“How are we supposed to know which one?” I ask.
“Drive around,” Emilian says. “I’ll point it out.”
“You’ll be able to tell?” Kyle asks.
“Our cousin has a gift for sighting the supernatural, but I didn’t realize it extended to our kind.” Vadoma stares at Emilian.
Emilian ignores her, looking at each trailer and tent we pass. Kyle drives through the campground at a snail’s pace.
“There!” Emilian points to an older motor coach in a corner lot. It’s not a trailer that’s dragged with a truck, but one that has a motor. An awning with jalapeno lights dangling off it covers the door.
Kyle parks in front of the RV. “How do you know this is the right one?”
“I don’t know who it is or if it’s the person we’re looking for, but whoever’s inside is Rom,” Emilian says.
“There’s no other?” Aunt Mirela asks.
Emilian looks around. “No.”
“What do we do now?” Kyle asks. “Knock and ask if she’s this Helda?”
“Gildi.” Vadoma grabs the wrinkled paper with the name on it. “Gildi Archord.”
Aunt Mirela steps out. She stretches and her back cracks. I follow Emilian out the other side. Red-orange rays shoot between clouds on the setting sun.
“Let’s get this over with.” Vadoma walks under the awning and knocks on the door.
An older, busty gray-haired woman answers. An apron is tied around her large waist. She looks at us through the glasses propped on the end of her nose. “Yes?”
“We’re looking for Gildi Archord,” Vadoma says. “We were told she lives here or near here.”
“Why are you looking for her?” The woman narrows her eyes.
“Umm,” Vadoma looks at me and then at Aunt Mirela.
“Let them in Jili,” a shaky voice booms from inside the camper. “It’s not like we get a lot of visitors.”
Jili backs away from the door. We walk into the cramped living room. A frail, short woman sits at a four-seat table with a bowl of soup in front of her. She looks straight, not at us. She blinks, feels around for her bowl, and pushes it away. The woman is blind.
Incense burns on top of the small kitchenette.
“There’s a lot of you, huh?” the blind woman asks.
“Two and Three,” Jili says. “Roma.”
“Two men and three women. Jili has a thing for numbers. I’m Gildi.” She dabs her mouth with a napkin. “You’re Roma?”
“Yes,” Aunt Mirela answers.
“Sit.” Jili points to the small couch and the two bucket-seats that are turned away from the steering wheel and the dashboard. Vadoma, Emilian, and I squeeze against one another on the sofa. Aunt Mirela sits in one of the bucket seats. Kyle remains standing.
“We haven’t seen any Roma in, how many years now?” Gildi asks.
“Seven thousand three hundred and sixty-nine days,” Jili answers and goes to the back, returning with a fresh bottle of dish soap. “Twenty years.”
“That’s a long time.” Aunt Mirela says.
“Indeed. Watch this.” Gildi licks her lips. “How tall is Mount Everest, Jili?”
“Twenty-nine thousand twenty-nine feet.” Jili answers, as she washes the dishes.
“How about Mount Kilimanjaro?” Gildi smiles.
“Nineteen thousand three hundred and forty-one feet,” Jili answers.
Gildi points to her temple. “Numbers. She remembers everything. Jili, what did we have for dinner two years ago on January twenty first?”
“Pot roast.” Jili scrubs a pan. “You complained it was dry.”
“Sorry about that Jili.” She giggles. “Now, why are you here looking for me?”
“Do you know Bo Kepi?” Aunt Mirela asks. “He sent us to find you.”
“Bo. Bo.” Gildi closes her eyes. “I knew of a Bo a while ago who ran some kind of show, but that was so long ago. I can’t say I know this man personally.”
“He was hoping you’d be able to tell us anything you know about the Roaming Curse,” Vadoma says. “He’s been researching it for some time, but hasn’t been able to find anything of use.”
“Ah, so you are Roma.” She nods. “No one has talked about that for decades. Then again, we don’t see many of our kind these days. No children to tell stories like the old days.”
“Do you know how to break it?” Vadoma’s impatient voice rises an octave.
Jili drops the pan in the sink. Gildi’s expression sharpens.
