The Angry Ghost and Other Stories

by Peter Spokes

  “It’s Lucia, isn’t it?” I said.

  “Yes… but… how do you know my name?” she said tilting her head.

  “The other night I heard that big guy call you over…” I said.

  “Oh… of course,” she said as she pulled back her cowl and looked up.

  I stared, my mouth open.

  “What is it?” she said somehow immediately sensing my sudden incredulity.

  Her rather beautiful auburn hair encircled a finely chiselled countenance and within shone unnaturally pale and unfocussed blue eyes.

  She was blind.

  “Just… a coincidence,” I heard Ryker whisper over.

  “Ermm,” I started, addressing the lady, “the big guy I saw the other night looked… intimidating … and a little hostile, and I was a little worried…” was all I could say as I gazed into the blue-white eyes, “… and then I heard howling and… something else.” I was unable to take my eyes off Lucia.

  She smiled. “There are many wild creatures in these parts,” she said turning her head slightly left and right.

  “It was Dănuț you saw,” she continued. “He is a good man and looks after me.”

  “Okay…” I said not too sure what she meant and hoping on some expansion on the statement.

  I offered her a seat on the bed as there was nowhere else to sit.

  Though I had said nothing but merely – without thinking – gestured with my hand, she walked over and sat down beside me.

  Maybe she wasn’t as blind as appeared.

  “I have been blind since birth,” she said suddenly, as if reading my mind.

  “Erm… you have extraordinary spatial awareness…” I said.

  She smiled. “It has never been a handicap; my other senses more than compensate,” she said as – with her eyes still directed at me and with surprising swiftness – she suddenly reached her hand across the bed behind me.

  She then brought her clenched hand before me and opened it.

  A rather large spider crawled across her palm and proceeded around her wrist.

  I moved my head back slightly. I so hated spiders.

  She stood and walked over to the open window where she shook her hand free of the arachnid before returning to the bed.

  “I can feel the movement of the air,” she said simply to my unspoken question.

  Scene 5: Lucia 2

  “How long have you been here?” I asked as I looked around for more arachnids.

  “About four months,” she said. “Though Dănuț a little longer,” she said moving her head again to the left and right.

  “You okay out here alone?” she asked.

  I looked over at Ryker.

  I guessed as he hadn’t made any kind of sound she was probably unaware of his presence but considering her acute contiguous senses, it seemed odd.

  “Just me and my friend,” I said.

  She paused as she moved her head to the right and then the left again.

  She looked uncertain.

  “I understand…” I started, “… some troubles… began here some months ago… about the time that Dănuț arrived,” I said.

  “Oh yes… the problems in Lepșa that I wanted to speak to you about.”

  She paused and turned her unfocussed eyes on me.

  “But firstly, I need to ask… why are you here?” she asked suddenly.

  “I was invited here. I understand that there has been some… vandalism and desecration to several new graves, and so my friend and I have come here to… investigate.”

  “Dănuț is good…” she said. “He is not the cause of the grave damage.”

  “I’ll be honest,” I said. “I’m told it is caused by a beast of legend,” I said with a smile but of course my attempted ridicule at an absurd suggestion was lost on her.

  Indeed, she looked surprised. “So you know of the Vampir?”

  I paused. “Vampire? You mean werewolf… a vârcolac,” I said.

  “No… no… no vârcolac. It is vampir.”

  I did not need a translation on that, I thought, but who’s seeing what and what the hell am I supposed to be chasing?

  Then I smiled to myself. So, this is a set up after all and the cast have not got their stories straight.

  “Has anyone seen this… vampire?” I asked smiling and going with it, feeling I was now in on the joke.

  “Yes… and it is very tall with large teeth and claws. It digs for the dead,” she finished.

  I smiled. “Tall, large teeth and claws?” I repeated.

  Lucia ‘looked’ at me oddly.

  “I understand it would be difficult for a… apusean… westerner to understand,” she said.

  I paused. I so much did not want to upset her but also, I wanted her to know that I was not gullible and to be easily fooled.

  Lucia continued to stare at me.

  “I’m sorry,” I said defensively, “I’m a bit confused because I was told that it was a werewolf… a vârcolac that was causing the problems in Lepșa… eating corpses…” I said.

  “Who said?” she asked.

  “Michael… and Marius,” I said. “Do you know them?” She nodded. “I know both a little but not why they would say that,” she said. “There are no vârcolacs here, but one would not eat dead meat anyway.”

  I looked over to Ryker remembering what he had said earlier about wolves.

  I felt I was losing some rationality here. Not only was my presumed uncertain adversary becoming questionable but Lucia spoke as one aware and accepting of the existence of supernatural creatures.

  I felt desperate and wanted this nonsense to end and so I put my cards down – as it were.

  “Lucia… I know I’m… western… but you cannot fool me with these stories… I really don’t mean to cause offence but these beasts do not exist – and never have existed. I cannot believe in these creatures for they are of superstition. They are not real…” I said shaking my head.

