one or two of them, the rest just flee. I'm hoping that, if they attack, it won't be anything worse than that. But I don't know how important this vampire is to them."

Andrei turned to look at Lina after he said this. She immediately averted her eyes to avoid his gaze.

"If it looks like you're going to lose," Lina said, turning to look back at Andrei after a considerable silence, "I think you should just give me up."

Andrei simply shook his head when she said this and bluntly announced in front of everyone, "No!" and walked away.

Lina lowered her eyes and felt, once again, a strong feeling of guilt like she'd experienced after kidnapping Nicoleta. She'd only wanted to free Nicoleta to make that guilt go away for good, but now she was feeling it all over again and just as intensely.

Lina walked upstairs and found Anton standing at one of the windows looking out into the forest, watching for approaching vampires.

"I can probably see better in the dark than you can," she said to him, "You should let me watch." Anton stepped aside and let her look through the window. The window was so high off the ground that tiny little Lina was barely able to see through it. Anton had to fetch a box for her to stand on so that she could comfortably look out.

As she stood there, she asked Anton, "Do you feel bad about having to protect me?"

Anton replied without hesitation, "No, I don't. You're worth it."

"Even though I'm a vampire?" she asked.

Anton smiled and said, "This isn't about you personally. I don't care about you. I care about what you can do for us. If it was someone else that could help us and you stood in the way, I would defend them and gladly kill you."

Lina was quite surprised by this answer and decided she had nothing to say in response. She simply looked out the window and surveyed the forests with patient attention.

It was a long wait there at the window for her. While she stood, Anton sat down on the bed behind her, almost drifting off into sleep. It was so long that she began to think that Andrei's fears about a vampire attack were unjustified.

However, as the moon slowly sank lower on the horizon and the night darkened and Vasile and Anton became more and more tired, the vampires approached. Lina saw them, just visible through the trees, a mass of approaching shadows that flowed over the ground.

"They're coming," she said to Anton, who sprang to attention when she said this. In a panic she stepped down from the box, paler than usual with fear, telling Anton in a quiet voice, "There're more than twenty of them out there."
Chapter 18

Siege

Anton sprang to the window to see what Lina was speaking of. He couldn't see as clearly in the dark as she, but through the shadows he saw, just as she described, a crowd of vampires approaching.

"They're here, and they're many," Anton shouted to Vasile across the hall, adding with a smile, "If you ever wanted to see how large of an attack this house could repel, today's the day to find out."

In the workroom Ileana and Nicoleta had been resting, Nicoleta nestling into Ileana's arms and sleeping while Ileana dozed off. Andrei spurred them into motion, ordering Ileana, "Take Nicoleta down into the well. Stay there until this is over."

Ileana nodded her head and entered a small closet next to the workroom, where she began to open to entrance to the well.

Andrei tried to persuade Lina to join them, telling her, "Go with my wife down into the well. The vampires won't find you there. If all goes poorly at least you three will survive."

Lina shook her head and said, "No, it'll only put them in danger. If they get in here, I'll be the only one to die. They'll take me and leave."

"I can't imagine that if they get in here, they'll spare Vasile and I," Andrei said, "Nor Anton I imagine."

"Well, at least Ileana and Nicoleta will survive," Lina responded, "That's better than none of us."

"But you're too valuable," Andrei objected. Lina, though, had ceased to listen to him, seating herself behind Anton, waiting for the action to commence.

Ileana and Nicoleta had now disappeared into the floor and Vasile and Anton positioned themselves with longbows and arrows at their respective windows.

What became evident as the vampires came closer was that they had come prepared. The vampires had felled a tree and stripped it of its branches and its top, leaving only a long, thick log, which they bore on their shoulders. Two other vampires carried axes, which apparently had been used to accomplish this.

The two axe-wielding vampires led the charge, and as soon as they reached the building, they started applying their axes to the back door. From the lower level, the loud pounding of the axes on the door was heard resounding through the room like a steady drumbeat. Andrei experienced his first sense of fear as he felt each thud sending a shudder of shock through his body. Lina recoiled in the room behind Anton, sitting on the bed with her knees against her chest and covering her ears.

Vasile shouted to Anton, "Only shoot the one's that are close, and make every arrow lethal."

From the window, the vampires were easy shots, only about a body-length or two away and fixed in position at the door with their axes swinging. Vasile and Anton both unleashed their first volley upon the two vampires at the door. Within only a moment, the axes were both dropped to the ground as the two vampires collapsed. One arrow had dropped in through the eye of the vampire and exited through the back of the neck, causing blackness to instantly pass before his eyes and causing his body to slink to the ground twitching with convulsions. The other arrow entered just above the ear and exited out just beneath the opposite ear, sweeping him instantly into silence and causing his body to collapse in mid stroke.

The rest of the vampires were soon behind them, bearing the log in arms and charging directly for the door. They used the log as a battering ram, pounding into the door so hard that the wood sighed and creaked.

Vampires also started leaping for the roof. One vampire took a running leap towards Anton's window. The vampire arced high in the air above Anton's head, his arms outstretched. Anton had to quickly pull back and aim. He tried his best to get an arrow into the chest of the vampire while it was in the air, but he failed.

The vampire landed just in front of the window, and Anton scrambled back as the vampire reached in through the window trying to stab him with a dagger in hand. Startled and falling backward, Anton reloaded and started to aim for this vampire, whose arm flailed about just in front of him.

Before he could, Lina stepped forward to help. She ran to the window and grabbed the vampire's arm and pulled it further in. His body would not fit through the window, but it brought closer to her what part of him she truly wanted. His neck, right there at the end of his arm, was accessible through the window, and she opened her mouth and bit into the flesh with her teeth.

It was the first time she had used her new teeth. They were so sharp that they sank easily into the skin, and the vampire's blood flowed out into her mouth. The taste vastly surpassed that of the red brew. It was a taste infinitely more tantalizing and delightful. She wondered how a vampire would ever give up such pleasure for the brew. It set her body on fire with life and energy.

The vampire struggled as she drained his blood, but his strength only weakened the more she consumed, until finally it was only gravity that was pulling him from her grasp. When she let go of the vampire, his arm slipped through the window, and his body dropped from the roof to the ground.

Anton shrank from the terrifying Lina, whose lips and teeth were still stained with blood, but she stepped away from the window, a bit lightheaded from the food, and let him return to the window and re-initiate his shooting.

Below, the vampires continued to pound on the door with their battering ram, and the door, which splintered and bowed, looked on the verge of giving way.

Anton applied himself to shooting with renewed vigor. His next two arrows both carried death on their tips, and two more vampires lay on the ground.

Andrei was trying to push his large cauldron in front of the disintegrating door to bolster it, but the massive metal pot was heavy and dragged along the ground. Lina, hearing the sound, rushed downstairs and immediately joined in to help. With Lina's help, the task became nearly effortless. The massive cauldron scratched loudly across the floor until it was placed in front of the door. Now the pounding of the battering ram rang with the sound of the cauldron.

Vampires continued leaping to the roof to try and disrupt Anton and Vasile whose arrows had been deadly effective, putting almost a dozen vampires to their death on the ground. One vampire, standing on the roof, reached for Anton from above and grabbed an arrow from his bow just as Anton was about to fire. In the same motion, the vampire tried to stab at Anton, who stood just inside the window. Anton was ready this time, loading another arrow and putting it directly into one of the eyes that peaked through the window.

Returning to the window, Anton fired again and Vasile followed, leaving only six vampires remaining. But those vampires were cracking through the door. As Anton set up another shot, he saw the six vampires drop the log and start pushing the door, with cauldron behind it, open enough to pour inside. Anton snatched the life of the last vampire of the group as Vasile caught another.

Four vampires pour inside the building blazing with rage. Anton turned around and planted himself at the top of the stairs. Vasile was immediately beside him. Andrei was racing up the stairs with four vampires speeding to catch him. Vasile took the first shot and a vampire rolled down the stairs with an arrow through his skull as the other three leaped over it. As soon as Anton had a clear shot, he let his arrow fly and one more vampire dropped to the ground with a loud thud.

As he reached for one last arrow from his quiver, he knew that neither he nor Vasile would be able to kill either of these two remaining vampires in time. The vampires moved so rapidly that, even as fast as Anton could load, aim and shoot his arrows, there simply wasn't enough time. He could see the vampires' fangs, bared for that bite from Anton's neck, dripping with hunger. In those mere seconds and fractions of seconds there was nothing he could do, and the thought crossed his mind that, even after all they had done, they had still failed.

Neither of the two vampires made it to their intended victims. Suddenly, their expressions changed from fury and triumph to fear and shock, as both vampires were pulled backwards at once.

Lina, who had hid in the workroom instead of following Andrei up the stairs, had ambushed the vampires from behind. With each of her two hands she grabbed a vampire. One of them she swung around and threw headfirst into the cauldron so hard that he lost consciousness, but the other she dropped to the ground and pinned while she applied her mouth to his neck. His hysterical efforts to free himself were sapped of their vigor as his strength gradually ebbed. Lina was soon lifting his feet to facilitate the flow of more blood into her mouth, until she gave up and tossed him aside.

She proceeded to the next vampire. He wasn't quite dead. His breathing still continued weakly, and his heart beat on faintly, which only helped to pump more of that blood into Lina's mouth as she pierced his veins.

After it was all over, Andrei, Anton and Vasile walked down the stairs to join Lina. They were all tired, dazed and unwilling to do anything. Andrei had to goad them into action, saying, "We need to clean this up as quickly as possible, and put something in place of this door in case more come."

Lina was the only one who was in high spirits, and she gladly volunteered, "I'll go check and make sure they'll all dead and I'll bring in all the bodies."

Ileana crawled out of the well with Nicoleta in hand, and she soothingly comforted and stroked the little girl.

Lina, one by one, dragged in all of the vampires that had been killed, twenty-two of them, and laid the cold corpses in a great, bloody mound in the workroom. A few of the vampires she'd found outside still had some life in them, but she dispatched them. Andrei, who wore his mask, looked at the pile in disbelief and said to himself, "This will take forever to process." He proceeded, with Lina's help, to dump as many as he could into his great cauldron.

After some considerable work, a temporary door was stitched together by Vasile, Anton and Ileana, made of pieces from the previous door and planks of wood taken where they could find them. Lina helped as much as possible, but once the first rays of sunlight broke the horizon, Lina had to shroud herself in her cloak and retract to a corner of the workroom away from the light.

After Andrei had put as many vampire corpses into his cauldrons to soak and slowly cook as he could, he hung the rest in the hope that he could desiccate them before putrefaction set in.

He announced to a sleepy Anton, who was about to collapse from fatigue: "Anton, I have to congratulate you. You made a fortune today. I don't even know if I have enough gold on hand to pay you and Vasile (and I can't forget Lina) for the twenty-two vampires you killed. I'll pay you three what I can now, but you'll have to give me a little time before I pay you in full. Though, I assure you, I will settle my debt."

"I don't need your money," Anton responded, "I didn't do it for the money. I did it because you told me, and I believed you, that this would be necessary to save my sister."

"I know why you did it," Andrei smiled, cheerily, "And we will save your sister. Soon. I don't know how yet. We'll start planning that as soon as we get rested. But you still deserve to be paid. Right now, just get some sleep."

At that point the voice of Lina broke into their conversation, telling Andrei, "I don't want your gold either." Andrei was prepared to tell her the same thing that he had just told Anton, but she instead said, "I can't use gold. I want whatever it is you turn those vampires into."

"You mean the vampire medicines?" Andrei asked, "Are you sure? Certainly I can give you vampire medicines instead, but it'll be a huge amount of it. Enough to last a normal person for years."

"They'll serve for food and make me stronger," Lina said, huddled up with her hood completely pulled over her face and her knees pulled against her chest, "That's what I need."

"You're willing to eat your own kind?" Anton asked her, with his lips curled in disgust.

Lina peaked out from beneath her hood to see Anton's eyes. She told him emphatically: "They're not my own kind. Not anymore."

"But you are one of them. You can't help that. You're a vampire," Anton told her.

Lina shook her head and lowered her eyes again. "I can. I will," she hissed in his direction, "I am what I say I am. And I'm no longer a vampire now. That is what I say."

Anton shook his head and walked up the stairs to sleep.

The next day Andrei decided that Nicoleta would have to return to her convent.

"It's much safer there," Andrei told Ileana that morning, sitting at the table, cutting from a loaf of bread, "There's no chance the vampires will be able to get to her there inside those walls."

Ileana shrugged her shoulders in agreement. "Though it's so nice having a child around. It'd be nice if we could have one," Ileana commented, a warm smile crossing her face, "And she's a sweat girl. I'll miss her."

"Maybe you should go with her, then," Andrei suggested, "Just for the time being, of course. Just until things are safer here."

"But what about you?" Ileana asked.

"Someone needs to look after the shop during the day and defend it at night. Don't worry about me, I'll have Vasile and Anton here to protect it with me and to help me rebuild our defenses."

"And Lina?"

Andrei shifted in his seat before he responded, taking a napkin to wipe his lips and standing from his seat. He spoke cautiously, "She would be safer in Terem too, and I would prefer it. But I don't think they'll take her."

Ileana found Nicoleta sitting in the workroom, bored, and she bent down and said to her, "We're taking you back home today."

"What do you mean?" Nicoleta asked, turning to look at Ileana.

"To the convent in Terem," Ileana said, "You'll be safer there. And it is your home, of course. I'm sure there're people there who miss you very much. You do like it there?"

Nicoleta nodded and asked, "What about Lina?" gesturing in the direction of Lina, who was still huddled in the corner of the workroom, "It's her home too."

Ileana hesitated as she thought exactly how she might respond. Lina interrupted her, though, announcing, "They don't want me there. I don't have a home anymore. You needn't bother. I'll be safe here. I can certainly defend myself against vampires."

Nicoleta approached Lina slowly and sat down on the floor next to her, her shy little eyes bent down to peak under Lina's hood. Nicoleta said to her, "Madalina, I want to tell you something." Lina just raised her eyes, to peak at Nicoleta through the hood. "I do forgive you for what you did, for kidnapping me and getting Sister Oana captured. And I really, truly thank you for freeing me. Even if you got me captured in the first place, the thing you did for me is beyond generous. It makes me feel bad about all the mean things I said about you while in the convent. I'm sorry. The girls and I didn't like you. That's no secret. But we were wrong."

