* * *
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.”
Elixir of Flesh Page 10