by Dani Hoots
As I started to clean up for the night, a smell came wafting over to me, filling my lungs. I breathed it in and let it out slowly. It was outstanding, a beautiful scent filling me with bliss almost. Whatever it was, I wanted it.
I followed the smell through the camp, trying to find out where it originated from. Whatever it was, it smelt as sweet as fruit on a new summer’s day, as fresh as lavender in a field, and it made my mouth water like specially prepared sweets. I wondered who could have been preparing such a lovely meal, especially since most people had already retired for the night.
Coming upon one of the tents, I lifted the flap to find the deer that had been killed that day to be hanging up. I watched as their hanging bodies dripped blood into the bowls beneath.
Blood.
That couldn’t be what I was smelling, could it? No, it wasn’t possible. Blood didn’t smell like this, it was revolting. Death could never smell so sweet.
The strigoi.
Shaking my head, I tried to get the thoughts out of my head. No, it wasn’t possible. That didn’t happen last night. It wasn’t possible.
Or was it?
My heart began to race and I felt like I couldn’t breathe. There was no way I could have been bitten by that creature. There was no way I would have survived the day, at least that isn’t how the legend went. My mind was racing with all the possibilities, but I couldn’t think of any other reason why the smell was coming onto me like this. I glanced back down at the dripping blood. Maybe it wasn’t the blood that smelled so good, maybe it was something else.
I glanced around. There was nothing in here but dead animals. I gulped when I realized that the stench of death was no longer a horrifying smell, but actually the source of the pleasing scent I was breathing in. It smelt more like life now than it did death. The thought made me nauseous, but I had to know if a true, monstrous change of some kind was taking place within me.
Holding out my hand, I let the drops from the deer’s bleeding carcass fall into my palm. I slowly raised my hand to my mouth and drank the red nectar.
It was exactly what I had smelled. And it was wonderful. It tasted sweeter than candy and was more satisfying than any evening meal served up in this camp. Nothing that I had ever eaten could ever compare to this delicious liquid. The metallic taste on top of the freshness of the blood...
I stepped back from the carcass. What was I doing? Blood didn’t taste like that; it all had to have been a dream, yet this incident proved that it might not have been a nightmare. The rational side of my brain, though, insisted on the fact that I couldn’t have been bit by the strigoi, creatures like that weren’t real. My great-great grandmother didn’t actually fight them; it was just a legend to keep the unity of the camp. The strigoi were just a figment of people’s imagination. Yet, I glanced down at the bowl of blood, and I knew I had to have more to satisfy the thirst.
Without thinking, I grabbed the bowl of blood and gulped down the liquid. It felt smooth as it slowly went down my throat and satisfied the hunger I never knew I had. I forgot everything around me and indulged in the moment, caring only for the liquid that stained my mouth with a red stain that would never leave my lips. I felt like I was in a daze, completely out of control. I just couldn’t help myself.
Stepping back, I forced myself out of the trance. What was I doing? It was wrong and sickening. I knew I had to get out of here before this progressed even more. I had to figure out what was going on.
I stumbled out of the tent, looking for something that could help me. I didn’t know what that was, but I knew I had to find it. I needed to find someone I could trust, someone who could figure out what was wrong with me. I couldn’t go to Madam Sonia in fear of what she might do to me. I was a strigoi now; she would want to destroy me. I was something that the entire camp dreaded. Everyone feared that the strigoi were fated to return someday, except for me. That ignorance was probably what led me to where I was now. But I knew I had to find someone to help me out with figuring all of this bizarre stuff out. There weren’t many in the camp that I trusted enough to tell them such a secret and know that they would try to help me to the best of their ability, without disturbing the peace of the camp.
Except for Jack.
Everything seemed to be in tunnel vision as I made my way to his tent. All I remembered was looking down at my feet as the moon shined down on me. Leaves and branches crunched as I stepped on them. Arriving at his tent, I stepped in.
Jack was still awake, and sat up in his makeshift camp bed when he saw me enter.
“Amalia, what are you doing here so late?” he whispered, knowing that it could be bad if someone found me in his tent at this hour. I admit, it wasn’t the greatest idea, but I didn’t know where else to go, who else to turn to. I didn’t want to worry too much about rumors circulating about my improper behavior, when this situation set before me demanded urgent action.
“I’m not,” I rubbed my head. “I’m just not feeling that great.”
“Did I get you sick?” he asked.
I shook my head. “No, it’s not what you have... It’s something else,” I sat down next to him, debating if I should tell him the truth. “Something strange happened last night to me.”
“Oh, what’s that?”
“I... thought I saw something, someone, in the forest.”
Jack placed his hand on mine. It felt cold with sweat but I didn’t mind. “Did they hurt you? Are you okay?”
“I...” I was about to answer the question when I noticed a cut on his hand. “What happened to your hand?”
