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

by Jon F. Merz

  The upper floor of the manor house was dominated by eight grand bedrooms. Each one contained a fireplace, large bed, and huge armoire for clothes. Paintings hung on the walls and in some rooms, dust coated the surfaces. Wolfric paused to look out of the window of one of the rooms and noted that he could clearly see the entire village from his vantage point. But otherwise, he found nothing remarkable or even slightly interesting. No treasure chests, no secret passageways, nothing of note that he thought he might find. Indeed, he finished searching the upper floor in less time than he expected would be necessary.

  It was when he was finishing up in the last room that he heard a sound out of rhythm with the environment.

  Someone had entered the front door.

  Chapter 31

  Wolfric came out of the bedroom halfway expecting to see some sort of enemy standing in the grand foyer, so as he did so, his hand went to the pistol he wore, ready to tear it out and fire on the go. But he restrained himself and as he got a better look at the visitor, he as glad he hadn’t over-reacted.

  Father Mirescu stood downstairs, looking up at Wolfric. “I thought I saw someone come in here.” He smiled. “Is your father with you?”

  “Indeed, I am,” said Felix emerging from the corridor to the left of the foyer. Wolfric noticed that his teacher had also moved his pistol, so he had been expecting trouble as well. “To what do we owe the honor?”

  The priest smiled. “I just wondered how you were both getting on. I heard about the unfortunate event in the village earlier today. It must have happened last night, no?”

  “That would seem to make the most sense,” said Felix. “But we still don’t have very much to go on. Certainly not enough to bring the creature to justice.”

  “And which sort of justice would that be?” asked Father Mirescu.

  “The sort that ensures it will never hunt anyone in this village or any other again,” said Felix. “It’s not our decision to make, really, but one that Davo seems comfortable with.”

  Father Mirescu frowned. “Yes, I suppose that makes sense. Davo has not been the same since his family was taken from him all those years ago.”

  “You were here when it happened?” asked Wolfric coming downstairs.

  “I arrived in the immediate aftermath of the previous event,” said Father Mirescu. “Davo was still struggling to comprehend what had happened and how to deal with the immeasurable loss. I like to think that I was able to offer him some comfort during his most trying hours. I attempted to help him find peace in the word of God, but the truth of the matter is he has not embraced the church in a way that I thought might help him. It’s rare these days to ever see him in the services.”

  “Perhaps what might help him find peace cannot be served by the church,” said Felix. “No one can ever understand the sense of loss that happens when you lose that which is most precious to you. It may simply not be enough to quote scripture and tell him to have faith. He might need…something else.”

  “Vengeance,” said the priest.

  “Very possibly,” said Felix. “I mean no offense to your ways, Father. But for a man like Davo, there is but one method that will finally help him put his aching heart at peace, and that might well be to kill the thing that took his family in the first place.”

  Father Mirescu frowned. “I wish what you said was not true, but I fear it is. Davo has carried this burden for years. It is possible that you are right and he may only find solace when he kills those responsible. I would never condone violence, but even I recognize that it is sometimes the only way to solve a problem.”

  Felix cocked an eyebrow. “That’s an awfully unorthodox opinion. Are you sure your superiors in Rome would agree with you?”

  Father Mirescu smiled. “Most likely they would not. But they are there, safe within the walls of the holy city. And I am here, tending to a flock that has been fragmented and harmed by the actions of creature that I do not fully understand. So I think I may be forgiven if I disregard the policy in favor of a more realistic approach to healing and moving forward.”

  “Bold of you,” said Felix. “But I appreciate your perspective.”

  “And tell me, have you found anything yet?”

  Wolfric nodded at the upstairs. “There’s nothing up there. A bunch of empty bedrooms but nothing else. A lot of dust. Empty armoires. Nothing.”

  Father Mirescu sighed. “It was as I feared then. Nothing to be gained from being in here.”

  “I wouldn’t say that,” said Felix. “It’s true that I’ve found nothing remarkable here on the first floor. However, I did find something promising.”

  “That being?” asked Wolfric.

  “A secret door concealing a staircase leading down.”

  “Down to what?”

  Felix shrugged. “I haven’t had a chance to find out yet. But I would imagine it goes into a cellar. A dungeon perhaps? Who knows. But the time is here to find out, so please follow me.”

  He turned and walked back into the kitchen of the manor house. As they moved through the rooms, Wolfric noted they appeared as empty as the upstairs. Dust-coated surfaces and pots hung unused in the kitchen. But Felix paid none of it any attention. He kept heading toward the back, finally stopping beside the larder.

  “It was here that I happened to pause and rest for a moment. Imagine my surprise when I knocked against this wall and thought it sounded hollow. A bit of searching led me to find this.” He reached down along part of the beaded wood and pressed in on a small section. Instantly, the wall slid to the side and revealed a narrow staircase leading down.

  “This can’t be the way to reach the proper cellar?” asked Father Mirescu.

  “No, I found that readily enough,” said Felix. “This, I believe, is something else entirely. The narrowness of these stairs seems to suggest that it might run parallel to the actual cellar stairs, but this is hidden for a reason. And now we shall endeavor to find out why.”

