Elixir of Flesh
Page 29
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Constanta was startled from her sleep. She’d heard a noise she couldn’t identify outside. Instinctively she reached to the side of her bed where her brother Anton would normally sleep. He wasn’t there. He was out somewhere hunting vampires, and she felt a cold chill to think of him so far away. Her parents slept peacefully in the bed next to her, and she wondered whether she should wake them. The sound had frightened her and she needed comfort. Anton would always wake up at night whenever she awoke, and he would help her to sleep. He would sleep right next to her, so that he would keep her warm, and he would put his arm over her to protect her from the monsters of the night.
Before Constanta had a chance to approach her parents, a sudden crash startled her so much that she nearly fell over. Turning her head behind her in a flash, she saw the shutters being ripped from out of the window frame, such that now the window was open to the night. Cold air poured in, and the settling dust was illuminated in the moonlight that glowed down upon her. She didn’t have a chance to react, since immediately a net was cast over her. One end of the net was pulled beneath her to sweep her inside of it, and she was hoisted bodily out through the window.
In those brief moments between the initial crash and Constanta’s disappearance, her parents had also been startled from their sleep. They’d leapt from their beds, and they’d lunged for their daughter who was plucked out of her bed like a fly being plucked from the air by a frog’s tongue. But they could only watch as she was snatched from them while screaming her final plea of “Anton! Help me!”
They were too slow. Her voice was already fading by the time they reached the window. Looking out, Josif and Viorica watched helplessly as the four silhouettes disappeared: two of them carrying Constanta between them in a net, one carrying a bag of equipment and the fourth carrying a young vampire on his back.
Viorica couldn’t contain her despair, and in one great wail of pain she screamed out the name of her daughter, “Constanta!” such that her voice echoed across the plain. Lina heard the sound of the lamenting mother even as the house faded in the distance, and she turned back to see if she could make out the distant shapes of her two grieving parents.
Vasile too heard the cry, but only faintly and indistinctly. “What was that sound?” he asked Anton, who sat beside him as they were perched high in a tree, “It came from the direction of Vallaya. Did you hear it?”
Anton had to confess he hadn’t heard anything, but he was curious, “What did it sound like?”
“Like a human scream,” Vasile said uncertainly, “But it was distant.”
“Do you think there were any vampires involved?” Anton asked.
“How could I know,” Vasile responded, “But if there were, they’re likely to pass near us. We should get ready.”
Vasile raised his crossbow while Anton raised his longbow, with an arrow armed and in position. They both turned in the direction of Vallaya and tried to pierce their sight through the darkness and forest, but all they could see was the swaying of branches in the wind and the glistening of the moonlight reflected on the flickering leaves.
After what seemed like an eternal wait, Vasile began to hear the faint sound of vampires running. He silently mouthed to Anton, “Vampires” and pointed in the direction of the sound.
Vasile and Anton gazed in the direction of the sound of the approaching vampires, until, after many long seconds, four indistinct shapes appeared through the leaves and the darkness. The vampires moved with their characteristic swiftness, and between them a captured prey swung back and forth.
“Damnit!” Vasile quietly whispered when he saw there were four and they had a prisoner in tow. Vasile lowered the crossbow in frustration.
Four vampires was too risky, especially if it was for only one victim. Vasile couldn’t help feeling they’d been lucky when they’d attacked the group of four vampires a few nights before and survived. He didn’t want to tempt fate again. As he’d told himself many times, the only way a vampire hunter could survive was by playing it safe.
Anton saw Vasile lowering his weapon and offered a quizzical look in the darkness. All Vasile could do was shake his head and indicate for Anton to lower his weapon too.
They watched the party approaching and pass by almost right beneath them. Vasile clenched his teeth to hold back his anger.
As the group of vampires passed, though, Anton could see the face of the person that was in the net. She was facing backwards, and Anton could clearly see his sister Constanta.