Nicoleta reached forward and did the best she could to hug Lina, even though Lina was still wrapped in her cloak with her knees against her chest and seemed unresponsive. Nicoleta reached around Lina and gripped her for a moment before she let go. As Nicoleta stood up and walked away, Lina said, "Thank you too."

Andrei told Ileana just before she left, "Be careful. The road to Terem's dangerous."

Ileana simply rolled her eyes and walked out the door, telling him, "Yes, but compared to what?"

She pulled her horse from the stable and placed Nicoleta in the saddle, saying, "I'm guessing you haven't ridden a horse before." Nicoleta shook her head and Ileana mounted the horse along with her and kicked it into motion.

As the horse galloped down the road towards Terem, the wind blowing through their hair, Ileana asked Nicoleta, "Is this fun?" A big smile spread across Nicoleta's face as she nodded excitedly, her eyes staring forward at the trees that zipped by on either side.

Ileana brought the horse to a stop at the doors of the convent. The great doors of the main gate were currently closed but not locked, and when Ileana pushed them open, they gave way. In one hand she led the horse forward by the bridle, and in the other she held onto Nicoleta, who hid behind Ileana as they entered.

The main courtyard was alive with people, moving back and forth about their business. Several nuns in black habits, as well as a few novices and a great many servants moved this way and that, apparently so engrossed in their duties that they didn't notice the entrance of this stranger with her horse.

It was Sister Elisabeta who noticed the stranger and came forward asking, "Is there something I can help you with?"

As she asked the question, she looked down to see who the young lady hiding behind the stranger was. Nicoleta peaked out from behind Ileana, and Sister Elisabeta's mouth dropped with shock.

"Nicoleta?" she whispered in disbelief. She asked Ileana, "This is really her? Am I really seeing her?" Ileana nodded and Elisabeta burst out with joy.

Sister Elisabeta reached down and swept up Nicoleta in her arms, screaming with joy, "Look everyone, Nicoleta's back! She's back! She's alive!"

The whole tone and tempo of the convent changed at that moment. At once, everyone came to an abrupt stop. Curious to see what Elisabeta was talking about, they started approaching. Once people recognized Nicoleta and really understood what Elisabeta was saying, they gushed with joy.

Elisabeta hugged Nicoleta so tight, that Nicoleta struggled to breath, and Elisabeta wept profusely. "You don't know how horrible it was to see you taken away, I thought, for good," Elisabeta cried, "It's like having one come back from the dead."

Others, just as eagerly pushed in to greet and hug and ask their questions of Nicoleta. Dorina and Mirela were soon in the crowd pushing their way through, squeezing between the bodies of the larger adults that crowded around Nicoleta. When they reached Nicoleta, they too hugged her, tears streaming down their cheeks.

The crowd quieted down when Elisabeta asked Nicoleta, "And what about Sister Oana and Madalina?"

Nicoleta tried to weakly smile as she told them, "They're both alive. But . . . "

"What is it?" Mirela pressed.

"Sister Oana was alive the last I saw her. But she's trapped. The vampires have her, and I don't know how long they'll let her live. And Madalina. She's become one of them."

The silence persisted long after they heard these disappointing words.
Chapter 19

Lazarus

The next day a meeting was called at the Terem town hall. The room was filled again to brimming with the curious citizens of Terem, elbowing their ways into seats to hear from the girl who'd escaped.

While the crowd murmured in anticipation and people still jostled for seats, Ileana leaned down and told Nicoleta, whispering in her ear, "You're going to tell the crowd what you told us. Just say the words however they come to you and take as much time as you want. You don't have to be nervous."

Seated at the table next to Ileana, sat Andrei, and besides him, bundled in her black cloak, was Lina. She kept her head lowered and had wrapped her cloak around her arms so that she looked like a baby in black swaddling clothes, quietly waiting in her corner.

Flaviu, the captain of the guard, stood up and, in his commanding voice, he ordered, "Quiet!" and the room fell silent. All eyes turned to look at Nicoleta as Flaviu gave her his hand to help her stand and move forward.

Nicoleta stood nervously before the assembled crowd, afraid to raise her eye and look out on all the eyes that looked back at her. She turned to Ileana for support, and Ileana smiled her encouragement.

"The vampires captured me," Nicoleta began, "But they didn't kill me. They didn't want to kill me. They live in a cave underground, out in the forest somewhere. And underground with them they have a cage, a gigantic cage, where they keep people, very many people. Almost every day, they go into the cage, and they take someone out, and they eat them. And they have so many, they never run out of people to eat."

"How many people are in this cage?" Flaviu asked her, bending down to her level and speaking gently.

"I don't know," Nicoleta admitted.

"More people than are in this room?" Flaviu asked, as his eyes tracked across the crowd of nearly three hundred people."

"Yes," Nicoleta replied, "More than twice as many, I think. It's a lot of people, so it's hard to keep count."

A cry of shock broke out across the crowd as more than one person voiced their amazement. People started standing up, shouting towards the front, barely able to confine themselves in their seats.

Then a booming voice commanded silence across the crowd. This time it wasn't Flaviu. Lucian stood from a seat in the front row and turned to address the crowd. "This is a lie," he told them in his most sincere and forthright voice, "I have it by the word of Asha herself that this is a lie.

"This girl here was captured for food, shortly before our agreement was signed. But the vampires have assured me that they consume humans no more. Just like the rest of us, they eat the flesh of animals: beef, lamb, pork, and so on. This girl was meant to be food (the vampires do not deny it), and only by the grace of God was she freed. But she represents the end of an era. She would've been among the last human sacrificed to their hunger. There are no more."

As the crowd began to stir and object, Lucian raised his voice again, "Now you might ask, 'Why is it that such lies are being told?' And I can tell you the answer. And the answer is sitting right there in that cloak."

At this point Lucian turned and pointed a finger at Lina, who still sat in her cloak at the front of the room.

After pointing his accusing finger at Lina, Lucian continued: "We are being dragged into an internal dispute. If this vampire were to have her way, we would be forced to fight her war for her. Like us, the vampires battle for power. But unlike us, they employ a savagery that we cannot fathom. This vampire here seeks to take command of the coven of vampires that lives in the woods. But she cannot do it alone. That is why she has conned us into thinking that there are people we need to save. Because she wants us to take our troops and risk our lives and attack her coven for her benefit. When the war is over and the coven is mostly dust, she will seize control of the vampires that have been defeated and weakened by our hands.

"Do not forget that we have signed a truce, and the vampires are still willing to honor it. All we need to do is return this vampire. We do not need to return this girl. Her survival is a blessing to us, and we should all wish her a long life. We do not need to give the vampires another human soul. All we need to do is return one of their own. Are we concerned about the life of a mere vampire that we are willing to risk lives for it and to end our truce? Why are we listening to these lies?"

"They are not lies," Lina burst out in a loud screech.

Before Lucian could object, Andrei stood up and told the people nearest the window, "Could we close the shutters as a courtesy to Lina. Please." Several persons went to the windows and closed the shutters, leaving only a few faint traces of light in the room.

Once the daylight was expunged, Lina stood from her chair and strode forward. With her exposed white hands, she removed her hood and the black cloth that covered her face, and she revealed herself to the crowd. She was not quite the beauty that Asha was. She still looked young for a vampire. But she experienced something she was not accustomed to before the crowd: her radiant face captivated them. It commanded their attention, even if she did not have the practiced speaking skill of Lucian.

"Nicoleta has chosen to speak of her own volition. She has no reason to lie for me. It was I who captured her; I who handed her over to the vampires; I who nearly got her killed. I kidnapped her for them because I wanted to become one of them. It is my fault she was almost killed. Why would she lie for me? She would've been stuck there underground for decades, prodded into birthing more food for them. There are some now who have been there for decades. They loathe the vampires. They wouldn't come before you to help us, any of us.

"And what would I benefit from this? I do not want you to visit my coven and slay the strongest among them, leaving some behind for me to command. No. I want to wipe them all out. Leave none behind. And after that you will see that many, many persons that you have missed for a long time will be returned to you. Trust this young girl."

After speaking, Lina retreated to her seat and bundled herself in her cloak again, hiding from the many eyes that looked up at her.

Lucian tried to break in again at this point, but he was unable to raise his voice above the crowd, which was now alive with debate and protest. Persons from everywhere were shouting back and forth at one another and refusing to be quieted. The crowd was in a ruckus once again, as it had been just after Nicoleta had first spoken. Though not everyone was willing to believe Nicoleta, the majority seemed to be on her side.

Amidst the noise and commotion, Flaviu walked up to Andrei and said to him, extending his hand for a shake, "You will have my soldiers to help you with this attack."

After the meeting was over, Andrei prepared to bring Lina back to Vallaya with him on horseback, but Nicoleta insisted, "Please, Andrei, she should stay here, where she'll be safe."

"Safe from the vampires perhaps, but what about these people? I can't imagine all of them are sanguine about giving harbor to a vampire, especially when Lucian's been so successful in planting doubt in their minds," Andrei said.

"In the convent then," Nicoleta urged.

"I'm not sure..." Andrei began to say, but Nicoleta was already running off, shouting back at Andrei, "I'll go ask Elisabeta."

Nicoleta grabbed Lina to take her with her on this errand. They exited and rounded the city walls, entering the convent from the other side.

They found Elisabeta in her cell engaged in writing. The door was open and Nicoleta had to interrupt with an artificial clearing of her throat. Elisabeta turned to see the completely black-enshrouded Lina with Nicoleta beside her. Elisabeta, wearing her black cassock and apostolnik, rose to speak, asking, "What is it dear?"

"Sister Elisabeta," Nicoleta politely began, "I would like to ask your permission to allow Madalina to stay with us at the convent. We were at Andrei's before, but that place has already been attacked by the vampires once, and it's much safer here inside the walls."

Elisabeta's normally sunny face darkened with concern as she looked at the black figure. "Don't you worry about infection? Won't she infect someone?" she asked.

"It doesn't work like that," Nicoleta told her, "It's actually somewhat difficult to infect someone."

"What about daylight?" Elisabeta asked, "Where could we put her to keep out of the light?"

This time Lina screeched in answer, "The crypt. I'll stay there during day."

"We're already harboring someone. Ileana. I don't know if we can harbor another."

"Lina can afford to pay you for your troubles," Nicoleta replied, "Andrei owes her loads of gold."

Elisabeta groaned a little, when she could think of no further excuses, adding, "Well, let me ask the Abbess. Perhaps you two should come with me."

Elisabeta led the way down the hall to the bedroom where the Abbess lay in rest. Opening the door to the ornately decorated room, with its beautiful wall coverings and comfortable bed, Elisabeta called out to the Abbess, who lay in her bed, "Mother Alina, I need to ask you about something."

"Do we have a visitor?" Abbess Alina asked when she saw Lina in her cloak.

"That's what I wanted to ask you about Mother Alina. You see this little girl.... Well, she's actually a vampire, though she used to be one of our novices. She wants to stay here at the convent, for her safety," Elisabeta explained.

"You know, in my day, we would have nothing to do with the vampires," Alina explained, like one explaining some surprising revelation, "They were our enemies and that was that. It's really nice to see that things have changed and we've come to terms with them. I really resented that we had to always be at odds."

"But this girl deliberately left our convent to become a vampire only recently. She put the life of one of our novices at risk, and may have gotten one of our sisters killed. Do we really want to permit her safe harbor?"

"I have a secret for you, though I really shouldn't tell," Alina said quietly, slightly leaning forward, "When I was a young rassophore nun, one of our novices confessed to me that she wanted to be a vampire. I had to do everything I could to prevent her from leaving the convent. To her, the lifestyle of the vampires just seemed so free from the usual restraints. She thought her life here was so difficult, and that if she just became a vampire, it would all be easy." Alina laughed a little as she recounted these thoughts, adding, "It was only for a brief period, fortunately, but it was with great effort I restrained her. Her name was Oana and she eventually became a sister herself. It's silly now to think about now. It's curious to see how the wisdom of old age can repent of the dreams of youth. I wonder what became of her."

"Mother Alina, I was asking whether we could allow this vampire to stay in our convent. What do you say?" Elisabeta repeated.

"Oh dear, yes," Alina replied instantly, "We welcome all God's children. I should wonder more what we might feed her, though. Do vampires eat porridge and stew?"

"We'll be going then, Mother Alina," Elisabeta said, bowing and retreating.

Alina waved, saying, "Good bye, nice to have met you," to Lina.

Despondently Elisabeta led the two girls down into the darkness of the crypt. Lina saw the gated recess where she'd been locked up and the many tombs and graffitied walls. Lina removed her cloak and stuffed it into the only source of light, an air vent close to the ceiling, occluding all but the smallest slivers of light.

After Lina removed her head-covering, Elisabeta once again saw the face of the innocent and vulnerable-looking child she knew—significantly changed, and to all appearances even older than before, but still familiar. Elisabeta looked at her with concern and simply said, "I'm so sorry," before departing from the room.

* * *

Through the halls of the coven, the sound of Vad's screams was currently on the increase. Like the sound of wind whistling through cracks in the walls, the sound would fall and rise in the same way that gusts would ebb and swell. Asha had ordered Vad's torture to be scheduled regularly, vacillating him between periods of intense pain and periods of restless relaxation.

While they now worked on Vad again, the sound of his screams echoed through the halls and was heard clearly in the Great Hall, where Asha sat on her throne.

Leaning forward to apply her piercing eyes to Eta, who knelt before her, Asha said, "If Lucian can't get Lina back, then he's no use to me. Tell Lucian that I dispose of those things that are no longer useful to me. I can't tolerate waste. I need intelligence—useful intelligence. Do people know about the pen? Are they planning something? What? When? Where? I need to know immediately."

"Yes mistress," Eta said bowing, "I'll deliver your message."

"Deliver it with emphasis," Asha said, "Make it memorable."

That evening Eta infiltrated Lucian's estate once again. For a man of such wealth and prestige, his estate was surprisingly unprotected. She was able to manipulate the latch that locked the shutters outside his daughters' room with ease, and she stepped inside.