I glare at Vadoma. “I’m sorry. We’ve come a long way to find you and we’re so happy you’re still here. We…uh, we are in dire need of this information if you have it.”
“Who are you?” Gildi asks.
“I’m Mirela, Bo’s daughter. My son Emilian. My nieces Vadoma and Elysia and their friend Kyle.” She points to each one of us, which is useless to the blind woman.
“I don’t know how to break the curse. I don’t think anyone does. Bo sent you because at the age of 95 I’m the oldest living Rom. We used to pass stories down through the generations, but my mind isn’t what it used to be.” Gildi frowns. “We roam because of the curse placed on us thousands of years ago.”
Vadoma lowers her head into her hands. “We’re being hunted. They have half our family. We were the only ones who escaped to find you.”
“Hunted?” Jili asks. “The Hunters?”
Gildi’s wrinkled forehead squashes together. “This isn’t good. Do they know you came here?”
“They’re Hunters, Gildi. They’ll find them. Probably squeezing the information out of their captured family now, if they haven’t killed them already.” Jili throws the dishtowel down. “Two hundred and fifty-six days.”
“How long we’ve been here,” Gildi explains.
Aunt Mirela winces and stands. “We didn’t expect to bring trouble to you. We’ll leave and they won’t bother with you.”
“You want to leave when I finally am able to help you with something?” Gildi asks. “The Hunters won’t bother with us, Jili, you know this.”
“How can you help?” Vadoma asks.
The door opens. A woman and man walk in, eyeing us.
“Is that my children?” Gildi asks.
The woman looks Vadoma’s age, and the man a little older than Vadoma’s 25 years. Their fair skin glistens under the trailer’s pale light. There’s no way these are her children. It’s impossible.
Emilian squeezes my arm.
“Hello, Mama.” The young man kisses Gildi on the head.
“Tamas. Hedji. Meet our guests,” Gildi says. “My children are the reasons the Hunters won’t bother us.”
“They’re vampires,” Emilian says.
Chapter 6
A howling wind pushes through, rattling the RV. Dishes tumble from the overhead cabinets. Tamas rushes around catching the falling objects faster than a cheetah chasing prey.
“Is this an earthquake?” Gildi asks. Jili bends, grabbing Gildi’s hand.
Emilian releases his grip on my arm and I breathe deeply. The powerful airstream disappears; and the tousling trailer stops shaking.
Kyle positions himself in front of us.
“What happened?” Gildi touches the air. “Was that a tornado?”
“It’s stopped now,” Hedji grabs her mother’s hand. “It was only the wind.”
“Some wind,” Gildi says.
Vadoma rises. “I think it’s time for us to leave.”
“Your children are vampires?” Aunt Mirela asks at the same moment Vadoma speaks.
Gildi wraps her arms around Hedji.
“It was our choice,” Hedji says. “Don’t judge our mother for our decisions.”
“What are you doing here anyway?” Tamas asks. “We’ve never seen you before. What business do you have with our mother?”
“Do you see how tense they are, brother? They are frightened of us.” Hedji grins, showing two sharp pointed teeth. “As they should be.”
“Did you show your teeth to them?�
� Gildi’s face scrunches up. “Don’t be rude to our guests. They are Roma and deserve our hospitality. They didn’t come here to harm us.”
Aunt Mirela’s face reddens. “How could you do it? Disregard your heritage and become such monsters?”
“Do you know what it’s like being hunted down by dogs?” Tamas asks. “Living every day in fear it’ll be your last. We found a solution to a problem and took it.”
“Tamas!” Gildi bangs on the table. “Enough.”
“If you saw the look of disgust on this woman’s face, you’d understand, Mother.” Tamas glares at Aunt Mirela.
“You became vampires to avoid the Hunters?” Emilian’s face brightens. “It’s brilliant.”
Aunt Mirela scowls. “Emilian! It’s blasphemy.”
“How did you do it?” Emilian asks.
“Mirela, it wasn’t an easy decision for them to make. Don’t judge before you hear the story,” Gildi says.