“Oh, it’s nothing. Just caught it on a piece of wood on my bed. You know how splinters are,” he tried to smile, but started coughing instead. I stared at the cut, detecting the same scent that accompanied the blood of the deer carcass in the tent. I couldn’t move my eyes away from his cut; I had to have the blood pouring freely from it. I had to consume it.
My hand slowly made its way to Jack’s wrist. I stroked his skin slowly, captivated by the red blood that had begun to fall down his arm. I’m not sure at that moment if he thought I was being strange, or if he thought I was showing him affection. All I knew is that the world around me had stopped and all I could focus on was that blood giving off the most delicious scent that I had ever breathed.
“Amalia, there is something that I have been wanting to tell you...” Jack began. I wanted to look at him in the eyes, but I couldn’t help but to stare at the cut, my eyes locked in place. “I just... I really care for you. I didn’t want to say anything in fear that I may lose this battle against the sickness and I didn’t want to place such a burden on you, but I feel like you need to know the truth. Amalia, I love you.”
I wanted to tell him the same thing, which was that I truly loved him as well and I would do whatever it takes to heal him of this sickness. But I couldn’t. I felt as if nothing else around me mattered except that pull inside myself, making me want to sip the blood dripping down his arm. The pain ached inside of me, and the only way I could satisfy it was to drink that blood.
I grabbed Jack’s wrist and pulled the cut to my mouth.
“Amalia, what are you doing?” he asked slowly.
Without warning, I bit down on his arm, the delicious liquid trailing down my throat once more. This time it was different, though, this time it was much sweeter and much more satisfying. It brought so much energy to my veins.
Jack screamed out and tried to pull his arm away. I let go of his wrist, his yelling bringing me out of my trance. Then it hit me, I had tried to kill my best friend. I had tried to kill the person who just confessed his love to me.
“What is wrong with you? What are you?” he looked at me as if I were some monster. My heart felt like it dropped to the bottom of my stomach. How could he look at me like that when moments earlier he was happy to see me? I thought out of all the people, he would be the one who would understand. I was wrong.
The flap to the tent opened and I turned to find Madam Sonia standing there. I
don’t know what she saw when she looked at me but her skin turned deathly white.
“No, this can’t be possible,” she covered her mouth. “Strigoi... Strigoi!” she called out to the camp.
She saw what I was; I couldn’t deny it any longer. The strigoi was not part of a nightmare, it had been real. And I had been turned into the creature that my village greatly feared. “No, Mama, I’m not what you think—”
“Get away from me, you demon!” she yelled.
My heart sank in my chest. My own mother couldn’t look at me; she couldn’t face the creature I had become. I was confused, and afraid as to what was going to happen. She was the only one who could have helped me sort this all out, but she had turned her back on me just as Jack did. I didn’t understand, I didn’t want to believe it, yet here she was, calling me a demon.
I ran out of the tent in shock, and I fearfully saw the occupants of the camp begin to circle me with undisguised anger, holding up both knives and torches. All of them wanted me destroyed. I couldn’t believe it, after all this time they would betray me this easily.
Madam Sonia held up her hand, but I could see the sadness in her eyes as she looked down at me. “She is a strigoi, she is an enemy of this camp.”
“Mama, please,” I begged. “I am still your daughter.”
She shook her head and I watched as a tear left her eye. She didn’t want to hurt me, but I could see that she had no other choice in order to keep the camp safe. “No, you are a curse to us. You must be burned before you hurt anyone else. I will not let this burden affect the camp. Not again. You already bit Jack, and it is only a matter of time before he turns now.”
“I didn’t mean to. I won’t do it again, I swear,” tears were running down my face. “I just want to be home and to be with my family.”
She shook her head. “No, you are a demon cast upon us as a curse. You must be destroyed before he can get his hands on you.”
“What are you talking about...?” I began as the people circling me started to come even closer near me with a more antagonistic stance. They held their torches and knives a little higher in their hands. My heart was beating fast as I looked every which way for some means of escape from them, my family. It ached my heart to think that they would turn on me like this, not letting me tell them what had happened. But the fear of the strigoi had been passed down by many generations, and I couldn’t help but understand their actions, even though it hurt me inside to fathom them. But I couldn’t let them catch me, nor could I let them kill me. I had an urge to survive, even though I even considered myself a monster at this point. I had to run; I had to be free of them. The only way to do that was to run straight into the woods and to never look back.
And that was exactly what I did.
I didn’t know if it was the fear of them capturing me or if it had more to do with my being a strigoi now, but I felt as if I could suddenly run faster than I ever had been able to in my entire life. It was as if I was hyperaware of everything around me. This newly discovered ability was bound to be my way of guaranteed escape from being killed by my own camp. Who knew that in a short span of time that I’d go from “one of the tribe” to exiled renegade? I would mull over it later, right now I had to figure out how to get away from all the people that were after me.