It was obvious that two young girls occupied this room. It had two matching four-poster beds and toys and dolls spread out on the floor, including a wooden horse on wheels and rag dolls decked out in fine clothes. Carved animal figurines hung on a string beneath an overhanging shelf, on which were displayed a collection of colorful stones.

Upon entering the room, Eta walked to each bed in turn and restrained each of the two girls. She did this by gently opening the curtains to each bed, gagging the girl within, turning her over onto her stomach, and tying her hands behind her back. With the two girls thus subdued, Eta held onto both of them and led them by force into their parents' bedroom. That room was locked, but Eta was able to break open the door with a swift kick.

Lucian and his wife both abruptly woke and rose from their bed at the sound. When they looked at Eta with their two daughters, gagged and tied, they shouted plaintive calls. Lucian tried to muster a commanding voice, and he said, "What are you doing with my daughters? Let them go this instant. I order you."

"I'm just here to deliver a message," Eta screeched.

"Just tell me the message, in God's name," Lucian shouted at her, "Why do my daughters have to be involved?"

Eta continued speaking as if Lucian had said nothing, explaining in articulated words, "In the coven, we have a great many humans meant for food stored in a blocked-off section we call 'the pen.' Not all of them are ready to be slaughtered. Many we want to keep and hold onto for a while. So, to distinguish those ready to be slaughtered, we stain the backs of their hands with red ink when they're ready. Allow me to demonstrate."

At this point, Eta forced one of the girls to the ground, and held her down with one knee. Eta pulled out a small dagger from her cloak, prompting Lucian to call out "No," and try to run forward and stop her. Eta deftly kicked Lucian away with her foot and continued with her demonstration.

Eta dug the knife into the little girl's skin and carved a line in the back of the hand; then she carved a crossing line to form an X. The little girl squealed a high-pitch scream as she kicked and squirmed. Eta applied herself to carving anther X into the opposite hand. Large drips of blood bled out from these four gashes, down her hands and wrists. Eta followed by carving the same pattern into the older sister's hands, accompanied by the same screams and protestations, which Eta ignored.

Finished, she stood the two girls up and turned them around to display their hands to their parents.

"I think you understand what this means. I'm only here to deliver a message, but Asha asked me to make it memorable, so I pray you won't forget, lest I have to return and apply more emphasis."

"No, no," the two parents shook their heads. Eta related the message in Asha's exact words, and Lucian earnestly promised, "I will find out everything I can. I can tell you already that they know about the pen. They know there are hundreds. And I saw Andrei and Flaviu, the captain of the guard, conferring confidentially."

"Find out more," Eta said.

She dropped the two crying girls to the ground and walked away. The parents leaped forward to hug their girls and untie them, unable to restrain their fitful sobs.

* * *

The sound of Vad's screams could only faintly and distortedly be heard in the halls of the pen. Constanta was sitting in the arena next to Crina.

"What is that sound?" Constanta asked, as she had many times before, "It sounds horrible."

"It's best not to know," Crina said, immediately changing the topic, "There's a woman who cuts hair in here." Crina was inspecting Constanta's hair as she spoke. Crina managed to keep herself clean, which was rather difficult in the pen, and for this reason, among others, she was popular with the men. "Yours is getting rather grimy," Crina said, "You'll have to earn some money to pay for the haircut, of course, but it's worth it." She smiled with a characteristically devilish smile. These frequent smiles made her seem as if she was always trying to hide some secret impropriety.

"How would I earn money?" Constanta asked, "How do you earn money?"

Crina laughed a little, answering, "You don't want to earn money the way I do." When Constanta insisted, Crina relented by saying, "I give companionship to men."

Constanta looked at her confused, and Crina explained, "Men get lonely, and I offer myself as someone to be there with them. Just like you have friends and family that you want to spend time with, men need people to spend time with, and they prefer to do it in the company of young, beautiful women. There're a number of women who provide similar services here in the pen. It's probably the most abundantly offered service here. It doesn't pay that well, but what else have I got to offer?"

"Men are strange," Constanta commented, still perplexed.

"That they are," Crina said, "But I don't think it's a job you should take. Not for a very long time. Not until you give up."

"Give up on what?"

"On the thought that you're ever going to get out of here," Crina said, "I use the money I raise for other purposes, but most of the women who do it have lost all hope. Many were kidnapped when they were your age. I've been trapped here in the darkness for years. You'd be surprised how you can get used to it, even feel like you belong. I really don't know what I'd do, if I ever got out of here."

"We will be out of here soon. I'm convinced of it," Constanta said, then asking as she leaned in close to speak into Crina's ear, "You know what I believe? I believe that Nicoleta wasn't taken off to be eaten. I believe that the little vampire that took her away was freeing her."

Crina didn't laugh as she normally did, or even change the expression of her face when Constanta said this. She only nodded her head. Crina looked around the room to see if anyone was listening in, and she said quietly to Constanta, "Dragomir would be furious if he heard me saying this. He's been vehement in insisting that Nicoleta is dead. But I heard from someone else that the vampire who took her said something."

Crina had Constanta's full attention as the two girls conferred close together. Crina's lips were near Constanta's ear, in order to pass on the secret as confidentially as possible. "The vampire said to Nicoleta, 'I'm freeing you.' And it was that same vampire that had come to the pen earlier looking for Nicoleta, as if she knew her."

Constanta's eyes widened as she heard these words. She simply responded, "I knew it."

Constanta looked at Crina with a glowing smile on her face, and Crina repeated with her devilish smile, "But don't tell anyone."

"I won't," Constanta smiled, "This is the best news I've heard since I've arrived. Don't you see? Nicoleta's disappearance is like the rebirth of Lazarus." Crina was confused so Constanta had to explain, "Lazarus was the first person resurrected. He was the harbinger. The first sign of the glorious apocalypse to come when we mortal humans will be resurrected and judged, when we will be freed from the oppressive kingdom of men and liberated into the kingdom of heaven."

Crina laughed again and gave Constanta an affectionate slap on the knee, saying, "Well I hope our liberation comes faster than the apocalypse. It's been sixteen centuries since the birth of Jesus and still no apocalypse. I can't wait that long."

Constanta laughed at this, thinking that Crina had said something very scandalous, but she smiled delightfully.
Chapter 20

The Lid of the Barrel

Lina silently ate away at meat and vampire wares in the dark of the crypt. She was interrupted by the sound of a person opening the door to the crypt. Some faint light was visible down the stairs, and Lina automatically recoiled from it, grabbing a cloak to cover herself.

Several pairs of feet came stomping down the stairs. In the lead was Andrei who bore a bronze candleholder with a single candle, which he shielded with his hand.

"Lina, good to see you. Hope I'm not interrupting anything," he said to her. She nodded back to him.

Behind him, Vasile and Flaviu followed. They waved their greetings and proceeded to sit in a circle on the ground amongst the coffins and around the candle that Andrei had set down.

"We're planning our attack," Flaviu began, addressing Lina, "We need you to tell us what you can about the layout of the caves. How many rooms and halls? How are they oriented? Especially, what's the entrance like? How would we get in?"

"The entrance is surrounded by shrubbery and covered by a large rock, which I can lift but not you," Lina explained, "Behind the rock is a wooden door. After the wooden door is a down-sloping tunnel, which leads to the Great Hall, a huge open room. From there, you have another cave leading into a long hall, down which all the bedrooms are located and the pen."

Flaviu had to interrupt at this point, "Alright, so to invade, we'd have to lift a rock, then we'd have to use a battering ram to pummel open the door? And we'd face no countermeasures here (no archers raining down on us from the wall or hot oil being poured on us); so that'd be pretty easy. Then we'd simply be facing some forty odd unarmed vampires in hand-to-hand combat in the caves?"

"There's nothing simple about that last step," Andrei said, "In hand-to-hand combat the vampires would tear you to shreds. This is nothing like traditional siege warfare. These vampires are vicious, they're fast, and they're strong. It'd be a bloodbath if you tried to enter that way."

"It's true. I am not the strongest among them, but I believe I could kill all three of you right now before you could escape this room," Lina said, speaking with a chilling frankness, "It is out of courtesy that I do not."

There was a long pause before Vasile continued, "I just wanted to add that I've been hunting vampires my whole life. No hunter ever gets close to them if he wants to live. We use arrows and crossbows from a distance, and we thoroughly disable them before we approach, both because they're dangerous and we have to worry about infection."

"Within those confined space, projectiles are almost worthless. There's no space for us to put distance between us and the vampires. We start firing on them, and they storm our archers and kill them in a matter of moments," Flaviu objected.

"Exactly. And you're not even mentioning that this will all be in the dark," Andrei said, raising his hand to draw their attention to their current surroundings, "These are underground caves. And the vampires can see vastly better than you and I in the dark."

"It's not completely dark," Lina interjected, "There're torches and candles everywhere, and if it's during the day, there're some small holes in the ceiling of the Great Hall and elsewhere." She added, "They permit some light in through the ceiling and give us fresh air."

"It doesn't matter," Vasile said, dismissing her comment, "In dim light or complete blackness they have the advantage."

"Wait a minute, though," Andrei said, "Did you say there's light coming in through the ceiling?" Lina looked at Andrei confused, but she nodded. "So those light holes presumable extend to the surface, right?" Andrei asked. Lina again nodded, and Andrei continued, "Do you know how many of these holes there are and where we could find them from the surface?"

"There's two of them over the Great Hall, maybe a dozen more, several over the pen," Lina said, "I don't know where they come out on the surface, but the two over the Great Hall I could find. Nonetheless, I don't know why you would be interested. They're far too small to enter through. They're only maybe a hand's breadth in diameter."

"No, but maybe we could expand them. We could dig through the ceiling. That's where we should be entering from. If we can bore an opening through the ceiling, then we can snipe from there," Andrei suggested.

"But how are we going to open the roof without being detected? It'd take the hand of God to lift so much earth quickly enough to surprise them. It's not like just popping open the lid of a barrel to peak at what's inside," Vasile objected.

"Ahh, but we don't need to lift off the lid of the barrel," Flaviu said, with a burst of laughter rising in his stomach, "We just need to blow it to splinters."

"What do you mean?" Andrei asked Flaviu.

"I've got a few barrels of my own in storage," Flaviu said, "Of gunpowder, that is. It shouldn't be too hard to get a few more. There's been a bit of a lapse in the war recently. We might be able to acquire some from one of the armies. You say the Great Hall is a big open room? All we need to do is set a light to those barrels and it'll pop the top off of that room like a wine flask," Flaviu said.

"And then we bring our guns, our cannons and our archers to the edge of that crater and we shoot down every vampire still moving," Andrei added.

"But the cave system extends deeper beyond that main room. Long hallways of personal rooms. Many vampires will be in their own room, no matter when you attack," Lina said, "You will still have to descend and face them hand to hand."

"No, what we'll have to do is bring more explosives and dump them down in there to open up the place more. I trust Vasile and Andrei know what they're talking about, when they say that these vampires are too dangerous for hand to hand combat."

"We can't go too far with the explosions," Andrei added, "We have to worry about the humans, the ones were there to supposedly save. How far are they in there?"

"The pen begins maybe two hundred paces from the Great Hall," Lina said.

"We can't go very far. Even with the gunpowder over the Great Hall, there's a genuine risk we might still cause a cave-in over the humans," Flaviu noted.

"Then we have to get as many vampires as possible in the Great Hall when it blows. Is there a way to do that?" Andrei asked Lina.

Lina said, shrugging her shoulders, "The only time I ever saw them all gathered there was when I first arrived. They gathered to see me infected."

"That's what we need to think about, how to get them underneath that explosion," Andrei declared, "Because I think this is the plan we're stuck with."

They all nodded. After some more discussion, the three men stood up, and Lina stood with them. They said their goodbyes and turned around, carrying their candle and the last bit of the dim light with them.

As they exited the church, they failed to notice Lucian kneeling in the front of the nave, ostensibly in prayer. With his hands clasped in front of him, he turned his head just enough to catch the faces of the three men that left. He pulled out a piece of paper and wrote out the substance of what he had seen, noting that he'd seen Flaviu, Andrei and Vasile apparently meeting with Lina, who was now staying in the crypt of the church. He stood up and exited the church with the folded paper in hand and followed Flaviu around the wall.

Lucian trailed a good distance behind Flaviu on foot, watching him as he entered in through the Terem gates, walked through the main square and turned off down a side street towards the guard station.

There, Flaviu found Cezar standing guard, and he ordered, "I want an inventory of the gunpowder we have in storage."

Cezar responded with an emphatic "Yes, sir," and ran off to another building nearby, while Flaviu sat down and relaxed.

Lucian took out his paper and wrote down a few more notes, before Flaviu started to turn in his direction, and he had to hastily hide behind the nearest building. Lucian didn't bother to check and see whether he'd been spotted, and instead, simply ran off, leaving the city.

He continued walking at a brisk pace directly into the woods. Within only a few hundred paces he heard a hissing from the trees, which sounded distinctly like a vampire trying to get his attention. A tree swayed with a creaking sound above him, as the vampire bent the tree and leapt to another. A moment later Eta dropped from above directly in front of Lucian, so close to him that he leapt backwards away from her.

"No need to be frightened," Eta reprimanded him. She always partially leaned forward when she stood, leading with her nose, which seemed to smell the emotions of those she interacted with. "Do you have anything for me?" Eta asked.

"I took some notes," Lucian said, extending the piece of paper that he'd been writing on.

"Asha's not much of a reader," Eta said, looking at the piece of paper, which Eta hadn't the capacity to read either, and tossing it back to Lucian, "Just tell me what it says. I'll remember."

Lucian briefly recounted what he'd seen, checking his notes to make sure he didn't miss anything. In response, Eta asked, "What did Andrei, Flaviu and Vasile talk about at this meeting?" She was clearly displeased with the thinness of the intelligence Lucian had provided.

"I don't know," Lucian admitted.

"What did Flaviu want with the gunpowder?"

"I don't know," Lucian admitted, "For guns I assume. They must be planning an attack."

"This is not enough," Eta told him, "We need more information. Most especially we need to know when this attack is and how they're going to attack. Now, get back to Terem and find out what you can, and if not there, go to Vallaya."

Eta, at these words, turned around and ran away as fast as her legs could carry her in the direction of the coven.

