Three Tales of Vampires (The First Three Books in the Tale of Vampires Series)

by John Hennessy

  “Of course you do. You can be like me. You’ll see the world through new eyes. You will see things differently, that is for certain. Come with me now.”

  The woman protested, saying she could barely stand. Juliana dragged her onto her feet, and ushered her out of the room, and into the narrow hallway. In a room two doors down, the woman could hear some commotion. A man, and a woman engaged in….the woman could barely comprehend it.

  “No!” she cried. “No! What’s he doing?”

  “Humans do make the most amazingly pointless statements,” said Juliana, allowing herself a wry smile. “Of course you know what he’s doing. You bored him. Were too sedate. I bet he would be interested in you now, though.”

  The woman slid down the wall, and convulsed slightly.

  “Wh-what is happening to me?”

  “You’re dying. So is your husband. At least the pretence of your marriage ends tonight.”

  “I don’t want to die. I don’t deserve to die.”

  “So ask me to save you from this death, and I will.”

  The woman nodded. It was not clear if she understood the gravity of her decision. Juliana lifted her into her arms and bit deep, much deeper this time. The woman’s body shook violently, before becoming still. Juliana was practised at this, and it was getting easier each time. The woman limply surrendered to the floor.

  Her eyes flickered as the life was taken from her. Juliana seemed to be standing at one point. At other moments, she appeared to be hovering above her.

  The woman, too weak to move, became aware of the reason Juliana had moved herself. A sound of wings beating smattered against the door, and a liquid formed around the woman’s body. Blood. The blood of the man she had married.

  She was now fully aware.

  “The Raven! Oh my! It’s in there. It’s killing him!”

  She stood up, and went to wrench the door open, and whilst she partially managed it, Juliana held her back.

  Inside, the man was on his back, his legs and feet were facing the headstand, and his head nearest the doorway. His arms were placed in an outward direction, and he resembled a cross. The kind of cross that would be used at a black mass.

  As the woman surveyed the horror, she observed his neck had been gored away by someone or more accurately, some thing. No human could have possibly done that.

  His eyes had been ripped from their sockets, leaving gaping, bloody holes. His chest was strewn with black feathers.

  As the woman ran to him, she could feel something behind her. Not Juliana. A shadow lay in the corner of the room. A human, but in the guise of a bird. The figure was covered in black feathers. The face appeared to be human, yet it was darkened in the shade of the bird. A raven. The fingernails bent in menacingly, and she had seen that shape before. On the bird’s beak, no less.

  “I-I must get back to London,” breathed the woman hoarsely. “What in God’s name is going on here?”

  “Two things about here,” said the Raven-Woman. “There is no God here, and there is no leaving here.”

  The Raven-Woman morphed into bird form and flew out of the window, only to perch on the sign, blood pouring down it from her claws. The Raven let out just the one squawk, and the locals knew what it meant.

  “Just the one kill tonight then,” one of them said, somewhere in the darkness.

  “For now,” thought the Raven to itself.

  A New Way of Living

  Juliana ushered the woman in a room that lay far beyond the hall, deep within the bowels of the Inn. If it were possible, it was even darker in this area, and they would not have been able to see at all, if only for oil lamps that lit the way ahead, though these were sparse in their number.

  The woman did not say much, though murmured that she needed to lie down. Juliana ignored her words, merely directing her ahead, gesturing to her that they did not have much farther to go.

  The woman, still new to this existence, felt the change in the air. No warmth emanated in this area, and surely that was the stench of death in the air? Was it her own body? She could not tell.

  “I need to rest!” It sounded more like an order than a request, and it compelled Juliana to turn around and look at the woman, who looked terrified at what had become of her.

  “Well then,” replied Juliana cheerfully, “We have come to the right place! Look! This is for you!”

  In the darkness, the woman could make out a shape, oblong, she thought at first, though it appeared to be wider at the top end.

  “A coffin!”

  Juliana ignored the obvious shock in her voice, and continued in a cheery manner.

  “You’re welcome. Yes, and all for you, too. I had to share with my brothers for a while. When we were smaller. But you’re already an adult. Most people are already dead when they are put in one of these. How lucky you are to see this day! Anyway, jump in! Sweet dreams.”

  Juliana walked some twenty feet towards her own coffin, and lifted the lid, only to be stopped by the woman screaming. Juliana turned around, exasperated.

  “What is it now?”

  “You cannot seriously expect me to get into this…this…thing?”

  “What else do you expect to do? To lie down, as a human does, that is not for us. For you. Anymore.”

  “I’m dead? I’m really dead?!”

  “Yes, of course you are. You can see me, can’t you?”

