Strigoi Redemption

by Hall, K R

  “I don’t think it’s a good idea to tell her,” said a male voice.

  “It’s time,” said a female voice.

  “What if she can’t stop him?” said the man.

  “The truth must be revealed,” said the woman.

  “Are you sure she can help?” he asked.

  “She’s the only one who can,” the woman said.

  The whispering stopped and a man and woman entered the room Alana was in. They remained motionless at the entrance, waiting for her reaction. Alana continued to lay there motionless, staring at a spot on the floor.

  “Alana, we wish to speak to you,” the man said. Alana looked up and realized that the man was Nicolae. The woman was Adelaide, Victor’s cousin.

  “Alana, your rest and recovery are over. You must return to the real world. We need your help,” Adelaide said.

  That snapped Alana out of her stupor. She couldn’t rest forever. Where was Victor?

  Alana took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She looked at them and asked, “Where is Victor?”

  “We… um, don’t know,” admitted Nicolae.

  “We need to get you out of this hospital and back home,” Adelaide said. “After, we can explain everything to you, including what we know about Victor.”

  “The keshalyi are watching. They don’t want you to escape to safety,” Nicolae said. “At home, the wards will keep the keshalyi out and you safe.”

  “What do they want from me?” Alana asked.

  “Chloe rules the local keshalyi settlement. The keshalyi have orders to get rid of all of us, but especially you.,” Nicolae explained as he helped Alana get dressed in the disguise they had brought.

  “Chloe is upset that Victor will mate with you and not her. She has gone insane and had you kidnapped,” explained Adelaide. “When Victor found out it was Chloe and her keshalyi had kidnapped you, he lost control of his strigoi.”

  The three of them made it out of the hospital and into a non-descript vehicle. They drove home in silence. Alana had a lot to wrap her brain around. She stared out the window, looking at all the trees. She felt tired and wanted to see Victor when she got home. She remembered that neither Nicolae nor Adelaide had said where Victor was.

  “Where is Victor?” Alana asked as they neared their home.

  “Victor has lost control of his strigoi. His strigoi is killing all the keshalyi it comes across. It is seeking to destroy their whole race because the harm they did to you,” said Adelaide as gently as she could.

  “How can we find Victor’s strigoi and bring him home?” Alana asked.

  “We will summon a witch and she will cast a location spell. If he is somewhere close enough, the witch will use a summoning spell. If he is too far away, you will have to call for him using your mating bond,” said Adelaide.

  “We have not mated. How can I use a mating bond?” Alana asked.

  “Oh, I had assumed that you had mated,” Adelaide said.

  “No, Victor wanted to give me time. He wanted to go at my pace…” Alana trailed off.

  “It’s okay, we will be able to find Victor and his strigoi,” Adelaide said, patting Alana’s hands.

  The car stopped in the garage. There was a door that lead from the garage to the house. They would be safe now. The keshalyi would not be able to retake Alana. She looked around, her heart beating uncontrollably. She felt defenseless against the keshalyi. Her breath hitched. It felt like the walls were closing in on her. Nicolae noticed her difficulty breathing and he pulled her into his embrace and ushered her out of the garage and into the kitchen. Alana continued gasping for air, her mind was full of dreadful thoughts: I’m going to die. The keshalyi are going to kill me. This is a trap!

  Suddenly, Adelaide put her hands on either side of Alana’s face. “Alana, it’s okay. It’s me, Adelaide. I’m here for you. Everything is okay. Breathe with me.”

  Alana looked at Adelaide through her tears. She began breathing in and out as Adelaide breathed in and out.

  “Just keep breathing,” she said with a gentle squeeze of her hand. They went on like this for several minutes. After a good long while, Alana began to feel like she had her lungs working again.

  “Are you okay now?” Adelaide asked, her face full of concern.