  “We’ll need lights,” said the priest.

  Felix paused. “You’re absolutely correct, of course.”

  Wolfric grinned. He and Felix could have proceeded without torches given their excellent vision in darkness, but the priest would require light.

  “There should be some around here,” said Father Mirescu. “I can’t imagine a home like this not having any to light the way. And certainly there should be braziers in the walls as we go.”

  “Let’s hope so,” said Felix.

  Father Mirescu rushed around the kitchen and produced a single torch. Felix got his tinder box out and sparked a flame for it. The torch took the flame immediately and light illuminated the deep shadows of the secret stairway. Felix headed down first, lighting each brazier he came across until they stood at the bottom of the stairs, firelight flickering around them in the darkness of the sub-level.

  The sub-level was a six foot by six foot landing that immediately became a corridor leading away from the stairs. Father Mirescu started down it, but Felix stayed him.

  “Wait.”

  Wolfric watched as his teacher looked back at the stairs leading up to the kitchen, then oriented himself in the direction of the corridor. “The corridor leads back toward the village,” he said simply.

  “How far?” asked the priest.

  Felix shrugged. “Only one way to find out.” He moved off, stopping every time they drew abreast of a brazier to light the way. Wolfric followed behind Felix and Father Mirescu came after him.

  Wolfric thought it would have been a lot safer and stealthier to not have to light each brazier, but he also knew that Father Mirescu would know they weren’t ordinary people if they had no light. No human being could ever have seen with the same clarity that a vampire could in complete darkness.

  The corridor descended slightly and then they came upon what looked like a ladder cut into the side of the wall of the corridor leading upward. Felix shined the torch up at it.

  “Well, we’ve come almost an eighth of a mile, I’d wager. And now we co
me upon a ladder. We’re not at the manor house any longer, that’s for certain.”

  “So where does that lead?” asked Father Mirescu.

  “My guess?” Felix grinned. “Your church.”

  Father Mirescu frowned. “That’s impossible. I’ve never heard of a secret passageway like this leading into my home of all things.”

  “Perhaps you would like to climb up and see where it leads?”

  “I would indeed,” said the priest. He moved to the ladder and started climbing it. After several seconds, Wolfric heard a dull thunk and then a pause. After another minute, he heard chuckling coming from above. Father Mirescu reappeared. “It exits in the confessional of all places. It must have been built quite some time ago.”

  “I’d wager there are a lot more such exits further ahead,” said Felix. “But we don’t know what we might find further along the corridor.”

  “Shall I climb back down?” asked Father Mirescu.

  “I’d rather you sent for Davo,” said Felix. “Tell him what we’ve found and ask him to come join us. Wolfric and I will venture further afield and see what we can discover. Tell Davo to come armed. We may well find our enemy further along this path we now travel. Knowing an ally is on his way will do our hearts good.”

  “I will let him know. God speed gentlemen.”

  They waited until they heard the secret exit close above then Felix gestured for Wolfric to follow him down the corridor. A hundred meters further on, he paused and motioned Wolfric closer.

  “We can douse this stupid torch now. There’s no sense alerting our prey that we are close. We will move ahead in silence and stealth.”

  “How far do you think it runs?” asked Wolfric.

  “All the way into the village, if I had to guess,” said Felix. “Odds are whoever is hunting is using this corridor to gain access wherever it wants. No wonder it has never been seen, it can come and go as it pleases using this passageway.”

  “What of the window it used to get into the home earlier?”

  “That was a simple guess,” said Felix. What if there was another way inside we hadn’t considered?”

  “Then we shall proceed as if we expect to face the culprit?”

  Felix nodded. “Sooner than later I would expect. Prepare yourself, Wolfric. We go to battle now, I feel.”

  Chapter 32

  They moved as silently as possible down the corridor that stretched before them. Wolfric took the left and Felix, slightly ahead and to the right. Wolfric had his sword drawn while Felix had the crossbow pistol out. Wolfric knew that it could shoot a wooden bolt and stake a vampire within a second and he felt better knowing that his teacher had been in this situation before. For Wolfric, this would be the first time he would go into combat against his own kind. He had no idea what to expect other than it would take a great deal more to kill a vampire than a simple human being.

  As they moved further down the passageway, they stopped at various points where ladders led up to somewhere above them. It soon became apparent that the entire village seemed to have been built atop this complex tunnel system. Here and there, branches sprouted from the main passage leading off to other locations and in other directions. Wolfric found himself wondering if the ladders led into every single home or just certain key spots across the village. Whichever it was, there was no doubt that such a tunnel system would allow anyone rapid access and exit from any location around the town.

  But how many people even knew about it? Father Mirescu seemed mystified by the presence and he had been here for over a decade or more. Was it possible that no one else in the town know about it? Was it a secret guarded by the Apafi family? Were they, in fact, the culprits in this case? Wolfric wondered if they were vampires or had they simply set things up like this and someone else had discovered it and used it to their advantage?

  Too many questions, he decided. Better to simply shut them all out and focus on the task at hand.