When Eta arrived at the coven, she relayed the information to Asha, who was at the time in her room standing in a tub of warm water while two male vampires scrubbed her body with soap. She smelled fresh, with a hint of frankincense to cover up the normally pungent vampire odor.

Asha turned to look at Eta while she relayed the information. After hearing all that Eta had to provide, in a moment of angry caprice, she slapped Eta across the cheek.

By way of apology she admitted, "You don't deserve that. It's not your fault. It would be better if you passed that slap on to Lucian. I'm afraid you'll have to help him. Go to Vallaya. Spy on Andrei. Tell me everything you see, and if you can find Vasile, see what he's doing as well." Asha turned her head downwards and looked at her naked body and added, "I think I'll visit Beniamin, see if I can ply my wiles on him."

"You have a most beautiful physique," Eta concurred with a nod.

"Might as well put my beauty to use, since we vampires have no use for it," Asha commented.

After Eta left, Asha asked to be dried off and brought her daylight clothes.

* * *

Oana continued overseeing the carving of the altar in the arena, which had been progressing well. Much of the outline of the altar had been carved into the wall, with only a little bit of the rough work left. Detail work would follow, and that would take nearly as long, but it would still be useful for fulfilling its pious purpose even in rough form. It provided a space to pray before and praise the almighty, which she believed even those trapped in this horrible place ought to do.

Oana herself even felt the compulsion to praise God as she observed how excellently the work was progressing, and she took the opportunity to lower herself to her knees and pray.

While kneeling, she heard behind her the sound of many feet approaching in unison behind her. Oana turned around and saw Dragomir standing at the center of his entourage. Without a word of explanation, he grabbed Oana's wrist and pulled her towards him. He dipped a bit of fabric into an inkwell and drew an X on the back of her hand with the ink. He grabbed her other hand and drew an X on that one too.

"I gave you many warnings," Dragomir said, "Don't pretend you didn't know this was coming." He pushed her to the ground and walked away with his entourage.

* * *

Cornel's blacksmith shop was nothing more than four walls and a roof, with a great furnace at one end and a large door at the front to open it for customers. Tools and metal implements hung everywhere, and the floor was the bare earth beneath cleared of all grass or plants.

As Vasile entered into the hot room, he saw Cornel pounding away at a wedge of metal that was to make the head of a shovel. Cornel raised his head when he saw Vasile entering and said to him, "Welcome."

Vasile greeted him and said, "I've come to ask you a favor. We're going to be attacking the vampire's coven. As you may have heard, we think they have hundreds of humans being held captive. We have some troops from Terem joining us, but we would appreciate your help in this battle. Any strong hand that can wield a weapon is of value, even if you have no combat experience."

Cornel didn't say a word but simply set down his work and walked over to a wall, where some tools were hanging. He selected what looked to him like a suitably large double-bitted axe and held it in his arms, feeling the weight and swinging it to see how it felt. He walked over to Vasile and said, "I'm ready. Lead the way."

Vasile smiled and said, "I appreciate your enthusiasm, but not right now. In a few days we hope. I'll be sure and tell you."

"Just tell me when, and I'll be ready," Cornel said, setting down the axe and returning to his work.

In a bush behind the shop Eta hid while this short transaction was taking place. She watched as Vasile left the shop and walked down the village's main street. He passed the church and walked the road towards Josif's farm. She didn't think she could follow him directly without being seen, since this would require her to walk directly through the center of town. She decided to take a long, circuitous route, and meet him at Josif's, his most likely destination. For this purpose, she darted through the woods towards the edge of the city, zipping through forests and fields, hiding behind shrubbery and trees.

She arrived just in time to anticipate Vasile's arrival, lying flat in an irrigation ditch within hearing distance. In the early hours of evening, with the sun low, Josif was heading indoors when Vasile and Josif intersected each other in front of the house. After a quick greeting, Vasile explained to Josif the same thing he'd explained to Cornel about their attack on the coven.

Josif looked out across his fields thoughtfully and asked Vasile, "Will I die?"

Vasile admitted, "I can't guarantee you'll survive. But we shall do what we can to preserve you."

"I have a lot of people that depend on me: my wife, my son, my landlord. But there's also my daughter. She depends on me too. You think she's alive down there?"

"Lina thinks it's unlikely she's been killed. If she's alive we shall save her, with or without your help."

"Is my son going?" Josif asked.

"He has assured me that he will be joining us."

"You'll take care of my wife and daughter, should both my son and I die," Josif asked, and Vasile nodded. "Then do you have need of an arquebusier?" Josif asked, "I'm experienced and have a steady aim."

Vasile replied with a smile, "Yes we do."

* * *

Walking to the doors of the church, where he heard a loud knocking, Beniamin opened them to find, to his great surprise, a black-cloaked vampire standing on the other side. He stiffened with fright when he saw it, and was tempted to close the door as quickly as possible, but he bravely inquired, "What do you want?"

"It's Asha, may I come in?" the vampire said.

"Magistrate Lucian's not here," Beniamin told her, "I don't know where he is."

"I don't need to speak with him," Asha said, stepping through the doors and closing them behind her. She led the way to Lucian's office. The shutters were open, permitting the light from the sun, which hung low on the horizon, to flood into the room. Asha closed the shutters and the curtains of the room and lit a candle.

She closed the door to the room once Beniamin stepped inside and opened up her face to him. She took a deep breath of relief after emerging from the thick head-covering. But this time she didn't stop disrobing. She pulled her cloak up over her head and set it down on the chair. Beniamin stood back and watched, gazing upon her beauty as her strong, slender vampire body was pulled from out of the cloak. She now only wore the light casual clothing that was typical of the vampires in the cave: a thin, short-sleeved shirt with a low neck and short shorts. Beniamin saw her body for the first time, her legs and arms with their lean musculature, her narrow waist, and even the nipples of her small breasts poking through the fabric.

She stretched out her naked legs and reclined in her chair. His eyes spread wide open and he gawked silently, before falling back into Lucian's chair.

"I hope you don't mind Beniamin," she said, "It is just that this cloak is particularly hot, and I want to be comfortable. You will have to forgive the informality of my dress."

"No need to apologize," Beniamin stammered out, "Is there something I can help you with?"

"I need to know what's been going on here. If you don't mind."

"It's been absolute chaos here. First some vampire showed up at Andrei's, and then the vampires were attacking, trying to get her back. Somehow Vasile and Anton were able to kill all of them. It was like a battlefield back there. You must have heard about it. And now everyone's concerned that the vampires have completely abandoned the truce and that there's going to be fresh raids and kidnappings. Are there going to be fresh raids?"

"No. So long as you haven't abandoned your part of the truce. You aren't planning a retaliatory attack are you?" Asha asked.

"Not me," Beniamin replied, surprised, "That'd be tough. You vampires are formidable opponents."

"What about Andrei? Is he planning something?" Asha asked, somewhat unimpressed with Beniamin's insight or access to information. Beniamin simply shrugged his shoulders passively.

"Perhaps you can find out for me. For the sake of our treaty" Asha said, trying to turn on all her seductive charms at once, looking directly into his eyes and smiling like a cat inspecting its prey, "Perhaps you can ask Andrei if he's planning an attack and when, so we can stop it."

Beniamin replied forthrightly, "I think if Andrei's planning an attack on your coven he wouldn't be too keen on you knowing about it. You know? The importance of the element of surprise and all."

"You could persuade him. For the good of the truce. You're very able with your words. I could reward you," Asha purred, "Don't you still want to kiss me? I know you do. Perhaps you even fantasize about me. I was a whore before I became a vampire. For many years. I'm experienced. I know everything about how to please a man."

"I don't want to get infected," Beniamin replied, frozen with fright while Asha approached him, "I don't think it's a good idea for you to be here." Unfreezing himself, Beniamin pulled away from Asha and added, "They always told us vampires were sexless creatures."

"There must be some way I can persuade you," Asha said, seductively hissing into Beniamin's ears.

Beniamin looked at her frightened, pulling away from her and not saying anything.

Asha grew impatient and instead lunged at Beniamin. Before he knew what was happening, he was being lifted him by the neck and was struggling to breathe. Asha now pressed her face close to Beniamin's and harshly hissed, "I can kill you if you don't help me. Easily. Do you value your life?"
Chapter 21

Lina Arrives

Several minutes later Beniamin was knocking on the front door of Andrei's store. Andrei asked, "Who is it?" and he heard the response, "It's Beniamin."

Andrei unlocked the heavy front door and saw Beniamin standing there with a nervous smile on his face. "What's wrong?" Andrei asked.

Before there was a chance to respond, a black shadow leapt from behind Beniamin and pinned Andrei to the ground. When Andrei looked up, he saw Asha kneeling on top of him. Her pungent breath exhaled into his nose, and he turned away to avoid it.

"I know you're planning an attack," she hissed, "I know you want to destroy my coven. So let's make a trade: tell me when you'll attack, and I won't kill you."

Asha pressed her knees hard against Andrei's chest, and he winced at the pressure. "I won't even tell your friends that it was you who gave them away," Asha said, moving her face even closer to him, "You can trust me. I never break an agreement."

Andrei remained silent, putting all his effort into trying to squirm away or lift her off of him, without success. Asha shouted in his face, "Tell me! How patient do you think I am?"

"No!" Andrei responded, and, as if timed to punctuate that sentence, two arrows landed in Asha's shoulders. She squealed with pain and glanced up. She saw both Vasile and Anton behind the counter already drawing their second arrows and aiming their eyes directly at her head.

Asha knew she could kill at least one of them before they let out another arrow, perhaps even both, but she didn't wish to hazard her life in a fight. Instead, she stood up from the ground and left the shop, knocking over Beniamin as she ran. Anton ran forward and locked the door, while Andrei lay on the ground, shaken and trembling.

He touched his face and realized that some small drips of blood from the arrow wounds had landed on his skin. He went into his workroom. As fast as he could, he washed his face with a special solution designed to repel the vampire infection, repeating to himself, "I can't get infected. No, I can't get infected." He even removed all his clothes, dumping them in a pot and drinking another medicine that was supposed to act as an antidote to the vampire infection.

Looking over his skin for signs of blood, his long, frail body standing naked in his workroom, he sat down. Once he was sure he was clean, he took a chance to breathe and relax. Vasile and Anton stood there looking over him, offering to help with whatever he needed. Andrei told them he didn't need any help.

While he looked at his hands, inspecting them minutely, touching them, smelling them, he told Vasile and Anton: "If we kill all of the vampires, all of them, I can retire. I don't want to do this anymore. I want every last one of them dead."

Anton asked, "What about Lina?" and Andrei frowned.

"She deserves to live," Andrei sighed, "But she has to promise that she'll be the last. She has to promise she won't infect anyone. If we have to feed her the rest of her life, or the rest of our lives, so be it."

Vasile and Anton watched on without speaking. Andrei added, while leaving the room to put on some new clothes, "And tell Flaviu we haven't any more time. We attack tomorrow. I want to be at the coven when the sun is directly overhead."

Asha was back at her coven only minutes later, throwing open the stone with vigor and striding vehemently down the slope into the Great Hall. With the two arrows still sticking out of her shoulders, she ordered the first vampire she could find, "Create a perimeter around the coven. Half a league away I want four vampires in the trees watching at all times. They can work in shifts. If any army, any band of travellers, any lone hunter crosses within a half of a league of this coven, the vampire that sees it is to run back here and raise the alarm. Every vampire in here should be ready for an attack at a moment's notice. We need to do whatever is possible to fortify our defenses: fortify the door, add more guards. Spread the word to everybody now. They'll be attacking soon."

After Vasile's somewhat longer journey to Terem, he was telling Flaviu the news, "We march tomorrow."

"If you could give me some more time I could scrounge together more men and certainly more munitions. Right now we'll have to settle for twenty men, arquebuses for half of them, plus two cannons and three barrels of gunpowder. But I'm sure I could get more if you just gave me four or five more days."

"Asha knows we're coming. She doesn't know when or how, but we can't give her more time to prepare or counterattack. She already gave Andrei a rather frightening visit. I wish we could give you more time, but it would only be to the benefit of our enemies," Vasile explained.

Flaviu nodded his head and assented, "So be it." Then he turned to pass on the news to his soldiers.

* * *

The next day Vasile led a group of men from Vallaya into the forest. Besides him walked Anton, armed with a bow and carrying on his back a full quiver of arrows. Anton's father had his firearm, a long arquebus, loaded with powder and shot, along with extra bullets and a horn of gunpowder. Cornel, the blacksmith, clad in his leather apron, bore a heavy axe and a large crossbow armed with one of Vasile's bolts and touted several more in reserve. They all wore what heavy leather clothing they could find as armor, making some effort to guard their chest and neck.

Flaviu arrived on schedule leading his troops, who trailed behind him in a disorganized mass. Cezar was there besides him, carrying his own arquebus, along with nine others so armed. The rest were armed with crossbows and longbows. All of them were armored with helmets skirted by a chainmail aventail for the neck, and they all wore a chainmail hauberk to cover their torso and thighs. A team of horses and carriages in the back towed along their two cannons, with several cannonballs and the three barrels of gunpowder. In the front of the team, the small black figure of Lina led the way, unarmed and covered head to toe in her black cloak.

The two groups silently greeted each other, each simply nodding in the other's direction. Flaviu asked, "Where's Andrei? Tending his shop?"

Vasile replied guardedly, "He's ill actually. He wanted to come, but we wouldn't let him."

Flaviu looked up and saw the sun high in the sky and whispered to Vasile, "God be thanked she's on our side. Do you think they'll be expecting us?"

"I think so, but they won't be expecting this," Vasile said, pointing to the gunpowder. He added, "If any soldiers here want to pay their last respects to God before our battle, let them do it now."

All of the men bent down on their knees and said a few prayers and took a few moments before they were ready to continue. Only Lina didn't join in, looking around her over the praying crowd with curiosity, like a foreigner observing a strange custom.

Some minutes later, the whole band of soldiers was on the move, Lina walking at the front of the pack at a pace that was to her maddeningly slow, though to the soldiers was uncomfortably fast.

