Upon reaching the enclosure of wagons, we hesitated. We felt there was something peculiar going on. There were no Gypsy men. This was strange—strange indeed! Suddenly, one of the hags turned to us. “At last, you have come,” she shrieked. “I have waited many moons to curse your bloodthirsty ways! You and this pup that runs at your side are not worthy to walk in the healing rays of our Mother Sun!” She cast something into the pot she was stirring. A thick, grey smoke billowed into the air.
Dracula regained some of his composure. “What power do you think you wield over me, you sack of broken bones?” he demanded arrogantly.
There was a long, pregnant pause before the creature spoke. The others ceased their activities. They began to form a circle around Dracula and me. We were trapped. The only way out was through their knuckled fists. They began to chant, a droning sound, as the old hag picked up from where she had left off. “Vlad Dracula, better known to all those less fortunate than you as the Impaler, I curse you to an everlasting hell!” the seasoned witch screeched. “Your days shall be spent under closed lids, your nights in horrid shadows. You shall run in the night with the swiftness of the wolf; your eyes shall burn red like a cave bat and you will coerce your victims into submission. You shall be as cunning and charming as the red fox while you lure your victims to your den of darkness. But, at the same time that you are exerting such power, no rest shall ever refresh your soul, and no peace will ever ease your mind. No man shall open his door to you or give you refuge at his table. You, that pup at your side, and all your descendants shall be burdened with this curse from now and into eternity! Those who stand here with me are my witnesses to this blight I cast upon you and yours!”
~
I dropped the book into my lap and shuddered at the evilness in such a curse. A Gypsy witch had cursed the family—yet it was a Gypsy who served in the home of the Count Basarab Musat—the son of Atilla Musat, who had written the account. As well, the count had married a Gypsy’s daughter. What a web had been woven of the lives of these ancient people, who had lived through centuries of aimless wandering as they literally sucked the blood of the land.
Curse of Blood
Chapter Ten
The vampire stalks his victims in the darkest of the night,
They know not where he takes them or what will be their plight.
The wolves sing their songs of woe for what is to be lost,
But all their master’s secrets, they protect at any cost.
The victims are now lying in the lair of their rebirth,
Far beneath the ground they are, in the vampire’s earth.
And the wolves sing praises to their master’s great might,
For they, like him, are the children of the night.
T he story of this family was fascinating—there was no stopping me from reading on. Nothing like this had ever been portrayed in the movies. I could sense myself feeling empathy for their plight. I could not put the book down...
~
As soon as the Gypsy women dropped their hands to their sides, Dracula and I fled that clearing as quickly as possible; the old hag’s screeching still echoing in our ears. There are moments, even now, when I think I hear her evil cackle, and then vivid memories of that fateful day rush back to consume me. In truth, I am not sure who the truly evil creature is in this whole mess, for our curse was placed upon us through no choosing of our own.
Our flight led us back into the tunnels from whence we had come. Soon my breath ran short, and I grabbed Dracula’s arm. “Please, dear cousin, I must rest.”
Dracula laughed. “You are weak, Atilla. Whoever thought to bestow you with such a mighty warrior’s name?”
The mockery in his words was belittling. Once again I found myself the child trying to live up to the older cousin. How soon he had forgotten who had come to his aid and who had stayed by his side during his moment of immense grief. “It has been a long day, cousin, one filled with many disappointments, not only for me, but for you, as well. We must sit a moment, gather our thoughts, and decide what we are to do now. On one side, we have a castle destroyed; to the other we have a group of cursed Gypsies. We must lay low for awhile; you can be sure that your enemies will be searching diligently for us, especially for you.”
“I apologize if I have touched a nerve, cousin,” Dracula smiled. “I meant no harm. You are quite right; until the winds blow safe again, we must take cover for a time.”
“What do you think the old hag meant by all her blabbering?” I questioned.
