Holiday In Malancrav: A Wolfric Vampire Novel (The Wolfric Vampire Series Book 1)

by Jon F. Merz

  He held a single curved blade high overhead, its blade thicker than the sword Wolfric wielded. He cut down, trying to cleave Wolfric in two, but Wolfric evaded the initial cut easily, drawing his own blade across with a horizontal slash aimed at the attacker’s head.

  The rider ducked and kicked Wolfric hard in the gut, causing Wolfric to almost drop his blade. But he managed to grip it tightly and suck in some air before sweeping his blade back up, rising from the ground to the shoulder of the rider. He felt the blade bite into the clothing of the rider and then resistance as it cut into flesh and bone.

  The rider cried out and yanked away from the sword cut, blood spilling from him fast.

  Wolfric followed up with a series of cuts faster than any he’d ever launched before. The rider yielded ground to him over and over and then they were at the precipice of the ravine. Wolfric didn’t hesitate; he plunged his sword into the belly of the man before him and the impact sent the rider plunging over the cliff to his death below.

  The clangs from Felix and his opponent continued to ring out and Wolfric turned to see if he could help.

  He was nearly run through as he did so.

  The third rider had apparently not been killed by the gunshot and had managed to get close to Wolfric without him noticing. If Wolfric’s body had not moved out of the way, the rider would have impaled him with his sword.

  Wolfric reacted without thinking, using the pommel of his sword to thunk the rider between the eyes. The rider stumbled back and away, his hands going to his face. Wolfric dropped low and then sank his sword into the man’s chest, running him through without pausing. The rider slumped and slid off the end of Wolfric’s sword, falling backwards into the dirt his blood already running out of him in a terrible gout.

  Silence fell then.

  Wolfric spun to see what had happened and saw that Felix stood over the leader of the bandits. The leader’s head was nowhere to be seen. The rest of his body lay in the dirt, staining the ground around them.

  Felix looked up at him then. “Are you hurt?”

  Wolfric lowered his weapon and felt his body. “I…I don’t think so.”

  Felix smiled. “Well met, Wolfric. Well met, indeed. You acquitted yourself quite well.” Felix whistled and their two horses came back to the scene. Felix moved quickly to his bags and motioned for Wolfric to go to his own horse. “We won’t have time to resupply ourselves further on, so I suggest you avail yourself of the presence of fresh blood. We will need it when we get deeper into the mountains. And we cannot risk hunting anyone that lives around here. To do so would cause a panic.”

  “Especially when we are investigating that very thing,” said Wolfric.

  “Absolutely.” Felix drew out two empty flasks and stooped by one of the fallen attackers, using his knife to cut into a vein. He placed the flask over the cut and let it fill with the man’s blood.

  Wolfric watched him and felt a strange sensation. Just moments ago, these men had been alive. Full of life. Now they were dead. Two by his own hand. And now they were going to bleed them for sustenance. Something about it seemed…odd. Wrong? Wolfric didn’t know. But he knew that they had to do what they had to in order to survive and continue their work. So he moved to the other corpse and started filling his own flasks.

  “Be quick,” said Felix. “We don’t want anyone seeing us do this.”

  They were done in a few minutes. Felix replaced the flasks in his bag and Wolfric did the same.

  “How do you feel?”

  “Like I need to sleep,” said Wolfric.

  “A common feeling after battle,” said Felix. “But we must continue our journey before we have earned our rest for today.”

  “We just leave them here?”

  Felix shrugged. “They would have done the same to us. Perhaps worse, who knows?” He pointed at Wolfric’s pistol. “Reload your pistol now. Clean your blade. You must always ensure your weapons are primed for the next attack because we may not have the warning that we did here today.”

  They moved quickly. Wolfric cleaned his blade using the clothing of one of the dead men on the ground. Then he loaded his pistol and slid it back into his tunic. Felix did the same and then swung astride his horse.