As the band approached half a league from the coven, they started to come into view of the nearest vampire sentry. In the direction from which the band approached, they were visible by Sil, who at the moment reclined in his tree, trying to relax and catch some sleep just to stave off the boredom of sitting for hours in the burning sunlight in this tree. He resented being reduced to such menial duty. He was secretly fantasizing about Asha apologizing for having put such a great warrior on such a trivial assignment when his ears pricked up at the sound of motion.

He almost fell out of the tree as he tried to sit up straight from the relaxed position he'd been in. Once he turned his eyes and looked in the direction of the sound, he could see it as clear as day. Even through the haze of the black cloth that covered his head, he could distinguish some twenty-five armed men, walking in the direction of the coven.

His orders were to flee back to the coven as soon as possible and raise the alarm. At the speed he could run and with the head start he had, he knew they couldn't catch him, not even Lina, who was far too young to match his pace.

He smiled to himself when he thought: "You know what would be even better than sounding the alarm? Carrying a dead Lina in my arms." He would be showered with praise and worshiped as a hero. He could imagine Asha's emotions as she was torn by remorse for putting such a degrading task on such an unparalleled warrior but also delighted that she had because his skill had led to such a fortuitous result.

It would be easy: Lina was young and weak and could be effortlessly subdued; she was so far ahead of the troop that he could snatch her and run without being shot; not to mention that along the trajectory she was walking, she'd be close enough that he could leap right at her, landing right behind her. He'd pick her up and run away before they could even take a shot. Even a far lesser vampire could pull it off with ease.

All he had to exert was a little patience while he waited for her to come close enough.

Sil readied himself as Lina approached, standing up and lowering himself to a thicker branch that would be able to withstand the full force of the long leap he'd need to make to reach Lina in one bound.

Lina still led at the front of her group, walking quickly, and occasionally turning behind her and looking at the troops in order to tacitly reprimand them for their slowness.

When Lina reached within about fifty paces of Sil, he made the leap. He pushed hard with his legs, launching his massive body high into the air, arching silently between the branches with his cloak flapping behind him, and crashing to the ground with a resounding stomp.

Sil had decided to pick Lina up and kill her while on the run. He kicked up a great spray of dirt as he started his run, scooping up Lina in his arms and zipping off into the distance.

The troops were slow to react to this sudden appearance, unready and unprepared. Only Anton and Vasile were quick enough on the draw, raising their longbows and drawing their arrows out of the quiver as the shape of a running Sil shrank in their view. With no time to pick their placement, Vasile and Anton both let their arrows fly.

Before the arrows could even reach their mark, Sil began to slow and stumble. The two arrows landed on his back just as he began to fall. The little vampire he'd been carrying had wrapped herself around his neck like a shirt collar, raised her head-covering just enough to expose her mouth and drained the blood out of him as fast as she could drink.

When she was done, she removed the two unnecessary arrows and held them out to Vasile and Anton as they ran towards her. "Your arrows," she told them, "You'll need them." She pushed the body aside and continued walking while the troops hustled to catch up with her again.

* * *

Constanta noticed the two red Xs on Oana's hand that morning. She wasn't sure what they meant. She approached Crina, whom she saw sitting in the midst of a group of people seated on the ground conferring quietly. She tapped her on the shoulder and whispered in her ear: "I have something to ask you."

Crina excused herself from the group and stepped off to the side and asked Constanta, "What is it?"

"Oana's been marked with two red Xs on the backs of her hands," Constanta explained, "I don't think it's a good thing, is it?"

"It means she's marked for slaughter," Crina said. She was troubled by the news.

"What should we do?" Constanta asked.

"I don't know," Crina said.

"How many people did you tell about the vampire that took Nicoleta?" Constanta asked.

"Not many," Crina said, her eyes narrowing, "Why do you ask?"

"You told me these people here are burning for action," Constanta said, "Tell them about Nicoleta. The vampire that took her knew her, and she hasn't returned. She's alive; she has to be. Tell them she was freed and that Oana is slated for death."

Crina admonished facetiously, "We don't know that for certain, and Dragomir wouldn't be happy about me spreading such a baseless rumor."

"I bet he wouldn't," Constanta laughed.

"Alright. I'll spread the word," Crina said, "Be prepared for anything.

* * *

The troops soon arrived near the dry streambed and the exposed boulders, which signified the entrance to the coven. Lina surveyed the area, trying to decipher the arrangement of the cave beneath the ground. She began to draw lines in the dirt to indicate first where the passageway from the entrance proceeded, then where the Great Hall opened up. Soon she was able to find the holes in the ceiling and roughly map out the layout of the room below.

All of this was done in complete silence, and afterwards, she whispered instructions to Vasile and Flaviu, explaining the dimensions of the room below.

After this was all completed, they rolled forward the barrels of gunpowder and the cannons and began to put everything and everyone in position. When it was ready, Lina stepped forward and prepared to enter the coven alone. She pushed through the shrubbery and lifted up the great boulder that covered the entrance, moving so swiftly that she was able to leap upon the vampire that stood guard even before he was able to raise his sword.

Two other guards waited on the other side of the door. They heard with frightening immediacy the sound of the rock being lifted and the other guard being knocked against the door. The guard collapsed, and they heard him kick against the door as he struggled for life. They opened the door to investigate and saw a cloaked figure there, gnawing on the neck of the other vampire. As soon as the partially exposed face of Lina looked up at them, they fled.

Lina was able to catch one of them, and, tearing off her head-covering, wrestled him to the ground and sapped his mortal blood.

The other was beyond her reach, and he ran into the Great Hall screaming in panic, "It's Lina! Lina's back! She's attacking! Everyone to arms! It's Lina! It's Lina!"

She'd hoped to make a more dignified and memorable entrance, but she could've thought of no better way to lure all vampires into the Great Hall than to have her presence announced in such a way. She followed right behind him and stepped into the Great Hall for all to see.

She said proudly, "It is Lina! Come and attack me!"

* * *

Shortly before Lina's arrival, Asha had stepped into Vad's room to see him. She dismissed everyone from the room, leaving her alone with Vad to talk with him one last time.

Vad still lay upon his bed, barely alive, barely conscious, delirious and confused, the fear and agony deadened by weakness and fatigue. His half naked body was covered in wounds. Dried blood was caked all over his chest, his legs, his arms. A large circle of red covered the sheets beneath him, and his head swayed back and forth as he muttered incoherently.

"If you can hear me," Asha said to him, "I've decided to give you relief. Your little minion isn't coming back. It's only fair to kill you in her absence. I'll make it quick. You deserve that for the services you've rendered to me in the past. I can do no more since we in this coven cannot permit the least betrayal.

"In fact, I'll tell you a story before you depart from us. You want to know how I killed Luce so many years ago? It wasn't by hiding in the toilet, as they say. Though, I do like that story. No. Luce had a lust for human flesh not typical for a vampire. A sexual lust. He was uncharacteristically potent and liked young human girls. Not us vampire women. We're as barren and frigid as a mountain peak. He would have his guards bring a girl to his room. The door would be closed, and he'd be left alone with her. After he was done, he'd kill her, drain her blood and dispose of her. All of this was fully confidential, but I found out.

"The guards always hooded the girls when bringing them to Luce, to keep the whole process secret. I bribed one of the guards to hood me and send me in. Once alone in that room, I had my chance, and I didn't let it slip. I chopped his head off with my knife before he had a chance to resist, and this time it was his body that was drained.

"But the important thing was what I did with that guard that betrayed Luce. I couldn't have a guard that could be bribed into betrayal. He had to be killed. We here cannot permit the least betrayal. It erodes the mortar that holds our coven together. As recompense for what he'd done for me, I gave him a swift and honorable death. I will do the same courtesy for you. You will not be eaten. I will have to drain your blood, though."

Asha touched Vad's face, wiping from it some of the sweat and gently pushed his head to the side to expose his white neck.

Before she could bite him, the sound of commotion in the Great Hall arrested her attention. She departed Vad's room in haste, telling Vad, in case he was aware of what she were saying, "I'll only be a moment."

The Great Hall had flooded with vampires, though none dared to approach until Asha arrived, which was only a minute later. Asha came to an abrupt stop when she saw Lina, her face now exposed, her lips and teeth stained with blood, her pale face glowing with the beauty of a vampire many times her age. Even beneath the gore that stained her face, she had a radiance that was captivating and intimidating.

Asha commanded, "I haven't time to draw this out. Just kill her."

Before her order could be executed, the two rays of light that pierced through the ceiling were simultaneously severed. The dim light of the room faded into near darkness and everyone turned to look up. Lina recognized this as the signal and without pause, turned around and ran.
Chapter 22

Leakage

While Asha talked with Vad just before Lina's arrival, Mir entered the pen to fetch their daily ration. He hauled out his key, and, unlocking the door, stepped inside.

He had been in the pen so many times and been accustomed to a consistent and predictable reaction from the humans in there, that even the subtlest differences, as he at that time observed, were quite salient. He couldn't have quite described the differences if he had to, but it seemed as if the humans, instead of dreading his arrival, were waiting for him. His feeling of unease led him to walk forward cautiously. He looked at the many eyes that didn't seem to be warily avoiding him, as usual, but actually looking back at him, with interest, with curiosity.

He carried a small club hanging at his side, which he drew into his hand and held, ready to strike any that might approach him. As he moved he looked, searching for a red X that would indicate his victim for the day.

As he came to the arena, he saw a woman close to middle age, with a husky appearance and a large frame, who bore the X on both hands. She was directing several other workers who were chipping at the stone wall, gesturing and signaling with her red-marked hands.

Relieved to be done, Mir approached her, and in his typical fashion, he grabbed her in his arms. This one was a little larger than the average, not having been yet streamlined by the diet of the pen; she still contained many pounds from her above-ground existence. But Mir was strong and lifted her easily.

Oana's reaction as she was being picked up was not like most. Instead of panicking and flailing about in fright, she instead became enraged, turning her vitriol on the vampire that was trying to pick her up, and shouting, "How dare you! Put me down this instant. I am a monastic woman."

Due to seeing a popular preacher being taken by the vampires and the rumor of Nicoleta's escape being fresh on the mouths of everyone in the pen, the rebellion that Crina had been striving to initiate began to organize itself. One man stepped forward and tried to take Oana out of the guard's hands, but he was painfully batted aside with the club. Others followed, several approaching Mir at once. Mir tried to swing around and knock them all aside, but he only hit a few of them, and others continued approaching en masse. Mir was now racing towards the door. A massive group of humans stood themselves between him and the door, but he didn't pause, attempting to push through them using his size and momentum.

* * *

Dragomir relaxed in a large section of the pen that he'd cordoned off as his room. Two half-naked women hovered over his fat, naked body, kissing him on his hairy chest, slowly and sensually, while two guards stood at the door of his room. Stone statues and murals painted on the walls decorated his room. A rude mattress lay on the floor in the center, on which he now lay, being pleasured by his women.

In the midst of this carnal leisure, he was interrupted by a young man, who hastily ran to the door, shouting, "Dragomir, they're attacking Mir. A lot of them. It doesn't look good."

Dragomir was thoroughly annoyed by this news, sitting up and dressing himself with a groan. He told his women, "We'll have to continue this afterwards." He commented to the young man, "Do they never learn? If they just bend down their heads and keep quiet they'll live a long life. Now we're going to have a whole lot of people become vampire food, again, just because they want to be contentious."

He marched out of his room, and by the time he made it to the barred room, where a large crowd was gathered, he realized it was worse than he'd supposed. They'd somehow managed to pin Mir to the ground, with something like twenty people now holding him down. They were trying to figure out how to tie him up, with several people trying to gather rags in order to tether him to the bars.

Dragomir shouted out at them, "Let Mir go this instant! Do you all want to end up dead? Give this up, now, while you're still alive. Did you not think this through? What are you going to do after you have him secured? Are you just going to walk out of here past the dozens of vampires out there? You don't think they'll be retaliation? No, no. It'll be a retaliation far worse than anything you could imagine in here."

At that moment, echoing through the halls of the coven, they heard a vampire screeching, "It's Lina! It's Lina!" in a frightened voice, followed by the voice of Lina herself, who in a screech confirmed, "It is Lina! Come and attack me!"

Oana, freed from Mir's grasp, was standing among the group of humans in the pen when she heard the sound of Lina's voice in the distance. She whispered to Crina, "It's Lina." Realizing that it was pertinent to everyone, she announced to the crowd, "Lina, the vampire who freed Nicoleta. She's back."

Crina recognized immediately what Lina's return meant, and she pushed through the crowd to go directly for Dragomir. One of Dragomir's guards was there to stop her, blocking her way and gruffly asking her, "What are you doing?"

Crina announced, "Seize him!" and several others rose up to assist her, a dozen hands grabbing the guard at once and pulling him away. Dragomir tried to run, but two men came forward to block his way and restrain him, pressing his arms behind his back and holding him in place while he struggled to free himself. Crina pulled out a large stalactite. It had a smooth, pillowy surface and, at the tip, a round, dull point. She stepped forward and drove the blunt point of her stalactite directly into Dragomir's stomach, with enough force to pierce through the skin and deep inside him.

Dragomir cried out and collapsed with pain as blood spilled out of him, staining the stalactite and the hand that held it. Crina raised the red stalactite above her head and heard a roar of cheers from the crowd in the pen.

They shouted out just as Lina began her fleet dash from the Great Hall; just as she zipped through the door and pushed up the rock, darting out into the sunlight; just as she hastily covered her face, partially exposed without her head-covering, and ducked for cover.

The explosion that followed rippled through the ground and sent a shockwave through the air. In the pen, the loud boom caused the ground to quake and the ceiling of rock above them to shift and rain fine grains of dust upon them. The people looked warily up at the ceiling above them and Oana announced, "We need to leave. Right now. Everyone, gather what you need."

* * *

Flaviu had laid the two barrels near the center of what Lina marked out as the outline of the Great Hall. When they exploded a cloud of dirt rose into the air like a great, spiky dome, sending debris into the air in all directions and leveling all things around it beneath its sudden shockwave. His soldiers hid beneath their shields while a rain of rocks and dirt fell upon them.

Then Flaviu ordered the charge. Men armed with arrows, crossbows and firearms ran up to the edge of the great crater in two lines and aimed down into it. Beneath them they saw the remains of the Great Hall exposed to the sunlight. Many of the tall columns that had supported the roof were now toppled and the ground, decorated by the dragon mosaic, was littered with rocks and boulders. The beautiful decorations of the Great Hall were cracked and scattered, and the throne was toppled.