In addition to my newly acquired powers, I fortunately knew these woods like the back of my hand, for I had spent a lot of the time out in the woods foraging for any berries and plants that had healing properties. I also knew all the best hiding spots—none of which they knew anything about. I would get away from them eventually; I just had to run fast enough away from them.
As I kept running, I felt something pull me back. I tried to scream but the person who had caught up with me put their hand over my mouth.
“Shh, it’s alright. I won’t let them hurt you,” a man’s voice whispered in my ear.
I kept struggling but it was no use, he was stronger than me. I watched as the hunting party ran by, not noticing us as we hid ourselves in the nearby bushes. After a few moments, they were out of sight. The man finally let go of me then. I spun around and faced him. He had dark hair and the shadows of the night masked his light-skinned face. He wasn’t someone I had ever seen in the camp or in the towns I had been in, but I swore he looked familiar. Something about him made me feel calm, as if I could trust him with my life. I didn’t know where it came from, but at least my heart was no longer racing and I no longer feared that the people of my camp would catch up with me. Yet, my relaxed nerves worried me even more.
I backed away from the man. “Who are you?”
“I am just like you, a strigoi on the run from humans,” he explained, flashing his long canines at me. “I saw you were being chased, so I knew I had to help.”
I shook my head. “No, there aren’t any strigoi in these woods that weren’t already driven out long ago. How could one of you still exist? I don’t believe you! You are trying to trick me!”
He grabbed my arm and tried to calm me down before I could run off in the other direction. As his hand touched my arm, I felt as if my worries were driven away. “I’m not trying to trick you, I am just trying to help you. I know what it’s like to be driven out of a home for becoming a monster. Just let me help you.”
“How did you become a strigoi? How do I know you aren’t just going to kill me?” I asked, even though it didn’t feel like I was really worried about it, yet something inside of me wanted to ask those questions.
He sighed. “The same way you did, by the man with the violin.”
I felt as if my heart skipped a beat. The man with the violin. Was he out there at that moment? Would he come for me and kill me? Or did he just make me a strigoi and let me out into the world, hoping I would cause havoc? I had so many unanswered questions in my head; I just didn’t know what to do, nor who to trust. All I wanted was to go home, but I knew that would never happen.
“Why did he turn me? Why did he turn you? I don’t understand,” I muttered as I ran my hands frantically through my hair.
The man shook his head. “I’m not sure,” his eyes shot over to the side. “But we should get out of here. I’m afraid they may find us. I know a safe place we can hide; it’s where I stay most days.”
I debated letting him take me to his hiding spot, but I really didn’t have another choice. Something inside of me made me trust him and every time I started to question this feeling, something in my mind blocked the questions. There was something about him that felt almost unreal, as if I would do whatever he said without question. It made my body quiver, in fear there was something else going on, as if this was still all part of some dream. Every time my mind lingered at the thought, it seemed to just disappear into nothing and I was again faced with the dilemma of whether or not to go with him to the safe place he had. A strigoi or not, my camp wanted me dead and this man seemed to want to help. He seemed honest enough, especially since he had just saved me. He also knew what happened and for all I knew, he may have more answers as to why the man in the castle turned me.
“Fine, let’s go,” I said, even though I felt I would regret it later.
He led me deeper into the woods. I followed him closely, my heart jumping every time I heard a noise around us. For a moment, I was sure it was someone wanting to cut my head off and burn my body- any of my fellow tribe mates would do that without a moment of hesitation. I gulped. I couldn’t believe what mess I had found myself in. I couldn’t believe this was all due to some entrancing violin music, which put me under some crazy spell.
As we walked back, I replayed everything back in my mind from the night before. I did find a castle with the violin. This man had mentioned seeing me go in the castle, so it wasn’t all in my imagination after all. I couldn’t believe it. The strange man, who nearly killed me the night before, was indeed real. I started shaking, not able to take it in all at once. I was a creature, a monster, and everyone I knew for so many years now wanted me dead.
Except
for this man.
Why was that? Since he was also obviously a strigoi, then he wouldn’t want one of his kind to be killed. Maybe he was lonely and needed a friend and just couldn’t stand by and watch me die. So many questions were running through my head. I wanted to ask him the questions that were running through my mind, but I had a feeling that he didn’t want me to make a sound.
The woods were eerie that night; I had never experienced them in such a way. I had never had to fear for my life while running through them before. Every wavering shadow the trees made by the moonlight felt as if it were going to attack me. I felt as if something out of nowhere would jump out of the darkness and devour me once and for all. Never had I feared for my life as much as I had that night.
As we came upon a large tree, the man I ran with began to slow down. He stopped in front of the tree that had large roots going through a rock. It didn’t appear to be anything special until he stood by the rock and pushed on one of the branches. Suddenly a piece of it opened and it opened up to a large room. It was a secret cave.