Elixir of Flesh

by Joseph Kranak

  Chapter 24

  The Fate of the Infection

  As the rest of the crowd arrived in Vallaya, many began to part ways, some heading for towns in other directions, some finding long-parted relatives in Vallaya, to whom they returned amid tearful reunions. The bulk headed in the direction of Terem, with Flaviu and his soldiers leading the way. For a great many of those long interred in the pen, they had no place to go or any family to find. Consequently, they followed the crowd to Terem, joining old friends from the pen who promised to help them make the transition, or simply hoping to find employment there. Crina was persuaded to follow Oana to the convent and take the veil, and she prepared herself for a life of chastity and resignation.

  When Sister Oana finally arrived back at the convent and entered through the gate with numerous converts and refugees in tow, she boldly announced, “Sisters, I have returned. And I have brought guests.”

  A crowd formed around her as work came to halt, and everyone wanted to hear her story of what had happened. Oana couldn’t resist and elaborated in full detail all she’d experienced and all she’d been told about what had happened. She stood in the middle of the courtyard surrounded by a tightly packed mass of people who listened to her long oration.

  “So, all the vampires are dead?” the voice of Sister Elisabeta spoke out after she had finished.

  “Yes, so we were told. With the exception of Madalina. Since she helped the soldiers with the attack. She’s friendly to us, and we needn’t worry about her at all. For once, we can safely say that the vampire threat is finished for good.”

  Ileana began to pack up after she heard this news. She saddled her horse, telling Sister Elisabeta, “Thank you for your hospitality. It’s time now for me to be back with my husband. I’ve missed him these past few days.”

  Her departure from Nicoleta was more doleful. Nicoleta embraced Ileana one last time and told her, “I’ll miss you, so much. Can I come visit you in Vallaya?”

  “You’ll have to ask the sisters about that,” Ileana said, “But you’re always welcome if you can. And I’ll be sure to visit you.”

  Ileana was soon galloping out of town on her horse, which she sped down the road towards Vallaya. Pulling into her stable and approaching the door, she found no Andrei there to greet her when she knocked. After she entered, she found he was also absent behind the counter of the shop.

  She walked upstairs to their bedroom and saw, littering the floor, the discarded containers of several packages of vampire wares that had been opened and emptied. In the middle of them lay Andrei upon the bed asleep. As she approached Andrei, she saw that his skin was pale and sweat beaded upon it. She ran foreword and put her hand on his forehead and found his skin hot to the touch.

  He began to mutter as he partially came to consciousness, saying, to no one in particular, “I need… I need…”

  “What do you need?” she asked, grabbing his hand.

  Opening his eyes and looking up at Ileana standing over him, he asked, “Is that you Ileana?”

  She smiled and said, “Yes,” gripping his hand more firmly.

  He continued, “More vampire wares. That’s the only thing that helps.”

  Ileana lifted up his lips to inspect his teeth. Even though it was only to a small degree, it was clear that his incisors had started to grow.

  Anton came to visit Andrei’s again the next day. He pounded on the door, and after a few minutes he heard Ileana shouting on the other side, “We’re closed!”

  “It’s Anton,” he shouted back at her, “I’ve come to see Andrei.”

  When she opened the door, her eyes were red with recent tears and her cheeks were flushed.

  She looked down at Anton, who told her, “Rumors have been flying around town about Andrei. What’s going on?”

  She ushered him in and closed the door, before telling him, “He’s sick.”

  “Can I see him?” he asked.

  “You probably shouldn’t,” Ileana said, but there was a shout from upstairs, calling out in a hoarse, hoary voice, “Bring the boy upstairs.”

  When Andrei reached the top of the stairs and entered the bedroom, he found it in near darkness and saw Andrei in the bed beneath the sheets.

  “Come sit here, dear boy,” Andrei ordered him, with a voice that had begun to take on the screeching quality of a vampire’s.

  After Anton sat down, he said to Andrei, “Vasile’s dead. I’m sorry to have to be the one to say this.”

  “I feared as much,” Andrei admitted, “When he didn’t come to visit me after the battle, I suspected the worst. It’s really too bad. He was a good man, and a great hunter.”

  “Tomorrow in Terem there’ll be a funeral for him and the other soldiers who died. It’d be great if you could come. But I can see that you’re quite ill.”

  “Not ill. Not exactly. I’m becoming one of them, I think,” Andrei guiltily admitted, “Did we kill them all? Every last one of them.”

  “Yes,” Anton nodded, “Though we spared Lina, and a few of her companions.”

  Andrei frowned, “How many?”

  “I think two others besides her,” Anton said, “They’re friends of Lina, so we needn’t worry about them.”

  Andrei pounded his hands on the bed several times, thrashing about in great frustration as if he was in a fit. “No, no, no!” he shouted.

  Ileana stepped forward and grabbed hold of him to calm him down, taking his hand and touching his forehead, while she soothingly whispered, “Shhh, shhh, my dear. Calm.”