Between all the debris lay many vampires, knocked down and crushed by the explosions. Mostly sparsely clothed, their white skin transformed into red. Some lay on the ground, unconscious and motionless, whereas others were pinned beneath rocks or columns, and still yet others remained standing, though dazed and surprised. With their skin being burned by the unbearable sun, they screamed in agony, those that could, trying to flee from the light. Flaviu ordered the men, "Fire at anything standing," and the first volley of shots sniped some of those standing who were slow to flee.

After this first volley, the forward line of shooters stepped backwards, and the second line, armed and ready, moved forward and launched a second volley as Flaviu ordered, "Kill anything that still moves." They captured some other still alive and some that had tried to escape, and silenced some of the agonized screams of those being burnt.

Simultaneously the cannons were rolled forward. They were loaded and two cannonballs were launched at the hallway down which they'd seen some of the remaining vampires run. The cannonballs rolled down the halls knocking down a few vampires in their way and lodging themselves deep into the walls of the cave.

After seeing the course of the cannonballs Flaviu shouted at the cannoneers, "Damnit! No more of that! There're people down there somewhere."

A succession of volleys blanketed the Great Hall with arrows and bullets, as the two lines, in successive turns, would fire, step back and reload, then step forward and fire again. The projectiles from these many volleys rendered all life in the Great Hall still and silent. More than twenty vampires now lay dead upon its floor.

At this point, Lina stepped forward and volunteered to enter. "I'll go in," she announced, "There must be some ten or so still left. Including Asha. I'll try to get to the humans before you set off that last barrel of gunpowder."

Without waiting to be given permission, Lina ran towards the large boulder and opened it. Since the hinge of this door had been damaged, she rolled the boulder aside, leaving the door now permanently open. She walked forward tentatively into the shadow, not sure where some of the remaining vampires might be waiting for her.

With her heart beating in anticipation, Lina progressed forward, descending down the sloped cave. She walked with silent steps, suspecting that more than a few vampires lay in wait.

She encountered her first vampires in this section of the cave. Two vampires of medium age cowered in a shaded corner, terrified of venturing out into the light where the bullets and arrows would surely drown them if the sun didn't burn them first. They didn't notice Lina's approach until she was near upon them. By the time they turned at the sound, Lina's form already completely overwhelmed their vision. In a flash, she leaped upon one, tearing open his throat, then attacked the other, drinking away the last of his blood until his sight faded from blurriness into black.

Lina stepped out into the light of Great Hall next. The place only vaguely resembled its former splendor. The tiled floor was littered with rubble, collapsed columns and a great many vampire corpses, arrows and crossbow bolts sticking out of their bodies like porcupine needles. When she looked up, she saw the sky instead of the columns and ceiling, and up there, standing at the edge of the crater looking down at her, were the armed troops, with Flaviu standing besides them nodding in her direction.

She entered the hallway, and before her stood a long row of doors, most of them closed. The whole hallway was enveloped in silence. The odor of vampires was palpable, but omnipresent. She had no sense where any living creature was. As she moved closer to the kitchen, she heard the growing sound of a murmuring crowd.

Of a sudden two shadows approached her from behind and touched her on the arm. She was so frightened that she almost jumped on them immediately, but in the split second before she turned and would've had her teeth upon their necks, she recognized the face of Anton. Beside him was Vasile. Both of them carried two loaded crossbows, weapons that seemed more appropriate to the cramped space of the coven than their longbows.

"We've come to help you get the humans out," Anton said.

"And you need a weapon," Vasile said, handing her a dagger, which he'd kept sheathed on his belt.

"I'll lead you to the pen," Lina said, "Stay behind me."

They followed as she cautiously walked them towards the kitchen. The room they found was a mess: many pots had been knocked over, red liquid spilled onto the ground, some broken, their shattered pieces littering the floor. A layer of dust covered everything and considerable debris was spread throughout the room. But there was Ada, as if oblivious to everything that was going on around her, cleaning up. She'd picked up all the spilled pots and made sure as much of the red brew was salvaged as was possible.

When Ada saw Lina, clothed in black and with two armed men, standing at the entrance to the kitchen, she cowered in fear, hiding in the corner. Lina was about to ask her for the keys to the pen, when she noticed that the door was slightly ajar. Lina pointed through the door, and Vasile and Anton entered. Lina remained behind, watching Ada to make sure she didn't attack.

When Vasile stepped inside, he heard the nearing sound of a massive crowd of murmurers, and he walked towards them. As he came in sight of the crowd, the sound faded into silence. He saw there, in the faint shadows, several hundred human faces turning at once to look at him.

Vasile was difficult to see in the dark, but it was clear at first glance that he was not a vampire. Vasile announced, in a hushed voice, "We've come here to free you. We need to get out of here, now."

A wave of cheering started to roll through the crowd, but Vasile strenuously tried to stop it, indicating that they should be quiet.

The crowd quieted once again, and Vasile was ready to lead them out. A small shape started pushing through the crowd to get to the front of it. After a few moments, the face of Constanta pushed through and, looking in Anton's directions, asked, "Anton is that you?"

When Anton saw her, he ran forward and grabbed her in his arms, hugging her as tightly as he could and kissing her all over. "I knew it," she said to him over and over again as she smiled with joy, "I told them you'd come."

Anton had to force himself to hand over Constanta to Vasile, since Vasile would be leading the humans out through the kitchen and Anton would be guarding the tail. He didn't want to part from her, but he wanted her out of the coven into the daylight as soon as possible.

Vasile insisted that they move as quietly as possible since some vampires were still unaccounted for. The front of the crowd, with Constanta in the lead, followed him, without giving a second look back at their former home. Many others were still gathering together their possessions, wanting to bring the many things they had acquired while living there. For some, their possessions had accumulated into a cumbersome collection, and they struggled to carry it all.

As Vasile passed Lina, who still watched over Ada in the kitchen, he asked her, "Are you going to kill that one already?"

Lina nodded her head, and Vasile continued through the halls with a long chain of humans crowding behind him.

Anton, who had stayed behind to guard the rear, implored the stragglers, "Don't worry about your damn stuff. We have to get you out of here." The last few were carrying armfuls of things, and they rushed to catch up with the rest of the group while Anton anxiously urged them on. When Anton finally stepped into the kitchen and saw Lina still watching over Ada, he couldn't restrain his joy and he leapt towards her, hugging her tightly. She pushed him away and said, "Careful." But Anton hadn't a concern in the world, and he grabbed Lina's face and kissed her full on the lips. Lina froze with shock and let him continue to kiss until he pulled away, smiling and staring at her.

"If only you weren't a vampire," he said to her.

"You'll get infected if you do things like that," she reprimanded.

"I don't care," he said in response, "You've done the most wonderful thing. How can I ever repay you?" As he spoke, he backed away out of the room, not forgetting his responsibility to guard the humans who were disappearing out of the pen. Lina gave him a faint smile as he left and waved goodbye.

Lina turned to Ada and asked her, "Where is Vad? Is he still alive?"

"I think so," Ada replied, "He was last being detained in his own room. Last I heard that is."

Lina leaned in close to Ada, who trembled and covered herself in anticipation of what she expected to be a blood-draining bite. Instead Lina whispered in her ear, "You're going to live. Take all this food into the pen. Deep into the pen. We'll hide there. I'll bring Vad. They'll never find us. Please hurry."

Then Lina quickly darted out of the kitchen to head in the direction of Vad's room, hoping, even praying that Vad was there and still alive.

Just as she was leaving the kitchen, a muffled shout drew her attention to the barred room. She stepped into the barred room from outside the pen, and saw Mir, inside the pen, tied to the bars. He was seated on the ground with his hands tied behind his back by several rags pieced together by a nest of knots. A great number of separate pieces of cloth had been used to tie him, with several knotted loops running down either arm to secure him to the bars, along with a chain of loops down his legs to hold them together.

Lina walked towards him. His mouth was gagged and he was only able to moan and scream in inarticulate words. He could just see Lina behind his back and called out to her in the hope that she might help him, but as she approached, he realized that this vampire was not friendly. Lina sauntered towards him, smelling his pungent odor. Mir kicked his legs and shouted through the gag, pushing with all his might to free himself. Lina meanwhile squeezed her head through the bars and touched her lips to his neck. Her teeth followed behind, opening up a large hole in his neck, through which cupfuls of rich, fortifying blood flowed down her throat.

As Vasile and Constanta and a train of humans behind them burst out into the Great Hall, the soldiers looked down and saw them from above. A cheer emerged from all of them at once. For most of them, not until that very moment were they quite sure that there really were any humans to be found in this coven. As they looked on them with their own eyes and saw the endless numbers that continued to pour out, their joy and excitement only grew until it burst out into riotous celebration.

In the rooms, though, the last remaining vampires still hid, just hearing the faint sound of the pattering of many feet escaping. It was the sound of their great, accumulated wealth slipping out of their fingers, like a river of gold flowing down into the gutters. They couldn't just let it slip away. So, out from their rooms, they sprang and attacked.
Chapter 23

Sunlight

Fane had been in a tree as sentry on the opposite side of the coven from where the soldiers approached when the attack began. He and the other two surviving sentries thus had been oblivious to the approach of the troops until the gunpowder exploded and awoke them to attention.

Fane himself could see the smoke and the dust from the explosion rising into the air, he could feel the trembling of the earth as it rattled the tree he stood upon, and he could feel the force of that boom within his ears.

Fane leapt down from the tree and rounded up the other two sentries that were nearest him to confer in secret.

"What in God's name was that explosion?" one of them asked.

"We'll find out," Fane said, "We approach slowly. We can assume the coven's under attack."

Together the three of them approached, remaining hidden behind the underbrush as the entrance to the coven came into view. Much to their horror, they saw a large crater just above their coven and two rows of soldiers firing down into it with volley after volley of projectiles.

Fane suggested, "We should circle around, find Sil, and attack them from behind."

They circled around the troops, but by the time they'd reached the location of Sil's post, the firing had stopped and Sil was missing.

They saw the body a few moments later and Fane approached and inspected it, pulling away the cloak to expose the neck. A large, round wound in the shape of a jaw, with two semi-circular gashes where the upper and lower teeth respectively tore through, was visible. The skin was paler than normal, and only small streaks of blood stained the area around and below the wound.

"His blood's been drained, by a vampire," Fane said to the other two, "Probably by Lina. She must be with them."

They moved rapidly but softly across the forest floor, slowing to very gentle, silent steps as they came within earshot of the soldiers. A number of clearly trained and appropriately armored soldiers comprised the majority of the group, along with a handful of villagers, whose limited armor and casual peasant dress distinguished them.

Fane told his two fellow companions, "Focus on the armored soldiers. Let's try to be in and out in an eye blink. We'll each kill one, then run away and regroup over there. After that we'll hit them with another attack."

As Fane and the other two vampires slowly crept in from behind, several screams emerged from out of the crater. Three vampires hiding together in one of the rooms, leapt out through their door in a sudden burst, pouncing upon every human within arms reach. They weren't looking to kill the human but to keep them from draining out of their pen. They tried to herd the humans backwards by force. The three of them, with all of their strength, pushed against the crowd of people, their arms outstretched, pushing forward with their shoulders. They knocked many persons over, toppling them to the ground in the process and causing a panic as people were forced backwards.

Those few that had been missed by the three vampires, that were already out of reach when the vampires emerged, started to run in the direction of the Great Hall, up the ramp and out of the coven, led by Constanta. Vasile, at the front, heard the scream from the tunnel were he led, and he turned and rushed against the panicked stream of human bodies that ran upwards and out.

The sound and commotion below distracted the soldiers, who turned and aimed their weapons into the crater. Fane realized that this was a perfect opportunity. He ordered his two companions, "Now!" and the three of them ran at the soldiers.

The soldiers were taken by surprise by the attack. In one moment three soldiers all had vampires perched upon them—the massive weight of these bodies pushing them to the ground while feet stood upon their waist and the arms wrapped their shoulders. The vampires didn't have time to drain the blood. Instead, they reached through the armor to find a bit of neck between the seams. The bit at the flesh and pulled it away with their teeth. Spurts of blood spilled out of the soldiers as they dropped to the ground, and the vampires began to run before any of the soldiers could raise their guns and aim.

Fane hesitated. As he looked down into the crater, only now did he realize what damage had been done. He saw that the crater had exposed their main room to the sunlight. But what most drew his attention was Vasile entering the Great Hall.

Cornel was the first soldier to react to the attack. He picked up the large axe that rested at his side and swung it around directly into the chest of one of the vampires that tried to escape. Between the velocity that Cornel imparted to his axe, and the momentum of the vampire's mad dash away, the axe was lodged deep in the vampire's chest, piercing through his rib cage and slicing open his lungs. A fine spatter of blood was thrown into the air and Cornel turned to avoid it. Blood continued to pour out of the great wound onto his chest as Cornel struggled to remove the axe. More blood poured into the vampire's lungs drowning him from within. When Cornel finally dislodged the axe, the vampire, collapsed to the ground.

Cornel next tried to attack Fane, since the third vampire had already escaped, but Fane leapt out of his reach, leaping into the crater in front of him. Cornel pursued indirectly, by running around to the coven entrance, but he trailed far behind.

Fane seemed to float to the ground as he arced through the air towards Vasile. He landed within steps of Vasile, who was running away into the tunnel. Fane reached forward grabbing Vasile from behind and took him in his arms. He opened his mouth, preparing to take Vasile's life.

Fane couldn't just give Vasile the quickest possible death. He had to savor it. The hunter that had plagued the coven for years was in his arms, and he would take the opportunity to drain him from the neck. He forced Vasile to the ground, discovering that the old hunter was uncommonly fast and strong. But Fane was finally able to latch his mouth onto that pale neck and drink his blood. He relished the long gulps, even as the soldiers from above tried to fire down upon him, even as an arrow was lodged in his back and a bit of metal ripped through his shoulder. Finished, he tossed the pallid body aside and ran towards his vampire companions to help them push the humans back into their place.