  “Yes. But I don’t care for stupid questions.” She replied as if it was the most obvious statement in the world, disliking Juliana’s ridiculing of her immensely.

  “Well done. You are dead,” replied Juliana. “I took the liberty of removing the soil from the hooves of the horses that brought you here. The soil of your home county, no less. You will feel at home here, just take the time to get used to this new existence, and I will show you some more tomorrow.”

  The woman turned and ran in the opposite direction, only for Juliana to appear right in front of her.

  “How-how did you do that?”

  “I thought you didn’t care for stupid questions. Now get in your coffin!”

  Juliana gave the woman the lightest touch on her arm, only to see her fly backwards towards the open coffin. As quick as thought, Juliana slammed the coffin lid down, the density of the casket unable to stifle the woman’s screams.

  “Scream all you like,” said Juliana. “But I want you to calm it down in a bit. I need my rest too.”

  Juliana glided over to her own coffin, and without making any noise at all, entered the coffin and shut the lid.

  She was thankful that she could not recall when she had been made a vampire. She could not imagine it being pleasant. Not pleasant at all.

  The bangs on the lid subsided, and finally, the screams fell silent.

  “It’ll all make sense in the morning,” murmured Juliana.

  ***

  Inside the coffin, the woman was quiet, but not asleep.

  “It’s a dream. A nightmare. Obviously. I’ll wake from this, and I’ll be with my dear husband, and of course it’s not real. I would be terrified if this was really a coffin. I can breathe, so it’s not a real coffin. None of this is happening.”

  She replayed these thoughts over and over again, until sleep, the scent of black earth, and the rich mahogany wood took her.

  ***

  Juliana, meanwhile, was busy in the town. She visited a number of shops, purchasing an array of meat, vegetables and fruit. Not for herself of course, but the façade had to be kept up. Besides, none of it would go to waste, as the new addition would not have enough strength yet to stand as a vampire on her own.

  “Here, Miss,” said one of the men, “don’t you be venturing up the road, there. It’s been damaged by something not of God’s earth. “None of us will be able to pass until they’ve fixed it.”

  “Oh, I’m sure someone will find a way if they need to.”

  “She knows about the road, you old coot,” said another man. “She works at The Raven!”

  “Is tha
t true, Miss? You work at that ungodly place?”

  “What’s ungodly about it?” smiled Juliana. “It is but a mere pub, where gentlemen and ladies can relax after a hard day’s work. Or a leisurely one, for that matter.”

  “Miss, leave that accursed place, and let me take you to the priest. He is a man of God.”

  “I’m sure that’s what he told you. Though that sort of thing didn’t go down too well two thousand years ago, did it? Give or take a century.”

  The man pulled out a crucifix and held it in front of Juliana. He called her a blasphemer, and she grabbed his arm, twisting it until it broke. She stamped her foot on the crucifix, and while she winced at the contact, it disintegrated on impact.

  The man cradled his broken arm.

  “You witch! Servant of Satan!”

  “What happened to Miss?”

  She turned to the other man. “I can let you two off with a warning. But if you interfere with me again, it will be the last thing you’ll ever do on this Earth. Tell your priest that!”

  “He just wanted to help you,” offered the other man. “I know what pains you. I know the one who made you as you are. If you would just take me to her, I can set you free.”

  “You think there is one above me?” snapped Juliana. “That’s the problem with you religious types. You believe in some kind of hierarchy. You want to take us down, then come tonight to The Raven, and bring your priest man with you. The others will love to hear his fairy tales, just before they rip him apart.”

  To the stricken, fallen man, she knelt down and grabbed him by the throat. “I am nobody’s servant!”

  His eyes bulged, and he choked on her grip. “Pray for me, little man,” snarled the vampire. “Pray for me!”

  Juliana gathered the food and gave a look of disgust to the two men, whom she recognised now to having frequented the church, which, though in the village, was on the opposite side of the now damaged road.

  For just a fleeting moment, Juliana wondered how they had made it into the village. As she walked away from them, she thought and they think I am in league with the Devil.

  ***

  As she arrived back at the Inn, the blood which had been dripping from the sign, had thoroughly dried out. Perhaps it was more accurate to say that the blood had seeped into the wood, and would now remain part of the sign’s artwork forever.

  The pub itself was not open, for it was just past 9:30 in the morning. Still, a commotion could be heard from inside, and Juliana’s pace quickened as she neared the establishment.

  She hurried through the narrow hallways and crevices of the old building. As she reached what was known to her and her mother, the mausoleum, Mariana appeared.

  “I’m glad you’re here, my girl. Your newest acquisition is being….difficult.”

  “Acquisition?”

  “Well, what would you like to call her?”

  “Practise?”