  Alana nodded and let go of Adelaide’s hand. She noticed that Nicolae was no longer in the kitchen. The women made their way to find him. They saw Nicolae sitting in the drawing room. Its walls were painted cream, it had a large, silvery-gray, silky carpet and the furniture was covered with dark green silky material. Van-Gogh-like pictures exploded their colors on the walls. Nicolae was sitting in the most comfortable chair in the room. It was so relaxing that you felt your muscles melting into the cushions. Alana and Adelaide sat in the other chairs in the drawing room. They were comfortable but not as comfortable as the one in which Nicolae sat.

  “I am so glad to have you back home, Alana. Now, if only we could find Victor and bring him home,” Nicolae said.

  “We’re hoping that his strigoi will be able to sense that you are back home and that it will be drawn to come home to be with you since you are its mate,” Adelaide said.

  “I will do my best,” Alana replied.

  “It’s a mild day today, but still too cold to open the windows,” Adelaide began. “I am sure you don’t wish to return to walk in the gardens, but let’s stroll a few times around the house. We want your scent to be in the air.”

  “Actually, I think walking in the garden will be good for me,” Alana said. “If I don’t face it and my fears, Chloe will have won. Has anyone found her yet?”

  “Chloe has not been seen since the night she attacked you. We have our best trackers searching for her. The problem is that she seems to be using a scent blocker,” Nicolae said.

  “If this doesn’t work, I shall contact Lurline, the high priestess of the local coven,” Adelaide said encouragingly as they headed to the garden.

  After spending an hour in the garden with no luck, Alana and Adelaide went back inside for a hearty stew dinner. Alana claimed she was tired and retreated to her bedroom suite.

  ~ ~ ~

  Victor leaned on the very far end of a barn, back against the damp wood of the wall, body aching, cheeks burning with the flush of fever. His head felt as if someone had shaken it until his brain was thoroughly bruised. He couldn't help but compare the night with his own state of mind. Just like those clouds, his insides were in chaos. A mess. Something ached inside him. He tried to pinpoint the cause for this pain but failed. He tried to reason this unbearable burning but didn't find any. Everything felt so confused, like the jumbled set of a puzzle.

  It felt like his world was spinning and he just wanted to sit down. Victor lay on the ground, his face closed in a grimace. He had struggled for days to take over his strigoi with no luck until now. It had been three days. No food. No water. He had a bone-dry feeling in his mouth, how it ached when he tried swallowing. He licked at his parched and cracked lips. He would have cried for help, but there was no strength in his voice, just a whisper.

  Victor’s eyesight blurred, but not because tears were welling up. Everything became fuzzy; then he saw nothing at all. His consciousness was floating through an empty space filled with a thick static. Throughout the inky space, his heartbeats pounded loudly, echoing in his ears, alongside fading pleas for help. His breath quivered in short, quick gasps every time he inhaled, his lungs having no choice but to painfully and rigidly take in the chilled air around him. He couldn’t seem to stop shaking, either.

  Black mists swirled at the edges of his mind, drawing him into sweet oblivion.

  Victor lay in the dirt as still as a corpse, barely breathing at all as he regained consciousness. Slowly, he tried to get up but quickly realized how futile it was when he had to bite his lip to keep from crying out. Sharp pain lanced through his head and colorful spots flashed in front of his eyes. He saw someone he knew in the distance and he recklessly started crawling forward.

&nbs
p; The pain that once burned like fire faded away to an icy numbness. Black filled the edges of his vision and the only thing he could hear was his own heartbeat. His breath came in ragged, shallow gasps.

  “Over here!” someone shouted.

  “We’ve found Victor!” another male voice shouted.

  Minutes seemed to have passed as he lay there, then, he heard voices. People swarmed all over him, trying to help. He was relieved when he realized they wanted to save him.

  “Victor, I’ve got you, brother,” Dorin said as he gently shifted Victor so he was sitting up. His arms fell limply at his sides.

  Dorin looked his brother over, relieved that they had found him and that he was still alive. They needed to get him back home.

  ~ ~ ~

  Alana looked out of the window toward the darkened road and saw a black shadow approaching. It seemed to be some sort of SUV. She grabbed a jacket and went downstairs to open the door, calling for Nicolae as she did. As the SUV drew closer, she recognized Dorin as the driver.