As he approached the vampires, he saw a sight he never thought he'd see. A tiny vampire—still the size of a youngster, not even fully grown—crawled over the top of the crowd and dived on all three of the vampires. Two of them she so forcefully threw against the wall that they fell limp to the ground, and she latched onto the neck of the third and eagerly drained his blood. After the tiny vampire was finished, she looked up, and Fane saw the radiant face of Lina, savage and bloody.

Fane sensed that he couldn't overpower her. He turned around and ran from her, but she darted after him. Fane had never known a young vampire to be so fast. She caught up to him within moments. The two of them chased across the Great Hall and Lina grabbed him by the cloak and shoved him against the wall just behind the throne. The soldiers directly over their head looked down at them, and she shouted up at them, "Don't shoot."

Lina held Fane there, staring into his eyes. He couldn't free himself from her iron grip as much as he tried, as much as he struggled. He turned away from her in anticipation of her bite, but instead she said to him, "Help me kill Asha and rescue Vad, and I'll let you live."

At that moment a loud cluster of gunfire was heard from above. A shout of, "We got the other one," could be heard. The third vampire sentry had been laid to the ground with several individual pieces of shot lodged in his chest. Fane looked at Lina and he nodded.

Lina led the way through the Great Hall, grabbing Fane by the hand. The humans of the pen were now in full flight, and the great masses of them poured out in a panic. Lina and Fane had to fight with difficulty against the crowd, though people tried to keep away from these two black-cloaked vampires approaching them.

When they found the three vampires that Lina had left behind, she pulled them aside into a room, out of the way of the stream of people. Lina bent down finished off the two others by draining their blood.

Fane watched her with a feeling of horror and disgust. What she was doing was something that a vampire was not supposed to do.

After she'd drunk her fill, she leaned back and took a long gratified breath, relaxing from her feast. The way that the blood of the vampires, freshly plucked from their bodies, seemed to engorge her strength was intoxicating. It felt like the intermingled blood flowed through her body in a river of lightning; felt like the humming of her life force was amplified to the ear-splitting volume of a thousand barrels of gunpowder ignited at once; felt like her body was on the verge of transforming into flames. She took many long moments to savor the sensation of the blood within her before she stood up and looked at Fane.

"Vad's in his room," Lina said to Fane after a moment's pause, "I expect that's where we'll find Asha too."

Lina and Fane exited into the hall. The last of the humans were trickling out of the caves, trying to catch up with the crowds that were ahead of them.

Lina walked to the door with the galloping horse carved into its surface and, finding it unlocked, slowly opened it. The daylight that she permitted into the room as she opened the door was the only illumination. It revealed the supine vampire there, tied to his own bed and covered in clotted blood and endless wounds.

Lina ran forward to help, grabbing his head and speaking directly at him: "We'll get you out of here. You're going to be alright." Her words had a certain tender quality, a certain faltering and weakness to them as she spoke.

Her attention was diverted by a dark shadow emerging from the toilet compartment. The shadow spoke her name in a whisper, "Lina."

Suddenly, Lina was blind-sided by Eta, who leapt at her from behind the bed. Eta pushed Lina out of the room, gripping her neck and pushing her backwards. Eta tried to bite Lina's neck, but Lina pushed her away. Eta began to grapple with Fane. Asha emerged from the room and grabbed Lina by the neck. She lifted her up, squeezing the breath out of her with her crushing grip.

"It really wasn't fair that Vad should have had to die in your place. What type of vile thing are you that you should make others be punished for your transgressions? What type of monster are you?" Asha hissed and screeched.

Fane had to knock Eta to the ground, where she lay motionless and unconscious, before he could spring to Lina's aid. He grabbed Asha and shoved her into the room. Lina took a gasping breath after she was released. Asha reemerged, turning towards Lina and Fane, who both backed away towards the Great Hall.

Asha was ready to lunge at them when a crossbow bolt lodged itself into the back of her thigh. Her step faltered and she turned to see Anton raising his second crossbow and aiming. Before she could lunge, he planted another bolt in her side below the rib cage. The bolt stuck through her, emerging out the other side, and she screamed with pain.

She ran for Anton, shouting, "You don't shoot at me," while Anton frantically scrambled to reload one of his crossbows. She was upon Anton within a moment, toppling him over and opening her mouth to bite, but Lina knocked her from on top of him. Asha rolled across the ground, quickly springing to her feet. Lina stood between her and Anton.

"You're not going to survive," Asha told Lina, like one cautioning a friend, "Even with their help, you're not going to survive. You were never meant to survive. Vad was supposed to bring you as food and as the mother of another generation of food. If only he'd done what he was supposed to, we wouldn't have to be here."

Asha tried to attack Lina, but seriously underestimated her. Lina was able to dodge, leaping out of the way and pushing Asha aside.

As she turned back and looked at Lina she could see what she had noticed before without really thinking through its meaning: Lina's face was gorgeous, as beautiful as a vampire approaching their first century, and, with vampires, beauty always comes with strength. Asha approached more slowly this time, waiting for just the right moment to attack, eyeing her options. She also kept an ear open for Fane, who lingered behind her and tried to keep Lina between her and Anton, who had one crossbow loaded and was trying to fire a shot.

In these tense moments of stillness, Eta, beginning to recover, stood up on her feet. She saw Lina nearest her, and shaking the haziness from her head, she lunged at her. Lina heard her before the attack arrived and turned to Eta. She reacted so swiftly that she was able to lift Eta and throw her directly at Asha. Asha ducked out of the way and Eta landed at Fane's feet. Fane tossed Eta out into the Great Hall, into the daylight. Eta was only lightly dressed and she felt the piercing burn of the sunlight as her skin began to redden. Her suffering didn't last, since as soon as the soldiers above caught sight of her, they launched several shots and arrows at her, killing her in moments.

Asha used this momentary distraction as an opportunity to attack, her body on top of Lina in a flash. Fane was instantly there to try and rescue Lina, but Asha was now ready for him. She kicked Fane off of her, still maintaining her hold on Lina, whom she held by the neck with one hand. When Anton shot, she ducked to avoid it, the bolt flying over her head and rattling to the ground. She continued to hold onto Lina, who vainly struggled to free herself.

As Asha held Lina to the ground, firmly gripping her neck, Lina felt for the knife that Anton had given her. It had fallen to the ground at her side. When she felt it at her fingertips, she pulled it in and put her hand around the handle. She lifted it up and swung it in Asha's direction, tearing a slash across Asha's chest. Asha cried out with pain, and Lina pushed her away with her feet. Asha didn't let go of Lina's neck easily, leaving five deep scratches around the side as her nails dug into the skin.

With Asha now upright, Anton launched another bolt from his crossbow at her chest, planting it in her rib cage. She screeched with pain, but instead of faltering, she hissed at them, "When are you going to realize that these tiny pinpricks aren't going to kill me?"

Fane grabbed Asha from behind, wrapping his arms around her neck. He pulled her, dragging her feet along the floor towards the daylight in the Great Hall. She pushed Fane's arms away and knocked him to the ground, but Lina was there to immediately further Fane's attempt. With all her strength, she shoved Asha towards the light. Asha toppled over Fane and landed on her back with her face staring directly up into the sunlight. It painfully burned her skin, and even in the seconds of exposure her face received, it was already bright red.

Asha hastily sat up, escaping into the shadows. But Lina didn't let up, leaping at Asha and kicking her whole body into the light. The burns only escalated, now covering all of Asha's exposed skin, the color rapidly darkening.

Though Asha squealed with pain, she still attempted to rise and save herself. But before she could sit up an axe stroke swung down upon her neck and silenced her. Lina looked up and saw Cornel standing over Asha. Her beautiful head was now separated from her body. Cornel's axe was stuck deep in the stone floor between Asha's torso and head, and he was rocking it back and forth trying to dislodge it.

"Thank you," Lina said looking up at the burly blacksmith that hovered over her.

Cornel simply nodded his head and said, "Nothing to it, ma'am."

Blood poured from out of the neck, and Lina looked down on it hungrily. Unable to restrain herself she bent down and began sucking what blood remained out of Asha's body, even lapping up the blood from the floor. Cornel turned away in revulsion, and many of the soldiers that looked down from above emitted groans of disgust. But Lina ignored them, relishing in the unparalleled taste of Asha's aged blood.

The intoxicating feeling of the vampire blood set fire to her heart and filled her with pleasure. She felt like an angel dancing on the surface of the sun. She felt like she could leap high enough to shatter the crystal spheres of heaven. Her body felt alive, like it had been metamorphosed into light and flame and was ready to zip across the sky like a falling star. After she finished, she lay back in the shadows and stared up at the ceiling.

When Lina stood up, she felt light-headed and realized how tired she really was. Quietly she went into Vad's room, untied him from the bed, and carried him back into the darkness. Fane followed, and they walked into the pen.

Lina found Ada in Dragomir's former room. She'd organized the pots that she could salvage just outside of it, and was reclining on his bed. When Vad arrived, he was given the bed, and Lina began to nurse him back to health.

Anton, as he was leaving the pen, saw the corpse of Vasile, awkwardly sprawled across the floor of the Great Hall and threw himself upon him. He cried softly as Cornel came over to comfort him and help him properly remove the frail body.

Anton and the soldiers were told by Lina to leave the vampire dead. The remaining vampires would clean them up themselves. The soldiers took their own dead, including Vasile, with them and headed back to Vallaya, with now a giant crowd of dazed, sickly, pallid people walking beside them.

Anton ran all the way home with Constanta on his shoulders. The rest of the crowd, as well as his father, lagged behind. When he arrived home, his mother was out in the fields.

When she saw Anton and Constanta jogging towards her, she ran out to greet her children. She shouted the name of her daughter with arms outstretched, and Anton placed her daughter into her arms. Viorica wanted to hug her until her muscles ached and her eyes hurt with crying.

"Where's your father?" Viorica asked.

"The old man's slow," Anton laughed, "He'll be here in a few minutes."

She breathed a sigh of relief and took her daughter inside, ready to pamper her with every indulgence, and thinking that she would never let the girl go further than an arm's breadth away from her as long as she should live.

Shortly thereafter, Anton went to visit Andrei to tell him the good and the bad of the day's events, but when he went to visit the quiet shop and pounded on the door, there was no one there to answer.
Chapter 24

The Fate of the Infection

As the rest of the crowd arrived in Vallaya, many began to part ways, some heading for towns in other directions, some finding long-parted relatives in Vallaya, to whom they returned amid tearful reunions. The bulk headed in the direction of Terem, with Flaviu and his soldiers leading the way. For a great many of those long interred in the pen, they had no place to go or any family to find. Consequently, they followed the crowd to Terem, joining old friends from the pen who promised to help them make the transition, or simply hoping to find employment there. Crina was persuaded to follow Oana to the convent and take the veil, and she prepared herself for a life of chastity and resignation.

When Sister Oana finally arrived back at the convent and entered through the gate with numerous converts and refugees in tow, she boldly announced, "Sisters, I have returned. And I have brought guests."

A crowd formed around her as work came to halt, and everyone wanted to hear her story of what had happened. Oana couldn't resist and elaborated in full detail all she'd experienced and all she'd been told about what had happened. She stood in the middle of the courtyard surrounded by a tightly packed mass of people who listened to her long oration.

"So, all the vampires are dead?" the voice of Sister Elisabeta spoke out after she had finished.

"Yes, so we were told. With the exception of Madalina. Since she helped the soldiers with the attack. She's friendly to us, and we needn't worry about her at all. For once, we can safely say that the vampire threat is finished for good."

Ileana began to pack up after she heard this news. She saddled her horse, telling Sister Elisabeta, "Thank you for your hospitality. It's time now for me to be back with my husband. I've missed him these past few days."

Her departure from Nicoleta was more doleful. Nicoleta embraced Ileana one last time and told her, "I'll miss you, so much. Can I come visit you in Vallaya?"

"You'll have to ask the sisters about that," Ileana said, "But you're always welcome if you can. And I'll be sure to visit you."

Ileana was soon galloping out of town on her horse, which she sped down the road towards Vallaya. Pulling into her stable and approaching the door, she found no Andrei there to greet her when she knocked. After she entered, she found he was also absent behind the counter of the shop.

She walked upstairs to their bedroom and saw, littering the floor, the discarded containers of several packages of vampire wares that had been opened and emptied. In the middle of them lay Andrei upon the bed asleep. As she approached Andrei, she saw that his skin was pale and sweat beaded upon it. She ran foreword and put her hand on his forehead and found his skin hot to the touch.

He began to mutter as he partially came to consciousness, saying, to no one in particular, "I need... I need..."

"What do you need?" she asked, grabbing his hand.

Opening his eyes and looking up at Ileana standing over him, he asked, "Is that you Ileana?"

She smiled and said, "Yes," gripping his hand more firmly.

He continued, "More vampire wares. That's the only thing that helps."

Ileana lifted up his lips to inspect his teeth. Even though it was only to a small degree, it was clear that his incisors had started to grow.

Anton came to visit Andrei's again the next day. He pounded on the door, and after a few minutes he heard Ileana shouting on the other side, "We're closed!"

"It's Anton," he shouted back at her, "I've come to see Andrei."

When she opened the door, her eyes were red with recent tears and her cheeks were flushed.

She looked down at Anton, who told her, "Rumors have been flying around town about Andrei. What's going on?"

She ushered him in and closed the door, before telling him, "He's sick."

"Can I see him?" he asked.

"You probably shouldn't," Ileana said, but there was a shout from upstairs, calling out in a hoarse, hoary voice, "Bring the boy upstairs."

When Andrei reached the top of the stairs and entered the bedroom, he found it in near darkness and saw Andrei in the bed beneath the sheets.

"Come sit here, dear boy," Andrei ordered him, with a voice that had begun to take on the screeching quality of a vampire's.

After Anton sat down, he said to Andrei, "Vasile's dead. I'm sorry to have to be the one to say this."

"I feared as much," Andrei admitted, "When he didn't come to visit me after the battle, I suspected the worst. It's really too bad. He was a good man, and a great hunter."

"Tomorrow in Terem there'll be a funeral for him and the other soldiers who died. It'd be great if you could come. But I can see that you're quite ill."

"Not ill. Not exactly. I'm becoming one of them, I think," Andrei guiltily admitted, "Did we kill them all? Every last one of them."