“Just an ill wind we came upon. More gusto than guts, I am sure,” Dracula replied. But there was a troubled tone to his voice, one that did not often creep into my cousin’s words.
Days turned into weeks and weeks into months. Dracula and I foraged from the land and drank from the rivers. The heavy forests became our refuge, day and night. At one point, I mentioned we should seek refuge at Stephen’s, but Dracula was not yet ready to put any trust in a cousin who had sided with the enemy, against him. I tried to defend Stephen, but Dracula perceived my heart was not in the words I spoke. I knew, though, the day would inevitably arrive when we would both have to go crawling to Stephen for protection and shelter. Trust would be there, confirmed with Stephen’s open arms—of that I felt certain in my heart.
Finally, that day arrived. I had convinced Dracula that there was no other way. We found ourselves sneaking to the back entrance of Stephen’s castle. The moon was resting elsewhere, and the stars were hiding amongst the clouds. Even the guards were not careful of their obligations on the night we chose.
Once we were inside the castle, we found our way around with no problem. What Dracula had forgotten, I had no trouble remembering as I had lived there most of my life. We meandered through tunnels and passageways until we reached the top floor of the castle, where I knew Stephen had his quarters.
I tapped lightly on the door. No answer. I tapped again. Still there was no answer. Had my cousin come to be such a heavy sleeper that he could not hear a knock on his door? This was very dangerous for one in such a high position. Dracula just decided to enter. We could not take the chance on being caught standing in a hallway.
The door squeaked open. We hesitated. Dracula pushed his way in further. To our surprise, Stephen was not alone. There were two in the bed. The squeaking of the door must have awakened Stephen. He leapt from his bed and drew the sword that lay close by.
“Who dares to enter my bedchambers unannounced?”
“Hush, Stephen; it is I, your cousin Atilla. Look whom I have brought with me—Dracula.”
There was a moment of silence, and then Stephen dropped his sword and rushed to embrace us with open arms. Nothing else mattered for those brief seconds of welcome. We were home, and everything was going to be all right.
“Come,” Stephen directed, “we must go elsewhere to speak. I do not wish to wake my wife.”
We were ushered out of the room and led down the hall. Stephen pushed a brick in the wall and an opening appeared before us. He motioned for us to follow. The revelation was startling; I had no idea this particular passage existed. At the end of it, we entered a small sitting room. It was scattered with books and papers, old family paintings, and four large chairs, one behind a small mahogany desk, the other three distributed randomly in front of it.
Stephen motioned for us to sit down, and then he sat in the chair behind the desk. “Where do we begin?” he asked, opening the conversation, but directing us to take the lead.
Dracula caught me off-guard. “We begin with why you sided with the bastardly Turks,” he demanded.
Stephen surprised me with his calmness. “I, like your father before me, had no choice, my dear cousin. I had received a letter from the Turkish court stating that if I did not join forces with them, then all whom I loved would meet with a dreadful end. Princess Evdochia, of the Ukraine—whom, as you know, Atilla, I was courting—had been taken captive by the Turkish emperor. My mother’s life was also threatened and yours, as wel
l, Atilla. I had no choice. As much as I wanted to tell you, I dared not, for fear of what you would do or, worse yet, what might happen to you.” There were tears in Stephen’s eyes. I saw them; I hoped that Dracula saw them, too.
He did. He calmed down. I could tell from his facial expression that the pain of his own recent loss still weighed heavily on his heart. “We only wish to have temporary sanctuary, cousin; are you able to provide that?”
“Yes, but I shall have to keep you well hidden, for there are some, even in my own court, whom I can no longer trust.”
There was a pause in the conversation. Stephen’s eyebrows were creased in thought. Finally, he reopened the dialogue. “I and my wife are finding a great deal of sensitivity to the daylight hours, and our appetite for food is decreasing at an alarming pace. How do you find your health to be, or is this just happening to us? “
I shuddered. Dracula and I had been experiencing similar symptoms. The old hag’s curse came rushing back to my mind. “We and ours have been cursed!” I burst out.