  Dorin exited the vehicle and headed toward Alana. He seemed leaner and had grown a small beard. He was covered in mud. Alana tried to see into the vehicle, but it was too dark. Dorin gestured for her to follow him to the back of the SUV.

  “Help me,” Dorin said as he opened the rear door. Dorin moved blankets around and revealed Victor’s body. Alana’s hand flew to her mouth to stifle her scream.

  “Oh, god! Is he…” she whispered.

  “No. Not yet, anyway,” Dorin said.

  He leaned in and picked up Victor like he was a child and carried him into the living room. Nicolae opened the front door and Alana followed. Dorin laid Victor on the sofa in front of the fireplace while Nicolae quickly built a fire. Dorin quickly explained how they had found Victor lying in the dirt beside a barn.

  Alana knelt beside Victor and brushed his hair off his forehead. He was barely recognizable. He was wearing only a shirt that had been white at some point but was now covered with everything from dried blood to mud. His hair was matted and he now had a small beard as well. Victor’s skin was very hot to the touch, his lips cracked and colorless. A cough shook his body, his lungs making a rattling sound.

  Alana sprang into action. She asked Nicolae to fetch Lurline as she got a tub with soapy water and some towels. She would clean Victor as gently as possible. She grabbed a pair of scissors from the desk and knelt beside the sofa. She cut away Victor’s shirt and gently began to clean him. She wanted to know what happened, but there would be plenty of time to talk later. His body was covered in cuts and bruises, some an ugly purple and some turning shades of yellow as they began to heal. His strigoi powers should have cured him. What could have stopped it?

  His eyes were closed, but she could feel his pulse as she cleaned him up. Dorin returned with Victor’s robe and a couple of blankets. Victor’s skin was still blazing and looked clammy. Dorin held him in a sitting position so Alana could put the robe on him. He opened his eyes slightly, but they were glazed with fever and he didn’t seem to see her.

  Alana could tell from Victor’s ashen skin he in a tremendous amount of pain. His skin had sunken in tone to something so lifeless it scared her just to look at him. His eyes closed again. All she could do was stroke his hair and hold his hand. It barely seemed enough, yet his heart rate seemed to get stronger. Her eyes remain fixed on his face in a soft stare so that whenever he opened his eyes, she’d be the first thing he saw.

  Her heart was hammering in her chest. Where were Nicolae and Lurline? She began pacing the living room while Dorin cleaned everything up. She was stiff with tension as she waited.

  Fifteen minutes later, Nicolae arrived with Lurline. Victor was still asleep and felt a little cooler. After a brief examination, Lurline closed her bag and turned to Alana and Dorin.

  “Victor has a small case of the flu.”

  “How can that be? Strigoi don’t get sick,” Dorin said.

  “His strigoi went on a rampage for too long. It didn’t allow Victor to rest nor eat. That’s why he looks as poorly as he does,” Lurline explained. “Try to get him to drink some broth. Give him this medicine every four hours. He should show improvement in the morning. He fought the strigoi for control and it wore him down. With nourishment and rest, he should heal the bruises and cuts by morning. The flu will take another day or so. There is nothing to be done but let him ride it out.”

  “Thank you, Lurline,” Alana said, relief starting to course through her as she escorted her to the door.

  Dorin kissed her cheek and left not only to update the family but also to get some sleep. Nicolae and Alana took turns watching over Victor. Nicolae tried to talk her into going to her bed for a decent rest, but she wouldn’t hear of it.

  Between consciousness, they fed Victor broth and gave him the medicine Lurline left. Victor went through stages of shivering violently and sweating through his clothes. Through the rest of the night, Nicolae shaved Victor and gave him several sponge baths as he continued to sweat through the fever. There were still circles under Victor’s eyes. The bruises and cuts had healed overnight as the doctor said would happen.

  By morning, Victor looked vastly improved. He finally opened his eyes and they were clear again, not glazed over with fever. Nicolae helped him sit straighter.

  “Dorin told us how he found you,” Alana said.