  A niggling thought wormed its way into his head: he wondered what Mila was doing at that moment. He thought back to how it felt having her body atop his on the forest floor. The warmth he felt through her body made him shiver with excitement. She was so beautiful and apparently capable of far more than he thought she’d been capable of. What an extraordinary thing to make love to her, he decided. If he made it out of this gambit alive, perhaps he would get a chance.

  Perhaps.

  She didn’t look the type to throw away her virtue as easily as any of his past conquests. But then again, they’d been simple playthings. Tokens to acquire and then discard when he was done with them. They offered nothing of substance aside from an hour or so of frivolity. He’d never once entertained the thought that they could be anything more than a quick romp. Certainly, he hadn’t respected any of them.

  Not in the slightest.

  He longed for a real woman; beautiful, capable, fierce, and confident.

  He’d known pretenders before; those women who faked their way through confidence without truly owning it. He saw right through them. He knew they were even more insecure than most, but they’d manage to conceal it behind a veil of pomp and circumstance and feigned indignation.

  But to find someone who truly knew who they were - who embraced both their light and dark sides instead of denying one of them. That would be a treasure to find.

  Then there was the question of how to make it work given what Wolfric was currently aspiring to become. He had no doubt that Felix would snub any romance he saw interfering with Wolfric’s training. Not that he could blame Felix for doing so, in his position, he would have insisted on the same.

  But still.

  Mila.

  He shook his head and tucked the image away for the time being. He couldn’t risk failing now, not when it was even more important to make sure he stayed focused. He glanced at how Felix moved on the other side of the corridor - perhaps only three feet away from him - and again was amazed at the relative ease with which Felix moved through the tunnel. He was stooped slightly on deeply bent knees, rolling along at a slow pace and always careful with his steps.

  Wolfric, for his part, felt all the exertion in his thighs and wondered how Felix could stand the pain. He also felt like he was breathing far louder than he should. Felix made almost no noise at all, but Wolfric felt like he was a huffing and puffing boar lumbering down the corridor. He was surprised Felix hadn’t drawn them to a stop in order to smack Wolfric across the head and tell him to be quieter than he was.

  They came to and intersection and Wolfric realized that he was soaked with sweat. Felix called a pause to their journey and they both sank down where they were. Doing so only made Wolfric’s thighs ache all the more, but he was determined not to let his teacher see how much this was hurting him. After all, he would be expected to be able to endure this discomfort once he was on his own.

  On his own. Wolfric grinned at the thought of what he would be doing once he graduated from whatever training program Felix had designed for him. He had no idea how long it would take, no idea if Felix would simply tell him one day that he was done and released in order to start working for the Council solo.

  No idea at all.

  He assumed that was how Felix wanted it. Better to keep Wolfric off guard and forever trying to do better than he did yesterday so he never relaxed his effort. It would have to be everything he had, day after day, in order to impress Felix and show that not only was he capable of becoming a Fixer, but that he wanted it.

  Wanted it.

  Wolfric grinned again. He did want it. He realized it now more than ever. Doing what they were doing, on a sanction from the Council, operating in strange lands filled with danger and excitement…he could never have imagined a life like this for himself, even if it was almost exactly what he’d dreamed of doing from a very young age. Swathed in a cloak, bristling with weapons, and able to use his body as the most deadly weapon of all, while delivering the swift stroke of justice to those who jeopardized his people.

 
A hero, he decided. Albeit one that lived forever in the shadows.

  He could live with that.

  Felix motioned him to continue on. They would bypass the two immediate options on their left and right and continue ahead toward a slight curve in the passage way. Wolfric glanced down the left option as they crossed the intersection and wondered where it led to. Maybe they’d get a chance to map the entire complex later on.

  After they’d found the culprits and executed them.

  The corridor curved to the left and Felix moved to Wolfric’s side as they progressed. As the passage evened out, he moved back to the right side again. Wolfric would have liked to ask him why he’d done what he’d done, but he assumed it had something to do with not being seen as they came around the curve.

  Something flickered further down the corridor.

  Felix froze immediately and Wolfric, eyes ever on his teacher, did the same.

  Felix looked back at him and gestured toward his eyes. Wolfric nodded. He had seen the flickering light, too.

  A tiny sound came to them now as they huddled there in the darkness. The flickering light also seemed to bob a bit in the distance, almost as if it was moving.

  And then Wolfric realized it was. Worse, it was coming toward them.

  Felix motioned them to head back to the intersection in the corridor. At least that way they could conceal themselves on either side and the person coming this way would not know they were there until the very last moment.

  Wolfric wondered if he should simply stab the person as they came upon them, but Wolfric gestured for him to sheathe his sword and Wolfric saw that he had put away his crossbow as well.

  They would do this by hand.

  Wrapping his cloak about him, Wolfric imitated Felix and tried his best to shrink into the very wall itself.

  More sounds came to his ears now and he could pick out the telltale sound of footsteps. They were soft, as if whoever was making them was trying their best to be as quiet as possible. But even still, Wolfric could hear them and he knew that Felix would have heard them as well.