* * *
The sound of Vad’s screams could only faintly and distortedly be heard in the halls of the pen. Constanta was sitting in the arena next to Crina.
“What is that sound?” Constanta asked, as she had many times before, “It sounds horrible.”
“It’s best not to know,” Crina said, immediately changing the topic, “There’s a woman who cuts hair in here.” Crina was inspecting Constanta’s hair as she spoke. Crina managed to keep herself clean, which was rather difficult in the pen, and for this reason, among others, she was popular with the men. “Yours is getting rather grimy,” Crina said, “You’ll have to earn some money to pay for the haircut, of course, but it’s worth it.” She smiled with a characteristically devilish smile. These frequent smiles made her seem as if she was always trying to hide some secret impropriety.
“How would I earn money?” Constanta asked, “How do you earn money?”
Crina laughed a little, answering, “You don’t want to earn money the way I do.” When Constanta insisted, Crina relented by saying, “I give companionship to men.”
Constanta looked at her confused, and Crina explained, “Men get lonely, and I offer myself as someone to be there with them. Just like you have friends and family that you want to spend time with, men need people to spend time with, and they prefer to do it in the company of young, beautiful women. There’re a number of women who provide similar services here in the pen. It’s probably the most abundantly offered service here. It doesn’t pay that well, but what else have I got to offer?”
“Men are strange,” Constanta commented, still perplexed.
“That they are,” Crina said, “But I don’t think it’s a job you should take. Not for a very long time. Not until you give up.”
“Give up on what?”
“On the thought that you’re ever going to get out of here,” Crina said, “I use the money I raise for other purposes, but most of the women who do it have lost all hope. Many were kidnapped when they were your age. I’ve been trapped here in the darkness for years. You’d be surprised how you can get used to it, even feel like you belong. I really don’t know what I’d do, if I ever got out of here.”
“We will be out of here soon. I’m convinced of it,” Constanta said, then asking as she leaned in close to speak into Crina’s ear, “You know what I believe? I believe that Nicoleta wasn’t taken off to be eaten. I believe that the little vampire that took her away was freeing her.”
Crina didn’t laugh as she normally did, or even change the expression of her face when Constanta said this. She only nodded her head. Crina looked around the room to see if anyone was listening in, and she said quietly to Constanta, “Dragomir would be furious if he heard me saying this. He’s been vehement in insisting that Nicoleta is dead. But I heard from someone else that the vampire who took her said something.”
Crina had Constanta’s full attention as the two girls conferred close together. Crina’s lips were near Constanta’s ear, in order to pass on the secret as confidentially as possible. “The vampire said to Nicoleta, ‘I’m freeing you.’ And it was that same vampire that had come to the pen earlier looking for Nicoleta, as if she knew her.”
Constanta’s eyes widened as she heard these words. She simply responded, “I knew it.”
Constanta looked at Crina with a glowing smile on her face, and Crina repeated with her devilish smile, “But don’t tell anyone.”
“I won’t,” Constanta smiled, “This is the best news I’ve heard since I’ve arrived. Don’t you see? Nicoleta’s disappearance is like the rebirth of Lazarus.” Crina was confused so Constanta had to explain, “Lazarus was the first person resurrected. He was the harbinger. The first sign of the glorious apocalypse to come when we mortal humans will be resurrected and judged, when we will be freed from the oppressive kingdom of men and liberated into the kingdom of heaven.”
Crina laughed again and gave Constanta an affectionate slap on the knee, saying, “Well I hope our liberation comes faster than the apocalypse. It’s been sixteen centuries since the birth of Jesus and still no apocalypse. I can’t wait that long.”
Constanta laughed at this, thinking that Crina had said something very scandalous, but she smiled delightfully.
Elixir of Flesh Page 53