Vampire Wares pt 45

Asha immersed herself in thought after having said these things, and 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, and then he turned to leave.  The confines of this coven still troubled him deeply and he looked on the walls of the cave with the apprehension that can only be 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 dragged them through the forest, and then threw them to the ground in the main room.  There, he beheld a terrifying sight: numbers of vampires that he hadn’t imagined possible, more than fifty vampires, perhaps sixty, around him, in a crowd, in the dim light of the cave, leering at him hungrily.

He immediately tried to beg, “Please spare our lives.  Please do not 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 the lives of his whole family were on the line.  All the while, Asha sat on her throne, listening to his pleadings with pleasure and with patience.  When he looked at her, he thought she would submit.  He thought she would sympathize.  But in the end she only ordered to have him put in a cage with his wife and children.

They were dragged down a cave, thrown behind a door, and locked inside.  The four of them were left alone in the dark, in some subterranean room, dank and musty and so incredibly silent.  He called out to them 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 was to no avail.

In complete darkness, he had no sense of time, and there he waited, alone with his thoughts, which only dwelt on his apparently inevitable fate.  He imagined the vampires tearing off his flesh, eating his body until they were licking the blood from his bones.  He imagined they would then grind the 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 came to bring them food, and in the process told him that they would start by eating his youngest daughter, since the young ones tasted best.   They 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 couldn’t quite grasp the whole horror of their situation.  He begged them to take him and spare his family, but they insisted that his daughter would make a mouthwatering delicacy.

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

When Asha brought him to the foot of her throne, he expected the worse, 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), and he was prepared to do it.  He was prepared to kill every soul in his village, even if he had to carve a crucifix into a spike and stab every last one of them through the heart, one by one; he was prepared to stab nuns and set fire to churches and commit every sin.  For his family, he was willing to do it.

All she wanted, however, was to negotiate an end to the violence.  She wanted Vasile to stop killing her kind, and any future vampire hunting to be forestalled.  She 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 the humans.  He didn’t ask why she would want to do this.  All he knew was that it was the most wonderful thing he’d heard in his life, and he readily agreed.

<-- Go to Part 44         Go to Part 46 -->

You can see what's been written so far collected here.

Asha immersed herself in thought after having said these things, and 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, and then he turned to leave.  The confines of this coven still troubled him deeply and he looked on the walls of the cave with the apprehension that can only be 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 dragged them through the forest, and then threw them to the ground in the main room.  There, he beheld a terrifying sight: numbers of vampires that he hadn’t imagined possible, more than fifty vampires, perhaps sixty, around him, in a crowd, in the dim light of the cave, leering at him hungrily.

He immediately tried to beg, “Please spare our lives.  Please do not 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 the lives of his whole family were on the line.  All the while, Asha sat on her throne, listening to his pleadings with pleasure and with patience.  When he looked at her, he thought she would submit.  He thought she would sympathize.  But in the end she only ordered to have him put in a cage with his wife and children.

They were dragged down a cave, thrown behind a door, and locked inside.  The four of them were left alone in the dark, in some subterranean room, dank and musty and so incredibly silent.  He called out to them 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 was to no avail.

In complete darkness, he had no sense of time, and there he waited, alone with his thoughts, which only dwelt on his apparently inevitable fate.  He imagined the vampires tearing off his flesh, eating his body until they were licking the blood from his bones.  He imagined they would then grind the 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 came to bring them food, and in the process told him that they would start by eating his youngest daughter, since the young ones tasted best.   They 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 couldn’t quite grasp the whole horror of their situation.  He begged them to take him and spare his family, but they insisted that his daughter would make a mouthwatering delicacy.

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

When Asha brought him to the foot of her throne, he expected the worse, 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), and he was prepared to do it.  He was prepared to kill every soul in his village, even if he had to carve a crucifix into a spike and stab every last one of them through the heart, one by one; he was prepared to stab nuns and set fire to churches and commit every sin.  For his family, he was willing to do it.

All she wanted, however, was to negotiate an end to the violence.  She wanted Vasile to stop killing her kind, and any future vampire hunting to be forestalled.  She 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 the humans.  He didn’t ask why she would want to do this.  All he knew was that it was the most wonderful thing he’d heard in his life, and he readily agreed.

<-- Go to Part 44         Go to Part 46 -->

You can see what's been written so far collected here.

Vampire Wares pt 45