I can’t stop staring at the two vampires. They move with a grace and elegance that’s unusual and mesmerizing. Their skin, although pale, shimmers, with no blemishes or scars in sight. Hedji’s luminous, caramel hair hangs to the middle of her back. Kyle can’t take his gaze from her. There’s no mistaking Tamas is her brother. Although he’s more slender than Emilian, he stands several inches taller. His head nearly touches the ceiling.
Aunt Mirela keeps her lips pressed tightly, drawing lines on her chin. I’ve never seen her this upset.
“We traveled with many of our kind. As you can see, it’s down to Jili and me, but once we’d have filled this entire campground.” Gildi continues, “It was pleasant having several of us together, our gifts bringing in money for the community. We traveled south in the winter and north during the summer, always staying in different campgrounds throughout the year. It was our way of dealing with the Roaming Curse. If we stayed moving, we’d never be bothered with plague, sickness, or disaster.
“We kept to ourselves. We taught our children in groups. There was the occasional unwelcoming town that taunted us, but we ignored the jibes and moved on. Sometimes we’d lose a Roma family that wanted to join a carnival or attempt to stay in one place. Most of the time, they’d find their way back to us.
“Happiness filled us. I’d pass down the stories of our people and the travels we’d shared. Hedji was a skilled artist and painted the most beautiful portraits. Tamas played magician for the children, who never knew his skill for illusion. He’d make you think something disappeared when it was there in front of you the entire time.” Gildi smiled. “Those are the days I cling to now. I’m tired now.”
Hedji rubs Gildi’s back.
“One summer we traveled to the mountains in Tennessee.” Gildi’s eyes tear up. “The Hunters found us. A few of us escaped. Jili lost her family. Tamas drained his energy to keep us hidden. We cowered in a cave for days as the beasts combed the woods. They smelled us, but couldn’t see us.
“When they finally left, we were the only survivors. We gathered what we could and headed south. All of our gifts were no match for their strength and numbers. There were too many of them.”
Jili runs into the back and shuts the door.
“A vampire came to us one day, asking for his fortune to be told. I’m no fortuneteller. None of us were. My gift is far less captivating. I told him I could show him any place he’d like to see. The only thing I could show him was a sunny day on the other side of the world. It’s the one thing he was eager to see, though. He had been in the dark for a long time at that point.” Gildi finds Tamas’s hand across the table and pats it. “It was Tamas who negotiated a price behind my back. He knew vampires to be powerful creatures. More so than the beasts who hunt us. He thought it would be the only way to protect us. Hedji followed him, like she always had.”
“But, you’re safe,” Hedji says.
“Yes. For the last forty-eight years, Jili and I have been safe. The Hunters stay away from us. We’ve come across a few in those years, but Tamas and Hedji took them all down. They don’t bother with us anymore.”
Aunt Mirela’s face softens.
“Where do you sleep?” Emilian asks. “You can’t sleep here, obviously.”
Aunt Mirela glowers at him and shakes her head.
My stomach growls. I flush. “Sorry.”
“You haven’t eaten dinner, have you?” Gildi asks.
“We drove a long way to get here,” Vadoma says. “We left in a hurry.”
“I’ll pick something up, if you’d like.” Kyle glances at me. “Emilian and I can hit a drive-thru place and come back while you freshen up.”
Vadoma watches him and glances at me.
“That would be a lovely idea. Tamas can go with you, too. He knows his way around better than I do.” Gildi giggles.
Emilian jumps up. “I’m starved.”
Aunt Mirela stiffens and I can tell Emilian’s exuberance annoys her.
Part of me wants to ride with them so I can listen to Emilian’s questions. The vampires fascinate me, too. I can’t help but be drawn to them, but maybe that’s a part of their charm.
“Do they have a shower facility?” Vadoma asks.
“I’ll show you,” Hedji says. “It’s a few trailers down.”
“Maybe we should find a hotel for the night?” Aunt Mirela glances at each of us. “We have no idea where the Hunters are or even if they’re on their way here. There are too many of them, and two vampires can’t protect us all.”
“That’s where I can help. Remember when I said I can show you any place? That includes anywhere that your loved ones may be.” Gildi beams.
“Are you saying you can show us our family even when we don’t know where they are?” I ask.
