Vampire Wares pt 61

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 kept 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, which 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, his eyes focused on the spot on the forest floor where he hoped to uncover the entrance to the cave where his sister had been taken.  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.  It was movement in the direct center of his sight, which pricked 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 coats, in which they moved with great lumbering gaits.

At seeing this sight, Anton completely dispensed with caution and decided to confront them, all five of them, single-handedly, in the hope that he could 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, quickly climbing down the tree and plummeting to the ground.

He descended to the ground without grace or stealth and all five of the vampires immediately 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 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 really 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 in an instant, and she batted the arrow away in a swift sweep of her hand, sending the arrow spinning away from her onto the ground.  Then, 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.”  Then 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, then quickly walked away in the direction of the carriages.

<-- Go to Part 60         Go to Part 62 -->

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

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 kept 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, which 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, his eyes focused on the spot on the forest floor where he hoped to uncover the entrance to the cave where his sister had been taken.  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.  It was movement in the direct center of his sight, which pricked 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 coats, in which they moved with great lumbering gaits.

At seeing this sight, Anton completely dispensed with caution and decided to confront them, all five of them, single-handedly, in the hope that he could 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, quickly climbing down the tree and plummeting to the ground.

He descended to the ground without grace or stealth and all five of the vampires immediately 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 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 really 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 in an instant, and she batted the arrow away in a swift sweep of her hand, sending the arrow spinning away from her onto the ground.  Then, 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.”  Then 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, then quickly walked away in the direction of the carriages.

<-- Go to Part 60         Go to Part 62 -->

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

Vampire Wares pt 61