  After Andrei settled down, his heart still palpitated quickly and sweat poured from his pores. His pale skin red with heat, he sat up in bed breathing heavily and said to Anton, “It’s not the vampires that are the problem. It’s the infection. It spreads. Even if some of them die, it still spreads and grows. I don’t want to have to kill Lina after all she’s done for us, but I want the infection to be killed. Now it’s got me. And whom will I infect? I don’t want it to go any further.”

  “Don’t talk like that,” Ileana urged, rubbing his hand affectionately.

  “I think it’s best I go now, sir,” Anton said, now standing up.

  “One more thing before you go,” Andrei added, and he turned to Ileana and said, “Vasile’s hoard.” Looking at Anton again, he explained, “He wanted you to have it, should something like this happen. And, well, since it has happened, then it’s now yours.”

  Ileana led Anton downstairs to the workroom, and took him aside to a small closet. Hanging on a hook on the wall was a metal ring with a round protrusion like a crude key sticking out at one end. She took the ring and stuck the protrusion in a small hole in the floor. The hole was in the middle of a large flagstone, and, turning the ring half a turn, it became a handle, which could be used to lift the stone.

  “Cornel designed this for us,” Ileana noted, asking Andrei, “If you could. The stone’s quite heavy.”

  Anton understood and grabbed the ring to pull the large stone from the floor and set it down to the side. A few other stones beside it also had to be lifted and put aside, exposing a broad trap door beneath the stones. Ileana opened the trap door, which lifted a cloud of dust as she swung it open and let out a moldy cool air from below. She led the way, by climbing down a ladder into the space with a candle in hand. Alone she nearly filled the tight space, and once Anton was beside her, they were cramped, their shoulders bumping against the cobbled stones that formed the walls. The walls were round, like the interior of a well, and Anton suspected that Andrei had filled in an old well to make this space.

  “This is where we were during the vampire attack,” Ileana said, “Time did not pass by quickly.”

  On one side of the room was a metal door, with a single keyhole that Ileana filled with a key she drew from her pocket. Swinging the door open, she exposed a small, low-ceilinged room filled with gold. Crates and bags of gold coins lined the walls, and a stack of gold bars stood high in one corner. She pointed to a chest by the door brimming with c
oins and said, “That’s Vasile’s gold.”

  Anton looked at the mass of gold and asked, “Do you expect me to carry this all out of here? I couldn’t even pick it up.”

  “No, we’ll keep it here for the time being,” Ileana said, “But it belongs to you. Take what you need right now.”

  Anton held back, unwilling to touch the money, unwilling even to approach it. Ileana told him, “I expect you—I implore you—to use that money well. Really do something with it, for you and your family. Do as much as you can.”

  Anton finally picked up a coin and inspected it. “How can I thank you?” Anton asked.

  “Thank Vasile,” she emphasized, “When you say goodbye to him at the funeral tomorrow, thank him. And thank him for us too should we be unable to come.”

  After Anton left, Ileana returned to Andrei’s side, taking his hand in hers and watching him closely as he lay in the bed with his eyes closed. He was trying to sleep, unsuccessfully. It appeared he was succeeding. She could see his muscles relaxing, his body sinking into the bed, and his breathing starting to slow. His muscles even began to spasm in hypnic jerks, but only moments later he was awake again, and saying in a drowsy voice, “Ileana.”

  “I’m here,” she said grabbing his hand, while the two of them stared into each other’s eyes. After a long pause, Ileana worked up the courage to ask her husband, “I hope you didn’t mean to imply back there that you want to end your life because of the infection? That’s not what you meant did you?”

  “No, it wouldn’t do just to end my life, so long as Lina and the others still live,” Andrei replied, “It’s just a waste. No, if I’m going to end my life, I’m going to take them with me.”

  “Stop talking like this!” Ileana insisted, “Andrei I’ll stay with you. As a vampire or not, I’ll be there for you. I’ll give you what you need. I’ll live in the darkness for you. I’ll swear off the sun forever. I’ll give my blood to you. I don’t care. We’ll live together.”

  “But I’ll eventually infect you. It can’t be avoided if we’re together.”

  “Then infect me. Just do it now. Get it over with,” Ileana told him, exasperated, “We’ll both be vampires. All the more life for you and me together. We can grow to be a thousand years old together.”

  “You don’t know what you’re saying!” Andrei shouted at her, “This is a choice you cannot go back on. I won’t let you.”

  “Well, it’s not your choice to make,” Ileana snapped, “I’ll make it for myself.”

  “You’re not listening to me. I want the infection to end. I want to kill the last of the vampires and enter the afterlife with them.”

  “Then take me with you there,” she pleaded.

  “No, no,” he shook his head furiously, “No, you have a whole life ahead of you to live. You don’t know what you’re saying.”

  “A life without you,” she said, the tears welling within her eyelids. As she blinked, tears poured over down her cheeks, and she took his hand and squeezed it even more firmly.