“Yes. As long as you are thinking of them, I can find them and show you where they are.” Gildi’s hands shake. “I’ll need a few moments to prepare, though.”
“Mother, are you sure about this?” Hedji stares at me. “It’s a draining process for her.”
“They came for my help and I’ll give it to them.” Gildi clicks her tongue. “Jili knows where my ball is. Also, can you see if she’s okay?”
“We’ll be back soon.” Kyle holds the door open for Emilian and Tamas. He points first to me and then to Vadoma. “Burger, no onion? Burger, no mustard?”
“Yes,” I say.
Vadoma nods. “I’ll get our bags.” She follows them outside.
“Do you happen to have towels and soap?” I ask.
Hedji rummages through a storage container in the tiny hall and returns with three towels and soap. “Here you go. I’ll take you to the showers. You never know what you’ll find in the dark.”
“Hedji, stop teasing them,” Gildi says.
“I’ll stay,” Aunt Mirela says. “Talk with Gildi some more. You wash up. I know you’ll be safe, Elysia.”
“Hedji won’t hurt them,” Gildi says.
Taking the towels and soap, I follow Hedji out of the RV. Vadoma sits on top of the picnic table; the store bags holding some clothes are next to her.
“That woman doesn’t like us much,” Hedji says.
Vadoma jumps down. “Nope. She’s being cautious. You’re the first vampires we’ve met, and to be Roma on top of it.”
“Sadly, the Roma part left us,” Hedji says.
Vadoma walks between us. “You mean that you have no gift?”
“Once we changed, we lost it. The gifts are only for the living,” Hedji says. “I can’t say that I terribly miss it.”
“What was your gift?” I ask. “Being a talented artist is a skill, not a power. Surely, you can still paint.”
“You’re Elysia, right?” Hedji asks.
“Yes, and that’s Vadoma, my sister,” I say.
“I see the resemblance,” Hedji says. “I can still draw and paint, although I haven’t in quite a long time. When I was human, I was gifted with a useless talent. I could predict the day of your death.”
“If you could predict the day of people’s d
eath, then didn’t you know all those people would die that day?” I ask.
“Yes, I knew,” she says. “But, it didn’t matter where we were, they were all going to die on the same day. I didn’t know how, though. I thought it would be a natural disaster, not a massacre. I never told anyone of my gift because I don’t think it’s right to tell someone when they will die. I pretended I had no gift. There are those of us who never developed any.”
“Do you know when Gildi will die?” Vadoma asks.
“I do, and to be honest, I look forward to that day.” Hedji opens the door to the showers.
“You’ve been taking care of her for a long time, haven’t you?” Vadoma asks.
“Forty-eight years now. We’ve traveled with her and guarded her and Jili,” Hedji says. “But, it’s not that they are a burden. It’s that Gilda’s health has deteriorated. She no longer sees and she’s in pain a lot. She’s too stubborn to admit it most of the time, but we see her struggle.”
“How old are you?” I ask.
“Seventy-three. Tamas is Seventy-seven. My mind feels old, but this body feels young.”
With each answer, another question pops up into my head.
“What are your gifts?” Hedji sits on a bench in front of the empty shower stalls. “I know at least one of you has one. Odds are you do.”
“I can tell when someone’s lying,” Vadoma says. “Elysia doesn’t have a gift.”
Vadoma’s need to protect me warms my heart.
“Is that so?” Hedji asks. “That’s probably a useful gift if you’re interrogating a criminal. Have I lied to you?”
“No,” Vadoma says.
“I’ll have to give it a try then to test your skills.” Hedji smiles. “I forgot to get you a hairbrush. I’ll be right back.” She dashes out of the shower room so quickly a draft flows behind her.
“Why’d you lie?” I ask.
“They don’t need to know everything about us. Besides, you’re the only one strong enough to fight them if needed.” Vadoma closes the curtain to one of the stalls and starts the water.
The warm water feels refreshing. So many thoughts roam through my mind, it’s hard to keep the day’s events straight.
Vadoma picks up the brush that Hedji left on the bench. She probably didn’t feel the need to wait for us.
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