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 quickly. Andrei, who wore his mask, looked at the pile in disbelief and said to himself, “How am I going to process all these? This will take forever.” He then proceeded, with Lina’s help, to dump as many as he could into his great cauldron.
“Why do you have to do all this?” Lina asked, quite amazed at the whole process.
“It’s the method that was taught to me by my predecessor a long time ago. It allows me to preserve the vampire for a long time without going bad and makes it possible for a person to eat the vampire meat without being infected,” Andrei answered.
“How does it work?” she persisted.
“There’s vinegar in the solution I dip them in. 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.”
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 as the first rays of sunlight broke the horizon, Lina shrouded herself in her cloak and retracted 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 then 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 then 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 is what I need.”
“You’re willing to eat your own kind?” Anton then asked her, with his lips curled in disgust.
Lina peaked out from beneath her hood to see Anton’s eyes. Then 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 simply shook his head and walked up the stairs to sleep and collapsed into a bed.
<-- Go to
Part 86 Go to
Part 88 -->
You can see what's been written so far collected
here.
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 quickly. Andrei, who wore his mask, looked at the pile in disbelief and said to himself, “How am I going to process all these? This will take forever.” He then proceeded, with Lina’s help, to dump as many as he could into his great cauldron.
“Why do you have to do all this?” Lina asked, quite amazed at the whole process.
“It’s the method that was taught to me by my predecessor a long time ago. It allows me to preserve the vampire for a long time without going bad and makes it possible for a person to eat the vampire meat without being infected,” Andrei answered.
“How does it work?” she persisted.
“There’s vinegar in the solution I dip them in. 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.”
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 as the first rays of sunlight broke the horizon, Lina shrouded herself in her cloak and retracted 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 then 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 then 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 is what I need.”
“You’re willing to eat your own kind?” Anton then asked her, with his lips curled in disgust.
Lina peaked out from beneath her hood to see Anton’s eyes. Then 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 simply shook his head and walked up the stairs to sleep and collapsed into a bed.
<-- Go to
Part 86 Go to
Part 88 -->
You can see what's been written so far collected
here.
Vampire Wares pt 87
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