  “If you do not believe they exist…” she said quietly, “… then you are in much danger… and will probably die,” she continued.

  It was not the response I expected to get at all, and certainly not so directly.

  I looked at Ryker who simply shrugged his shoulders.

  I shook my head. “I’m sorry but it’s all superstitious nonsense. I don’t know why these desecrations are taking place but there has got to be an earthly explanation rather than putting it down to something from folklore and the supernatural.”

  Despite her blindness, I still felt a direct stare. “There is nothing supernatural about this creature. It is a real and physical being… and you cannot fight it.”

  I wondered if she was protecting Dănuț.

  “Why?” I asked.

  “Three reasons,” she said.

  “Firstly, you don’t believe it; so, by the time you do, you will be bleeding out from its claws… and teeth.”

  “Okay…” I said swallowing hard; “and secondly?”

  “It is immensely strong.”

  “How do you know what I’m capable of?” I asked feeling my own prowess was being questioned, and that was something always raw within me.

  “I do not know what you are capable of but you are human and this creature is not…”

  “I’m certain it is,” I said. I have always been polite and courteous but sometimes when one hears something that is clearly absurd, one needs to be clear.

  “… And thirdly; Dănuț has seen it.”

  Both Ryker and I turned our heads at the same time.

  “What?” I said blinking.

  “I have seen… sensed it… and Dănuț has seen it, if you think I might be mistaken, confused or suffering some other mental aberration.”

  After a pause, I asked, “Why did you come here, Lucia?”
<
br />   It was a question I had been meaning to ask but having had no opportunity, I just threw it in.

  She paused for a long time before raising herself from the bed and began pacing.

  I watched impressed again by the level of the spatial awareness she was displaying.

  Scene 6: The Beast

  As one of what you might call the clergy, Dănuț told me that the villagers here had fear of some kind of animal and it was felt that some godly help might be… beneficial.”

  So, it was all happening before they both arrived, I thought.

  “Dănuț had looked after my family for a long time and searched for a place that would suit my… ways.

  He found the deserted mănăstirea here in Lepșa, and so we moved in.

  You should understand my… panic… when late one evening Dănuț called me over to the open window.

  He said that he saw a creature; it was very tall and walking upright and yet… awkwardly. Then it moved down on to all fours and started slowly across the graveyard – its head moved left and right as if following a scent.

  It began clawing at the ground. He said it had long claws and as it turned its head this way and that, he saw long pointed teeth glinting in the moonlight and then the eyes…”

  I waited.

  “… Red discs…

  ‘It needed to feed…’ I said to Dănuț.”

  I stared at her as she returned to sitting on the bed. I looked over at Ryker who stood immobile – listening intently.

  “So… you knew what it… was?”

  She nodded.

  “I remember my mother telling me of one such beast that prowled among the gravestones close to our… house.”

  “What happened to it?” I asked fascinated.

  “My father killed it… eventually.”

  “Oh… but didn’t you just say that this creature was immensely strong?”

  Lucia turned her pretty face to me. “So too was my father.”

  Before I could question further, she continued.

  “As we stood at the window, Dănuț told me that the creature was digging and after several minutes it had dug up a fresh corpse…” I watched Lucia’s hands opening and clenching as she told her story.

  “How did you know it was a fresh corpse…?” I interjected, mentally aware that some people go a lifetime without uttering that particular line.

  “I had presided over the burial earlier that day – and Dănuț had buried him…”

  She paused and looked down sadly before continuing.

  “The man was eighty-eight when he passed over and had a name and history… he should have had his time to rest in the earth in peace, but instead, his corpse is dragged out and his… cadavru torn apart…”

  I looked up transfixed; she should be writing novels, I thought.

  “What did you do?” I said captivated.

  Lucia looked up at me – not sadly, but oddly combatant.

  “I ran down the stairs, opened the door, and out to confront the beast.”

  “What?” I said wondering if she had more balls than Ryker and me put together.

  “What happened?” I said.

  “When it saw me it snarled, hissed, then skulked away.”

  I looked at her closely. “Were you holding a very big gun… or something?”

  “Erh… no, but… Dănuț had followed me out and – as you have said – he is quite imposing.”

  I stared at her and once again, she seemed to know what I was thinking.

  “I could smell it and I could hear it; there is no humanity to this creature,” she said looking directly at me with those pale unfocussed eyes.

  “They have many names but here in România, they are known as Vampir,” she said.

  “Since then, we have kept a lookout on evenings of a fresh burial, for the creature is back and ripping the fresh corpse. Dănuț and I do our best but we are not always around or in time to save the corpse.”

  Again, I couldn’t think of anything to say. While some of us go through life complaining of having to walk the dog at 6.00 am or driving to work for two hours, this pretty and fragile young woman was confronting demons.