  “Really, Juliana, if she was merely practise, she’d be dead already. She is making the most terrible noise. She is unable to push the coffin lid up, and I am certainly not assisting her. This is your mess. Sort it out at once.”

  “Have you forgotten your part in this, Mother? The girl has nowhere to go. You killed her husband.”

  “For that, you are most welcome, Juliana.”

  Juliana observed her mother. She had heard about that a head vampire, once killed, had no further hold over anyone who had been made a vampire. She didn’t really believe it, but just the possibility made her think that Mariana was right to stay within the confines of the Inn.

  On the many occasions Juliana would go into the town, the day would pass by without incident. But the murmurs were getting louder, complaints were becoming more vocal. The locals, the ones who had so far escaped Juliana’s bite, knew that she was responsible for many of the deaths and disappearances of loved ones.

  “I have had a few difficulties of my own,” replied Juliana. “The locals are getting more restless. More difficult. I may end up killing them all. That’s if they don’t kill us.”

  “Is there something you are not telling me, Juliana?”

  Mariana would need to be more specific, but it was likely that her own fears matched those of her daughter. Killing an outsider, and making another of them, as one of the undead did present a set of problems Juliana felt ill equipped to deal with.

  If the locals whispers turned into real threats; the kind they would carry out, then Juliana, her mother and the newest addition to their group would be in mortal danger. Their immortal status only remained if they avoided the stake. Fire in itself could not hurt them, but if the people decided to burn The Raven down, they would have no shelter. Their place of rest would be at the biggest risk.

  The priest from beyond the broken road, was almost certain to be the one causing the biggest trouble. He often commented on Juliana’s porcelain-like complexion, that such a thing was far from normal, and how he observed her tiny mouth remained small, even when she spoke.

  As if she was hiding something.

  Not for long, thought Juliana. If I kill this priest, they’ll probably send another one. Priests are like the plague of locusts mentioned in the Bible. That much, I can agree with.

  She tried to brush the evil thoughts from her mind. She did not care if they got her, but Juliana could not abide anything happening to her mother.

  “No,” lied Juliana. “Everything is just fine, Mother. I will see to the girl. I’m sorry she has troubled you.”

  “No trouble,” replied her mother. “But if there ever is a repeat, just kill them clean, as I do.”

  Juliana could not let that go. “Clean? You were the raven when you gored the man’s heart out, Mother!”

  “Oh Juliana. Forget clean then. Just kill them. In any case, you need to find me some more to feed on. I feel a little weak these days. No teenagers, babies or rodents. Strong men. Virile men. Bring them here.”

  “Of course, Mother.”

  “Maybe you can open the road again.”

  “I will.”

  I just have that priest to deal with, thought Juliana.

  To her knowledge, her mother had never killed a man of the cloth. That particular priest had been the head of that church for some twenty years now, and he retained a healthy congregation. His most popular sermons involved the castigating of the Devil’s worshippers.

  “For He is amongst you. Amongst us. Lucifer. Beelzebub. Samael. Satan. He is amongst us, my brothers and sisters. Know this; his power gets more and more stronger, each and every day. We must pray to the Lord, first for forgiveness, second for hope, thirdly for the strength to defeat this evil!”

  After the mass, the priest would sometimes be asked just how the evil could be defeated.

  He would offer a cryptic, yet rather standard answer. One that was straight out of the text books.

  “Just pray to the Lord, child. Pray to the Lord.”

  After confession one day, a man took the priest aside. “Father, you say to pray to the Lord, but my wife died last year, despite my many prayers and those of the congregation. You say pray for work, but I have not had a proper job in years. You say to be thankful to the Lord for our health and wealth, but mine is failing me every single day. As for money, I have none.”

  “You will be needing to return to the confessional, my son.” The priest had a wry smile on his face, but this did not betray what he said, as he meant every word.

  “Father, you don’t understand. You see only what goes on within the confines of these church walls. The landscape of this place is changing. People are changing. That Juliana….there are more like her kind, every day. Oh they hide it well, but I know a vampire when I see one.”

  Yes, the man knew a vampire when he saw one. One night, his wife had left the family home after an argument with him, and went straight to the Inn of the Blood and the Raven. A few heavy drinks later, she was in the arms of the vampire Juliana, who at first seduced her, before bleeding her to the point of death.


  She asked her, as she always did, if they wanted to die, or become as she was.

  The pretty woman refused to become like Juliana. For her own part, she returned the woman to her home, not to get well, but to die. Any doctors who visited could do nothing for the girl. Prayers could not be heard, as the priest found himself unable to enter the household.

  “I will pray for your wife, but not here,” said the priest. “I am not welcome here, and the Devil…I can feel his presence.”