  “It’s time we were away from here. The wolves in Transylvania are fierce beasts who will converge on this scene as soon as it gets a bit darker. The further away we are, the better. I don’t want them casting for our scent and trying to attack us as well. But these two should make for a good meal for them.”

  Wolfric turned and vomited then. It was unexpected and he felt ashamed of himself for doing it. He quickly wiped his mouth and looked up at his teacher, expecting to be reprimanded.

  Instead Felix only nodded. “Feel better now?”

  He did. Wolfric could only nod, however.

  “No man goes through combat for the first time unscathed in some fashion. Whether physically, mentally, or emotionally. Think nothing of it. You have gone through the fire today and no one goes through without a bit of burning. You did well, so use that to make yourself feel better.”

  “You’re not angry?”

  Felix chuckled. “My dear Wolfric, when I killed my first man, I vomited continuously for ten minutes and soiled my breeches at the same time. You have nothing to be ashamed of by that tiny outburst. Trust me.”

  Wolfric mounted his horse and looked at the western sky. The light was almost gone.

  “We need to cover five miles before we can camp for the night,” said Felix. “Only then can we rest. But we will be taking turns tonight on sentry duty. These mountains are rife with danger. And men and wolves are not the only things that hunt at night around these parts.”

  Wolfric eased his steed in behind Felix and they trotted off down the trail. Behind them, the first howls of wolves broke the coming night air. Wolfric took a final glance behind them at the scene of battle and the two bodies that lay there. One more had fallen into the ravine and he wondered if the wolves would be able to get to that one as well.

  Or perhaps something else would dine on the rider’s flesh throughout the night.

  Wolfric shivered then, drew his traveling cloak about him, and continued in his teacher’s wake.

  Chapter 17

  The camp fire that flickered and danced before his eyes seemed woefully small and insignificant, Wolfric thought. A stiff wind blew through the boulders of their makeshift camp just off the peak of another small mountain. They’d ridden down and then back up and down again after they left the site of the attack. As they rode on, their steeds had grown increasingly worried and the steam coming from them had increased.

  “Are they tried?” asked Wolfric.

  Felix shook his head. “Wary, more likely. They can sense the animals that roam these parts. Wolves, bears…” His voice had trailed off. “Other…things.”

  “What sort of other things?”

  Felix eyed him. “Tell me something: do you believe in monsters, Wolfric?”

  “I believe in the monstrosity of human beings. Their capacity to do harm whilst thinking they are doing good, especially. The delusion they suffer from. The lack of self-awareness. The hypocrisy. All of these combine to make them much scarier than the things that lurk in the darkness.”

  “I won’t disagree with you there,” said Felix. “But still…do you believe in the things that lurk in the dark?”

  “I’m not sure. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen proof that they exist.”

  “You will,” said Felix simply. “For they do. Perhaps not in great numbers, but I have seen such things as would cause you to question reality and its place in our world. You will see them, too. In time. Although maybe sooner than you think.” He glanced around the camp. “We are in an area of the world where the monsters exist in greater numbers than elsewhere. As our world grows ever more populated by humans, these creatures must retreat to remote places where the eyes of people cannot see them, lest they cease to exist entirely.”

  “What sort of
monsters are we talking about here?” asked Wolfric.

  Felix shrugged. “Whatever you can imagine. There are no limits to the things that have been wrought by the gods. If you can dream it, then it most certainly may exist somewhere.”

  “I can dream about a lot of things,” said Wolfric. “That doesn’t mean they all exist right now.”

  “Perhaps not yet. But one day they might well.” Felix stoked the fire. “We are, after all, straddling the line between reality and fantasy.”

  “How so?”

  Felix smiled. “We are blood drinkers. The stuff of legends. The vampire. Around these parts, the locals have painted our kind as being nocturnal dwellers that creep forth at sunset in order to hunt. We are staved off by the likes of garlic and holy water. We may not enter a dwelling unless invited nor do we cast any sort of reflection. Even the sun can kill us.”