  “I don’t remember much. I remember fighting to take control from my strigoi. I must have passed out because when I woke up, I was in the back of an SUV. I thought I could smell Dorin but, I was so fevered, I could no longer tell what was real and what was a nightmare. Dorin saved my life.”

  “I thought I would never see you again.”

  “I will always come back to you,” Victor said as he kissed Alana’s hand.

  Victor was healing well and took walks around the house daily trying to regain his strength. The first day, the walks were just in the living room, shortly after, he managed the first floor. Less than a week later, he was able to handle the stairs to the second floor without assistance.

  ~ ~ ~

  Alana put bourbon, honey, and lemon juice in a 6-ounce mug. Topped it off with hot water and stirred until the honey was dissolved. She took the hot toddy to Victor before she returned to the kitchen to prepare dinner.

  Victor tilted his head toward the edge of the couch as he took a sip of the hot toddy. Something tasted off; it was a little bitter. He cleared his throat as he tried to stand up, but he couldn’t move his legs. His stomach began to heave in a sickly way and his head was spinning in a way that just made no sense. In his weakened state, his strigoi was having a difficult time removing the poison from his body.

  “Alana, please help me! I can’t move. Please, come back!” Victor begged.

  She ran back. “What,” Alana cried out with worry and fear in her voice.

  “I tried to move my body, but nothing happened. I don’t understand,” Victor said. “Call for Magnus. Maybe he can help,” Victor said gasping for breath.

  “How?” Alana asked.

  “I don’t know. He has always just appeared,” Victor said in a hoarse voice.

  Suddenly, Magnus was standing by the sofa.

  “Thank goodness you’re here, Magnus!” Alana said. “Something is wrong with Victor. He is paralyzed and is having trouble breathing.”

  “Has he had anything to eat or drink recently?” Magnus asked as he checked over Victor.

  “I brought him a hot toddy,” Alana said. “I made it myself. Oh, god. Did I do this?”

  “No, Alana, you didn’t do this,” Magnus said. “Is this the toddy?”

  “Yes,” Alana said. She didn’t like the look on Victor’s face; it was getting a bluish tint.

  Magnus inspected the coffee mug with the remaining hot toddy. He could smell traces of black magic. He dipped his pinkie into the liquid and dabbed it on his tongue. There was a very bitter taste.

  “Curare,” Magnus said just before he disappeared.

  Just as qui
ckly as he left, Magnus popped back in with a syringe and injected Victor’s right arm.

  “This will work quickly to break down the curare,” Magnus said.

  “What is curare?” Alana asked. Victor took a breath. “And how did you save Victor?”

  “Curare is a paste with a very bitter taste, but no smell. It acts by blocking the neurotransmitters at the neuromuscular junctions— paralyzing a person. The antidote for curare poisoning is an AChE inhibitor,” Magnus explained.

  Quicker than Alana thought possible, she noticed Victor’s breathing was becoming easier.

  “The curare was added to the honey by black magic,” Magnus said. “Someone is trying to kill Victor.”

  “Black magic? We don’t have anything to do with people that use black magic,” Alana said. “Who wants to kill Victor? Is this Chloe’s work?”

  “Chloe doesn’t need to use black magic, so I doubt this is her work,” Magnus said.

  Victor was able to sit upright again. He tried to stand but fell back onto the sofa.

  “Don’t push yourself, Victor. I can sense that most of the curare is out of your system now. You should be back to normal soon,” Magnus said.

  “Magnus, could this person be tied with my redemption?” Victor asked.

  “You could be right,” Magnus said. “I need to go do some research. I have put wards on your home and the surrounding areas including the gardens. You will be safe from the paranormal, black magic, and anything else. Not even the keshalyi can break through the wards.”

  Then he was gone.

  ~ ~ ~

  Christian’s scrying mirror stopped working. Something was blocking him.

  The internet had allowed for the creation of thousands of things you can make at home. He learned how to make a scrying mirror and all about curare. Through his research, he discovered that Victor was involved in local charities and the school board, he even went to the soup kitchens.

  His good deeds didn’t absolve what he did to Christian’s family. To Christian, Victor was terrible, dangerous, and he deserved what he got.