"Yes," Anton nodded, "Though we spared Lina, and a few of her companions."

Andrei frowned, "How many?"

"I think two others besides her," Anton said, "They're friends of Lina, so we needn't worry about them."

Andrei pounded his hands on the bed several times, thrashing about in great frustration as if he was in a fit. "No, no, no!" he shouted.

Ileana stepped forward and grabbed hold of him to calm him down, taking his hand and touching his forehead, while she soothingly whispered, "Shhh, shhh, my dear. Calm."

After Andrei settled down, his heart still palpitated quickly and sweat poured from his pores. His pale skin red with heat, he sat up in bed breathing heavily and said to Anton, "It's not the vampires that are the problem. It's the infection. It spreads. Even if some of them die, it still spreads and grows. I don't want to have to kill Lina after all she's done for us, but I want the infection to be killed. Now it's got me. And whom will I infect? I don't want it to go any further."

"Don't talk like that," Ileana urged, rubbing his hand affectionately.

"I think it's best I go now, sir," Anton said, now standing up.

"One more thing before you go," Andrei added, and he turned to Ileana and said, "Vasile's hoard." Looking at Anton again, he explained, "He wanted you to have it, should something like this happen. And, well, since it has happened, then it's now yours."

Ileana led Anton downstairs to the workroom, and took him aside to a small closet. Hanging on a hook on the wall was a metal ring with a round protrusion like a crude key sticking out at one end. She took the ring and stuck the protrusion in a small hole in the floor. The hole was in the middle of a large flagstone, and, turning the ring half a turn, it became a handle, which could be used to lift the stone.

"Cornel designed this for us," Ileana noted, asking Andrei, "If you could. The stone's quite heavy."

Anton understood and grabbed the ring to pull the large stone from the floor and set it down to the side. A few other stones beside it also had to be lifted and put aside, exposing a broad trap door beneath the stones. Ileana opened the trap door, which lifted a cloud of dust as she swung it open and let out a moldy cool air from below. She led the way, by climbing down a ladder into the space with a candle in hand. Alone she nearly filled the tight space, and once Anton was beside her, they were cramped, their shoulders bumping against the cobbled stones that formed the walls. The walls were round, like the interior of a well, and Anton suspected that Andrei had filled in an old well to make this space.

"This is where we were during the vampire attack," Ileana said, "Time did not pass by quickly."

On one side of the room was a metal door, with a single keyhole that Ileana filled with a key she drew from her pocket. Swinging the door open, she exposed a small, low-ceilinged room filled with gold. Crates and bags of gold coins lined the walls, and a stack of gold bars stood high in one corner. She pointed to a chest by the door brimming with coins and said, "That's Vasile's gold."

Anton looked at the mass of gold and asked, "Do you expect me to carry this all out of here? I couldn't even pick it up."

"No, we'll keep it here for the time being," Ileana said, "But it belongs to you. Take what you need right now."

Anton held back, unwilling to touch the money, unwilling even to approach it. Ileana told him, "I expect you—I implore you—to use that money well. Really do something with it, for you and your family. Do as much as you can."

Anton finally picked up a coin and inspected it. "How can I thank you?" Anton asked.

"Thank Vasile," she emphasized, "When you say goodbye to him at the funeral tomorrow, thank him. And thank him for us too should we be unable to come."

After Anton left, Ileana returned to Andrei's side, taking his hand in hers and watching him closely as he lay in the bed with his eyes closed. He was trying to sleep, unsuccessfully. It appeared he was succeeding. She could see his muscles relaxing, his body sinking into the bed, and his breathing starting to slow. His muscles even began to spasm in hypnic jerks, but only moments later he was awake again, and saying in a drowsy voice, "Ileana."

"I'm here," she said grabbing his hand, while the two of them stared into each other's eyes. After a long pause, Ileana worked up the courage to ask her husband, "I hope you didn't mean to imply back there that you want to end your life because of the infection? That's not what you meant did you?"

"No, it wouldn't do just to end my life, so long as Lina and the others still live," Andrei replied, "It's just a waste. No, if I'm going to end my life, I'm going to take them with me."

"Stop talking like this!" Ileana insisted, "Andrei I'll stay with you. As a vampire or not, I'll be there for you. I'll give you what you need. I'll live in the darkness for you. I'll swear off the sun forever. I'll give my blood to you. I don't care. We'll live together."

"But I'll eventually infect you. It can't be avoided if we're together."

"Then infect me. Just do it now. Get it over with," Ileana told him, exasperated, "We'll both be vampires. All the more life for you and me together. We can grow to be a thousand years old together."

"You don't know what you're saying!" Andrei shouted at her, "This is a choice you cannot go back on. I won't let you."

"Well, it's not your choice to make," Ileana snapped, "I'll make it for myself."

"You're not listening to me. I want the infection to end. I want to kill the last of the vampires and enter the afterlife with them."

"Then take me with you there," she pleaded.

"No, no," he shook his head furiously, "No, you have a whole life ahead of you to live. You don't know what you're saying."

"A life without you," she said, the tears welling within her eyelids. As she blinked, tears poured over down her cheeks, and she took his hand and squeezed it even more firmly.

* * *

After the sun sank over the horizon and the stars appeared in the sky, after the candle that Ileana kept by Andrei's bedside so that she might keep her all-night vigil beside him had burned down to its nub, Ileana began to drift off into sleep. She sat in a chair beside the bed, and as the night wore on and a day of attentive worrying took its tool, she sank into the chair and fell asleep.

Andrei could hear her faint snore, and he took the opportunity to silently slip out of bed, sliding across the bed beneath the sheets and touching his feet to the ground. He grabbed some clothing from his wardrobe, gave his wife one last kiss and tiptoed downstairs.

He still felt some of the weakness of illness, and decided to raid his stash of vampire wares to fortify himself, sneaking into his own store and grabbing several containers off the shelf. He wolfed down all he could stuff into his mouth, with only a little bit of water to wash it down. For reasons that seemed inexplicable to him, he actually enjoyed the taste. Before the vampire wares were an unpleasant medicine he'd hold his nose and swallow down; now they tasted like ambrosia.

He put on a dark heavy cloak and found some of Vasile's arms—two crossbows and two knives—and he took them with him as he walked out the back door of his shop.

Andrei turned back to say his last goodbye to his home and business. The solid walls and sturdy new back door stood like a bulwark against the night. After a moment's look he turned around and walked into the forest.

He had learned from Anton and Vasile approximately where the coven was located, and he strode in that direction, slowly passing through the trees. He could feel the last remnants of sickness leaving his body as he breathed in the cool air of the night and he basked in the darkness.

After a long walk through the woods, he arrived at the crater. He stood at the edge and looked inside. Aside from the obvious destruction—the hole in the ground and the fallen columns and fractured walls—there were few remnants of the battle that had taken place: some arrows and crossbow bolts lay on the ground next to bullet holes and bloodstains, but there were no bodies. All of the bodies had been cleared away, making it look like a deathless battle.

Andrei found the entrance that led down into the coven. He didn't know if he would find the remaining vampires there, but it seemed unlikely they would be able to find another place. He doubted there were any other caves of sufficient size for more than fifty leagues from there.

He entered the remnants of the Great Hall, which was now bathed in moonlight and still bore traces of its former splendor. He stole a torch from one of the walls and was able to light it using a small fire he built on the floor. He entered the hall and began, one after another, to open each door, to inspect it to make sure no vampires were hiding inside, and to move on to the next.

The vampire's wealth was on clear display in these rooms: the luxurious beds, the beautiful decorations and the elegant furniture. He didn't know for sure, but could only assume that these fineries were the result of generations of raids, stealing the wealth of the aristocracy, perhaps in exchange for (or in addition to) their blood. But Andrei found no vampires in these rooms. In fact, most of them looked undisturbed, as if the occupant was simply stepping out for a few moments and would be returning shortly.

When Andrei arrived at the barred room, he realized that this must be where the humans were kept. He entered the kitchen, which was empty and looked like an unremarkable room. He saw the door to the pen, and fortunately found it unlocked.

What opened up for him on the other side were only more caves, extending further and deeper into the underground. The quality of the caves had clearly changed. For one, the smell was not as pleasant, and for another the caves appeared poor and dirty.

He continued walking cautiously, though now the caves began to branch out in multiple directions, and it became more difficult to follow where he was. After some aimless wandering, he realized that he would have to mark his way. He used a stone to mark on the floor with an X sections he'd travelled through, and marked arrows on the wall to indicate which passages he'd travelled down. He became aware that he had been walking in circles, since rooms connected back to other rooms that connected back to the first via branching passages that led back to where he'd arrived. It took a great many trials and wanderings before he was able to narrow down the places where he'd been and find new rooms to explore.

His explorations were eventually successful, and he saw a dim light in the distance. He snuffed his torch and walked in the direction of the light. His eyes were surprisingly capable in the darkness, and as he was able to see everything clearly, even in the light of a distant candle.

He tiptoed slowly, raising one of his crossbows in preparation. He turned a corner and could see the candlelight through the open doorway of a room. He walked to the doorway, and once the interior of the room became visible, he could see the unmistakable form of three vampires inside talking with one another.

Two of the vampires he could only see obliquely, but he had a clear view of Lina. She was assisting one vampire, who was lying on the bed, and speaking with another.

Andrei decided to kill Lina first, since she was the one he least wanted to kill. Better to do the hardest task first. He pointed his crossbow at Lina, took aim and let the bolt fly.

Andrei was a poor shot with the crossbow and only managed to lodge the crossbow bolt in Lina's upper arm. It caused her to leap with surprise, as she once again felt the pain of that familiar wound.

However, this time, unlike the first time she had been shot, she did not feel so helpless. It only took her a moment to look out the door and identify the source of the arrow: an indeterminate shadow that stood just outside the room. The first suspicion that crossed through her mind was that it was Ada, since she was the only one of the four of them not present in the room at the moment. She ran towards the shadow and knocked it to the ground with her shoulders. Andrei had just fired the second crossbow bolt, and it harmlessly soared over her head. She pinned and restrained him on the ground with her knees and finally had a chance to see the face.

"Andrei?" She blurted out.

He looked up at her pathetically as she grabbed the arrow that was in her and pulled it out with a profound wince of pain, leaking some of her blood onto her arm and onto Andrei.

"Why are you here?" she asked, "Why are you shooting at me?" Andrei struggled to breathe a bit under the great weight of Lina's body pressed down against him, and he gave her no response, keeping his mouth stubbornly closed.

"Something's different," she noted. She took several sniffs, leaning close to his body and taking in his aroma. "You're a vampire," she said, "I can smell it. You're infected."

"It's true," he nodded, the sad look on his face only intensifying.

"What are you doing here, then?"

"I've come to kill you, all of you," Andrei admitted. Fane and Ada were both hovering over Lina as he spoke, "It looks like I've failed."

"Why?" Ada asked on behalf of the others.

"To put an end to the infection," he said, "I would've killed myself after I killed you all. I have nothing but repugnance at the thought of living the rest of my life as a vampire."

Lina looked up at her two companions. Neither of them knew Andrei as anything but the man who made and sold vampire wares, and they were looking at her, wondering why she hadn't killed him already.

Lina looked back at Andrei and asked, "What would you do, if we let you go now?"

"I'd kill you," he admitted.

"Even if we just spared your life? Even after all I've done for you? Does all of that mean nothing?" Lina asked.

"It doesn't matter what you do," Andrei shouted, "Your body gives sanctuary to the infection. That's all that matters."

Lina grew quiet and once again stared despondently at Fane and Ada. They were growing impatient now. To them it seemed Andrei had given them every reason to end his life.

After many long moments of hesitation she leaned down to bite his neck. She whispered something in his ear before she bit. "I would've paid you back tenfold for what you've done for me," she whispered, "If you could just join with us."

She still waited for him to say something, but he remained silent. She finally opened her mouth and bit. She drained and drank the blood, while Fane and Ada looked on. Andrei groaned with pain at the first bite, but as his body was sapped, he settled into death, closing his eyes and passing into unconsciousness.

Lina cut herself off in the middle of the process, realizing that she should share her boon, and dragged the still living body to Vad's bedside. She woke Vad from a slumber and coaxed him to take a drink fresh from Andrei's neck. It took him a moment to realize whom he was drinking from, and he pulled away and looked at the face, saying, "Andrei? How did you get him here?"

Lina let Ada and Fane finish Andrei off, and last of all, the deceased corpse was handed over to Ada, who began to prepare it for processing.

"It's not a bad way to go is it?" Lina asked to no one in particular, "To die by having your blood drained. Probably something like drifting off into sleep."

As Ada stripped off Andrei's clothes and shaved off the hair, Lina asked her, "How much food do we have? I mean, how long will it last the four of us?"

"If it was the whole coven of sixty-one vampires, what we have might last three or four weeks. So, I would imagine that, for just the four of us, it would last a year or more."

"Then what?" Lina asked.

"That's a long way off," Ada said, laughing slightly, "We needn't worry about that for a while."

"We'll have to do something for food then. What'll we do?" Lina repeated her question.

"I suppose we'll have to hunt for more food," Ada said. Lina nodded in agreement. She returned to Vad's bedside and to the process of nursing him back to health.

* * *

Ileana made no effort to search for her husband after she found him missing the next day. On his own, Anton tracked Andrei's path through the woods, but when he saw Andrei's footprints descending into the cave, he pursued no further.

They both attended the funeral for Vasile and the other soldiers and both had their chance to say goodbye. They lay Vasile's remaining weapons with his body, a longbow with arrows resting on top of his chest, a crossbow at his feet and a dagger beside him. After solemn words, they carried the four coffins down into the crypt. The four coffins were pushed into separate slots within the walls of the crypt beside other former members of the convent, where they would be left to wait until the End of Days, their names and dates chiseled into the stone.

Ileana never remarried, but she was joined by Nicoleta, who left the convent and was adopted into Ileana's household. She brought in Anton as a business partner. Their first step was to liquidate their stock of vampire wares. Once this was spent, they removed the "Apothecary and Vampire Wares" sign that swung in front of the shop and replaced it with a smaller sign that simply read "Apothecary."

###
Discover Other Works by Joseph Kranak

Mr. Eberling's Son

The Aresan Clan

The History of a Secret

Delicate Wedding

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