  Wolfric found himself smiling. “Is that truly how they view us?”

  “Indeed.”

  “But we are anything but any of that, save for the blood drinking.”

  Felix nodded. “Very true, but in the minds of the superstitious, this is how they reconcile our existence with theirs. It is always a wonder what the human mind will tell itself in order to make sense of things. What they will believe in order to sleep soundly at night.”

  “Or give themselves nightmares,” said Wolfric. “Garlic? How ludicrous.”

  “And yet it grows in abundance in these parts. So they have given themselves a readily available means to thwart our attacks. This is the comfort they draw from the creation of a myth built on lies. Incredible, is it not?”

  “It is.”

  “They call us strigoi in these parts. A creature of the dark in the service of demons, who must feast upon the blood of the living to survive.”

  Wolfric sighed. “Mankind hates what it does not understand.”

  “It has always been thus,” said Felix. “Fear is easier than perspective. It is a base emotion not beholden to the rigors of logic, compassion, and context. It is harder to choose to investigate and comprehend than it is to simply fear something and revile it. As most are lazy, fear is easier and that is what then becomes the accepted norm.”

  “It’s a wonder sometimes that humans have progressed as far as they have by thinking in such a way.”

  “Human progress is measured not by the world of the average, so-called ‘normal’ population, but rather by the work of those who are ‘abnormal’ and unwilling to subjugate themselves to the norms of society. The risk-takers, the rule breakers…these are the agents of change and progress and hope for the future.”

  Wolfric stared into the flames as a wolf howl broke through the night. “That seems much closer than it should be.”

  Felix chuckled. “It is on nights like these that I am grateful for company. Such as it is being forced to share it with a lowly trainee as yourself.”

  Wolfric flicked his eyes up to his teacher, but he saw Felix smiling and relaxed. “Are you sure I’m worthy to share the firelight?”

  “Well, if you hadn’t managed to hold your own earlier, you wouldn’t be sitting here right now, I can tell you that. But otherwise, you’ll do for the present. I’d be worried if we happen upon a lovely damsel in distress, however.”

  “Perhaps there will be more than one,” said Wolfric.

  “And what makes you think I’d be willing to share?”

  “What makes you think they’d even look twice at you with that nose?” retorted Wolfric.

  Felix laughed. “Fair point.”

  Another howl echoed among the rocks. Felix glanced up. “I’d imagine they’ve finished with the bandits we left them and are looking for more food.”

  “Wasn’t that enough?”

  “For regular wolves, perhaps,” said Felix.

  “Regular?”

  Felix nodded. “The wolves in these parts are not what you would call normal. They are larger. More aggressive. Hungrier than their counterparts in the west. The hunt both in packs and alone. And they are tireless in their pursuit of a meal, especially when they think their prey is wounded.”

  “Will they attack us tonight?”

  “Doubtful. We’ve given them no reason to suspect we are vulnerable.” Felix gestured around them. “The boulders here are large enough that they cannot leap them easily. And we are surrounded on three sides by the rocks. As long as we keep the fire stoked and high enough, they will not attack from the front. We can sleep soundly provided one of us is awake at all times.”

  Wolfric knew the warning was a serious one. Felix was telling him not to fall asleep no matter what. To do so would be to invite attack. And he had no wish to let his teacher down.

  Felix stretched then and leaned back in his bedroll. “What about magic?”

  “What about it?”

  “Do you believe in it?”

  “Sleight of hand,” said Wolfric. “I saw a man at a fair one time do the most astonishing things with his hands. He could make things appear and disappear at will. It astounded the audience.”

  “I’m surprised he wasn’t arrested for witchcraft,” said Felix. “But I’m not talking about that stage magic. Real magic. Have you ever seen it before?”

  “Would I know if I had?”

  “Good point. Perhaps not.” Felix closed his eyes. “But it too exists. Does that bother you?”