Dracula threw me a warning glance, but it was too late. Stephen pushed for an explanation. “What kind of curse?” he demanded. “Who would curse our family like this?”
Dracula motioned for me to respond. I proffered the reply. “We have been cursed by the Gypsies—a specific Gypsy, that is. It was a strange curse, though. She said we were a bloodthirsty lot and not fit to walk in the rays of our Mother Sun. She said our days were to be spent under closed lids, our nights in the shadows. She compared us to such creatures as the wolf and the bat; she spoke of us having to lure our victims into our dens of darkness. She said no rest would ever be on our souls; no peace would ever be in our lives. This is the curse she cast, not just upon Dracula and me, but on all our family and on all our descendants. She even said it would be unto eternity.”
Heavy silence filled the small room. I could barely breathe, the pain of having to speak of the curse being so great to bear. “Then that is the reason behind this strangeness I feel,” Stephen began. “There is something I must tell you; my wife is pregnant. If what you are saying is true, this curse is also on my unborn child.”
“On yours and on any that may one day be born to us,” I replied.
Dracula spoke up, anger filling his words. “I shall consult the Order of the Dragons—”
Stephen cut him off. “You can consult with no one. As soon as you step out of the shadows, you will be captured and then hung. Your brother, Radu, is on the throne now, and that is the way many in the land wish it to be, Vlad Dracul—for that is what some are calling you now, after your father, and it is a name many wish to forget.” Stephen turned directly to me. “As for you, Atilla, your name is not so linked with his; there is something I can still do for you. It will also be beneficial to have an ally by my side, one whom I can trust completely.” He paused before continuing. “By the way, Mara, awaits your return. She is here in my castle, weeping every day, thinking that you are dead and your body is buried in some unmarked grave or, worse yet, thrown to the elements to be eaten by a wild animal. My wife tries to comfort her, but Mara feels her heart will not be mended until she is in the arms of her beloved Atilla.” For the first time since entering the room, Stephen smiled.
“Mara, my beautiful Mara—she still waited for me.”
“And one more bit of news that I must add,” Stephen continued. “She is heavy with child. “
I was dumbfounded. Heavy with child! How could that possibly be? Suddenly, realization swept over me. It must have happened on the night before I had left to join Dracula, when I had held her to me, and she had closed her arms around me. I remembered her words, whispered through her trembling lips as I covered them with my own. “I could not bear to have never known you in this manner,” she had whispered. “If anything was to happen to you during this war, and I never saw you again, I would surely die. Give me a child, my beloved Atilla, so that if you do not return, I shall at least have a replica of you with me forever. But if you do return, then we shall have a son. If you are long in this thing that you must do, I shall speak to him every day, so that when you come home and walk through the door he will know you are his father!”
It had been a night of urgent passion. Both of us had been spent. Neither one of us had considered the dilemma Mara would find herself in if I failed to return and she was found to be pregnant. She would have lived in disgrace forever. Thank God for Stephen.
“How is she? ” I asked.
“She is doing well, in spite of all that is happening.”
“When is the child due? “
“In two weeks.”
I was shocked. Had Dracula and I been gone that long? “I must see her. “
“I shall take you to her in the morning, but I must warn you of one thing. This curse must be striking her as well, for she, too, lacks appetite and has taken to hiding behind the castle walls in the daylight hours. Many had been the moonlit nights when Mara, Evdochia, and I have walked the garden paths so that we might breathe the fresh air outside of the castle walls.”
It was settled that I would be reunited with Mara in the morning, and a small wedding ceremony would be celebrated as soon as possible. Dracula would be kept hidden for the time being, at least until we came up with a solution. Stephen, now that he knew what was happening to him, Evdochia, and Mara was a curse from the Gypsies, promised us he would talk to the one priest he could still trust, Father Mihail. Stephen mentioned that even though Father Mihail remained faithful to the family, he’d had to remove all the crosses and holy water from their personal chapel. The sensitivity to such religious symbols was also increasing by the day!