  I stopped myself suddenly; wait a moment… when did I start believing in this nonsense?

  Why did I believe this woman and disbelieve everyone else? Maybe she was hallucinating or suffering from some mental aberration – but then, two of them – apparently – saw it.

  Though I knew I might regret it, the rational part of me had to ask…

  “Are you sure you… and Dănuț were not… mistaken? I’m sure it was dark…”

  Lucia continued to stare at me.

  “Dănuț had his leg ripped by the claws of this creature. The claws are otravă… with poison… and it has taken a long time to heal,” she said quietly.

  I remembered his limp and wondered if we could look at the injury – only to exclude him from our rather ‘odd’ investigation.

  Suddenly all was silent and Lucia stood.

  I stood up too. “Thank you, Lucia,” I said in the absence of anything pertinent or useful to say.

  “For what?” she said.

  “Well, it gives us more to think about and be prepared for.”

  Her eyes lingered on me. She couldn’t see me so what was she thinking?

  I moved my head from side to side and oddly, her head followed, even though her eyes didn’t.

  “Then be prepared…” she said moving to the door. “… For God’s sake, be prepared for the vampir feels no pain and knows no fear.”

  “And yet it ‘skulked away’ from you,” I said before I could stop myself.

  She opened her mouth as if to speak but suddenly lifted her head and turned to the door.

  There was a knock.

  “Dănuț is here,” she said walking over and opening the door.

  The cabin’s light revealed Dănuț’s mighty frame standing in the doorway.

  He looked incongruous standing several feet over her.

  She turned to face me and I could see that she was finding her words with difficulty.

  “Keep yourself safe… you cannot kill it… but it fears me… and will do all it can to kill me…”

  And with that cryptic remark she left, closely followed by Dănuț.

  Ryker looked over.

  “Bit odd…” he said.

  “Which particular bit?” I asked a little facetiously.

  “She had intimated earlier that it was Dănuț that the vampir was afraid of…”

  “Fair point…” I answered, troubled.

  Scene 7: Vampir

  The night became once again silent and still.

  Lull before the storm, I thought.

  I felt it prudent to once again consult the iPad and see what I could find out about the vampire.

  I remembered a plethora of accomplished actors putting their own interpretations on the creature – it was all fairly routine. They were shape-shifters and bloodsuckers – and sharp dressers.

  I looked up and smiled wondering if it wore a black cape and dressed for the opera…

  Sure enough, I saw pictures depicting a creature with fangs biting necks.

  It didn’t sound like our creature, so I entered ‘Romania Vampire’ and received headings about ‘Vampir’.

  I followed the link to ‘Vampir’ rather than ‘Vampire’ or ‘Vampyre’ – which was the more common spelling.

  I stared at the selected page and suddenly sat bolt upright.

  Instead of a picture of a man with large fangs and a ‘v’ haircut, I found myself staring at something … very different.

  I looked at a tall blackened body which was gaunt to the point that it appeared that only a thin layer of skin was all that covered its bones.

  Long, thin
talons terminated what would be its hands while its sharp, lengthy teeth grinned up at me from the page, and large eyes of fiery red stared out.

  ‘Long and pointed teeth with red discs for eyes,’ I remembered Lucia saying.

  I looked down to the footnote to the picture.

  There was just one word.

  ‘Ghoul’.

  Scene 8: Company in the Cabin

  I was lying on my bed and counting – once again – the roof timbers as I thought about what I, or rather Ryker, would be hunting.

  First it was a vârcolac – a werewolf; then it turned out to be a vampir, which I thought – not unreasonably – was a vampire, but no – it’s a ghoul!

  I was wondering what mythical creature might be next and – once again, at which point I have got to admit that enough is enough to this superstitious nonsense – I still held a thought that we were being set up.

  Michael had originally put the idea in my head and invited me here.

  Was he trying to get his own back for something?

  He said he had never aspired to my military level; had he been jealous? Surely not; I had been a simple army grunt, after all.

  Marius had then shown me ‘evidence’ of the beast – supported by his daughter’s view that ‘all things should live’. But then the story lost track with Lucia for instead of going with it, she changed the beast from a vârcolac/werewolf to a vampir/ghoul.

  I looked up suddenly from my reverie to the sound of barking. I recognised the sound of a wolf’s warning.

  Ryker and I looked at one another before I grasped the lantern and – pausing to pick up the baseball bat – ran once again out through the door. Though I held the lantern high I could barely see Ryker or much of the misty path ahead and wondered how Ryker could see where he was going.

  The barking had now changed to a deep growling and I thought I could hear something else too; a hissing or wheezing…

  We continued – as best we could – to follow the path. The feral grunting was sounding closer and still in front of me.

  Ryker and I stopped suddenly as, simultaneously, we both saw the creature; it was a wolf.

  We stopped and watched as it appeared to move quickly forwards and back again from a large tree – its eyes fixed on something high up.