  “Perhaps no more than your revelation about monsters.” Wolfric got to his feet and brushed his trousers off, checked his pistol and sword and then moved away from his teacher to face out from the rocks into the night. The fire would not affect his ability to see in the darkness the way it would humans.

  “Good,” said Felix. “As Fixers, we must be open to everything that exists in our world and everything that has the potential to exist in that same. If we restrict our vision, we will curtail our ability to objectively see things happening around us. As we are tasked with correcting things that have upset the balance of our reality, we must be sure to neither dismiss nor readily accept anything, but rather observe and make a determination as to its validity then.”

  “Are there sorcerers? People who can wield magic and cast spells over others?”

  “Indeed there are,” said Felix. “I have dealt with one or two in my past. But those are stories for another time. For the time being, I wish to rest and recuperate. It has been a long day and I need to get some sleep.”

  “When shall I wake you?”

  “Morning,” said Felix. “You don’t get any sleep tonight.”

  “Did you just say-“

  “I did,” said Felix. “I told you before that everything was a test. And here is yet another. How well do you function on little rest? Especially after a hard day of travel and one that included your first battle? A Fixer must be able to continue on even when he is exhausted and in desperate need of sleep. How will you manage to stay awake and alert when every part of your body wants to shut down? These are the questions you must find the answers to tonight while I sleep and dream.”

  “If I fail?”

  Felix chuckled. “If you fail, then we will most assuredly be attacked by wolves and devoured. So really, it’s fairly important that you find a means to stay awake. Good night.”

  Chapter 18

  The fire as the toughest part, Wolfric decided three hours later.

  The flames were hypnotic; their warmth seductive; the crackling of wood a lullaby that wooed Wolfric with its drowsy symphony of quiet contentment. A heaviness fell over him as he struggled to maintain his awareness and sharp instincts. He desperately wanted to crawl beneath the blanket and fall asleep while the world continued on without him.

  Initially, he’d scoffed at the challenge presented to him by his teacher. They’d talked about monsters and magic, after all. What better way to stay awake than to be plagued by the possibility of being attacked in some way shape or form by one of those evil creatures of the night?

  But after the initial fear had worn off, after Wolfric’s
mind had scolded him for thinking he would simply fall prey without even a fight, the fatigue had settled him, lapping at the edges of his conscious mind, softly whispering into his ear promises of sweet dreams and relaxation. Indeed, the fatigue became a greater foe than any nefarious machination of some wizard lurking beyond the firelight, or any beast stalking the locale.

  Wolfric did his best to get up and walk around from time-to-time. He worked out arithmetic equations in his mind, translated passages from Homer into every language he knew. And even jumped about doing calisthenics to keep his blood pumping.

  And estimated that he’d spent a grand total of an hour doing all of that, with a whole lot more time to go before the first rays broke over the horizon, scaring away the night.

  Would his test end then? Of course not, he figured. That would only be the start. Felix would insist on a full day’s travel even after a night spent awake. And Wolfric knew that the ride itself would truly test his ability to remain functional. He would be forced to concentrate on the trail in order to avoid disaster. The mountains fell away at a moment’s notice, cliffs and edges ending in all manner of death. A slip in his awareness would kill him. As hearty as vampires were, he could be killed by any sort of wood entering his bloodstream. And Wolfric had seen the gnarled branches of shrubs that lined the walls of the cliffs that could easily scrape his skin on the way down. It wouldn’t be the fall that killed him; it would be the branches and roots.

  An occasional wolf howl broke the uneasy silence that persisted throughout the night. Each time, Wolfric would feel his body spark to life as he readied himself for an attack that never materialized. And after several minutes of this, his body would slip back into a sort of drunken stupor that left him feeling even more tired than before.

  Again and again this happened as Felix slept on, his quiet breathing only adding to the somniferous effects of the fire and the night.

  Wolfric was determined not to quit, however. And as heavy as his eyelids grew, he would blink and lift them again, staring off into the blackness of the night.