“I shall return for you in the morning.” Stephen rose from his chair. “You two may rest here for the remainder of the night; I shall see about more appropriate accommodations for you tomorrow.”
~
My reunion with Mara was a joyous moment, but only for an instant. I gazed into her heavy eyes and knew that Stephen’s description of her well-being had been kind. She was a ghost of the vibrant young woman I had made love to a few short months before. But her arms were firm as they embraced me, and her eyes still told me how much she loved me.
“Look, Atilla,” she said, placing my hands upon her belly. “Your son is a hungry one, so much so that he leaves me weak and with little spirit. Maybe now that you have returned you can tell him to treat his mother with greater respect,” she laughed. It was a good sound to hear.
“I shall have the doctor, Count Balenti Danesti, look in on you,” I replied. “He has looked after our family for years. He will know what to do.”
“He has been attending me, and he, too, is baffled about what is happening to all of us, my love,” Mara informed me. “But he is working on a drink, something filled with nutritious herbs, which will restore my strength, he mentioned to me. He says it is almost finished.”
“I shall still speak with him and encourage him to hurry to finish his solution before you waste further away. And we must have a ceremony. I shall speak to Stephen about having Father Mihail marry us immediately.”
“Stephen has been wonderful to me, Atilla. When you did not return, I feared for so many things: your safety, the unborn child, my reputation being soiled and me being cast into the streets, and then, worst of all, I feared losing our child. All these things weighed heavily on me. Stephen and Evdochia took me in and then informed the court that you and I had been secretly married the night of your flight. Even though many did not believe that story, no one dared to refute the word of the lord and mistress of this castle. The wagging tongues were hushed; it is only Father Mihail who knows the real truth. He is the one who is supposed to have performed our wedding.”
“Then, this time, it shall be for real. “
~
Mara and I were married in the secret room within the week. There were three witnesses: Stephen, Evdochia, and Dracula. Our son was born three days later. We called him Basarab.
Lightening the Curse<
br />
Chapter Eleven
I continued reading ...
~
Life was becoming progressively more difficult for all of us. Mara, after delivering Basarab, grew weaker by the day. Dr. Balenti was still working on his special drink. I thought he would never finish.
“Yes, here it is,” he cried excitedly one day. “This should sustain our precious Mara and bring the rosy glow back into her cheeks.”
Dr. Balenti held a glass up to Mara’s lips. She sipped at the liquid and screwed up her face. “This is terrible, Doctor,” she sputtered.
“You must drink it, Mara, for Basarab’s sake.” Dr. Balenti knew Mara would do anything for her son.
Mara heaved a deep sigh, held her breath, and kept trying to down the strange concoction. Slowly the liquid disappeared from the glass. She lay back on her pillows.
“There, there now, Mara; now you can rest awhile, love.” The doctor’s voice was gentle.
Mara’s eyes closed. Sleep overtook her. The doctor stood up and left the room. I had been watching him from the hallway, not wanting to distract his effort to get Mara to take the drink.
“How is she, Count Balenti?” I asked.
“She will be fine, I hope.”
I looked closely at his eyes. “You are unsure?”
“Yes. I must be honest with you, Atilla. Mara is very weak. The most I may be able to do, at this point in time, is save your son. In all my years of practice, I have never come across such a malady.” There were tears in Balenti’s eyes as he admitted what might be inevitable.
I soon had to face the realization that, even with the benefit of the drink, there was little hope for my Mara. Each day that passed exacerbated the circles around her eyes, the cavities in her cheeks, and the extrusion of her bones. Her milk dried up as well, and there were moments we worried how we would be able to sustain the child if something happened to Mara. Doctor Balenti decided that we should start giving Basarab some of the drink—he thrived on it. He started to fill out, and a healthy child blossomed before our eyes.
Night's Gift: Book One of the Night's Vampire Trilogy Page 10