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, to enter the convent from the other side.
They found Elisabeta in her cell engaged in writing. The door was open and Nicoleta had to regrettably 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 the 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 lots 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. 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. She confessed that the lifestyle of the vampires just seemed so free from the usual restraints to her. She thought her life here was so tough and that if she just became a vampire, it’ll 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?” Eliseta 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 in 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, Elisetaba 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.
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