Chapter 19
Lazarus
The next day a meeting was called at the Terem town hall. The room was filled again to brimming with the curious citizens of Terem, elbowing their ways into seats to hear from the girl who’d escaped.
While the crowd murmured in anticipation and people still jostled for seats, Ileana leaned down and told Nicoleta, whispering in her ear, “You’re going to tell the crowd what you told us. Just say the words however they come to you and take as much time as you want. You don’t have to be nervous.”
Seated at the table next to Ileana, sat Andrei, and besides him, bundled in her black cloak, was Lina. She kept her head lowered and had wrapped her cloak around her arms so that she looked like a baby in black swaddling clothes, quietly waiting in her corner.
Flaviu, the captain of the guard, stood up and, in his commanding voice, he ordered, “Quiet!” and the room fell silent. All eyes turned to look at Nicoleta as Flaviu gave her his hand to help her stand and move forward.
Nicoleta stood nervously before the assembled crowd, afraid to raise her eye and look out on all the eyes that looked back at her. She turned to Ileana for support, and Ileana smiled her encouragement.
“The vampires captured me,” Nicoleta began, “But they didn’t kill me. They didn’t want to kill me. They live in a cave underground, out in the forest somewhere. And underground with them they have a cage, a gigantic cage, where they keep people, very many people. Almost every day, they go into the cage, and they take someone out, and they eat them. And they have so many, they never run out of people to eat.”
“How many people are in this cage?” Flaviu asked her, bending down to her level and speaking gently.
“I don’t know,” Nicoleta admitted.
“More people than are in this room?” Flaviu asked, as his eyes tracked across the crowd of nearly three hundred people.”
“Yes,” Nicoleta replied, “More than twice as many, I think. It’s a lot of people, so it’s hard to keep count.”
A cry of shock broke out across the crowd as more than one person voiced their amazement. People started standing up, shouting towards the front, barely able to confine themselves in their seats.
Then a booming voice commanded silence across the crowd. This time it wasn’t Flaviu. Lucian stood from a seat in the front row and turned to address the crowd. “This is a lie,” he told them in his most sincere and forthright voice, “I have it by the word of Asha herself that this is a lie.
“This girl here was captured for food, shortly before our agreement was signed. But the vampires have assured me that they consume humans no more. Just like the rest of us, they eat the flesh of animals: beef, lamb, pork, and so on. This girl was meant to be food (the vampires do not deny it), and only by the grace of God was she freed. But she represents the end of an era. She would’ve been among the last human sacrificed to their hunger. There are no more.”
As the crowd began to stir and object, Lucian raised his voice again, “Now you might ask, ‘Why is it that such lies are being told?’ And I can tell you the answer. And the answer is sitting right there in that cloak.”
At this point Lucian turned and pointed a finger at Lina, who still sat in her cloak at the front of the room.
After pointing his accusing finger at Lina, Lucian continued: “We are being dragged into an internal dispute. If this vampire were to have her way, we would be forced to fight her war for her. Like us, the vampires battle for power. But unlike us, they employ a savagery that we cannot fathom. This vampire here seeks to take command of the coven of vampires that lives in the woods. But she cannot do it alone. That is why she has conned us into thinking that there are people we need to save. Because she wants us to take our troops and risk our lives and attack her coven for her benefit. When the war is over and the coven is mostly dust, she will seize control of the vampires that have been defeated and weakened by our hands.
“Do not forget that we have signed a truce, and the vampires are still willing to honor it. All we need to do is return this vampire. We do not need to return this girl. Her survival is a blessing to us, and we should all wish her a long life. We do not need to give the vampires another human soul. All we need to do is return one of their own. Are we concerned about the life of a mere vampire that we are willing to risk lives for it and to end our truce? Why are we listening to these lies?”
“They are not lies,” Lina burst out in a loud screech.
Before Lucian could object, Andrei stood up and told the people nearest the window, “Could we close the shutters as a courtesy to Lina. Please.” Several persons went to the windows and closed the shutters, leaving only a few faint traces of light in the room.
Once the daylight was expunged, Lina stood from her chair and strode forward. With her exposed white hands, she removed her hood and the black cloth that covered her face, and she revealed herself to the crowd. She was not quite the beauty that Asha was. She still looked young for a vampire. But she experienced something she was not accustomed to before the crowd: her radiant face captivated them. It commanded their attention, even if she did not have the practiced speaking skill of Lucian.
“Nicoleta has chosen to speak of her own volition. She has no reason to lie for me. It was I who captured her; I who handed her over to the vampires; I who nearly got her killed. I kidnapped her for them because I wanted to become one of them. It is my fault she was almost killed. Why would she lie for me? She would’ve been stuck there underground for decades, prodded into birthing more food for them. There are some now who have been there for decades. They loathe the vampires. They wouldn’t come before you to help us, any of us.
“And what would I benefit from this? I do not want you to visit my coven and slay the strongest among them, leaving some behind for me to command. No. I want to wipe them all out. Leave none behind. And after that you will see that many, many persons that you have missed for a long time will be returned to you. Trust this young girl.”
After speaking, Lina retreated to her seat and bundled herself in her cloak again, hiding from the many eyes that looked up at her.
Lucian tried to break in again at this point, but he was unable to raise his voice above the crowd, which was now alive with debate and protest. Persons from everywhere were shouting back and forth at one another and refusing to be quieted. The crowd was in a ruckus once again, as it had been just after Nicoleta had first spoken. Though not everyone was willing to believe Nicoleta, the majority seemed to be on her side.
Amidst the noise and commotion, Flaviu walked up to Andrei and said to him, extending his hand for a shake, “You will have my soldiers to help you with this attack.”
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, entering the convent from the other side.
They found Elisabeta in her cell engaged in writing. The door was open and Nicoleta had to 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.�
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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 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 loads 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 Alina. 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. To her, the lifestyle of the vampires just seemed so free from the usual restraints. She thought her life here was so difficult, and that if she just became a vampire, it would 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?” Elisabeta 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 into 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, Elisabeta 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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