Three Tales of Vampires (The First Three Books in the Tale of Vampires Series)

by John Hennessy

  The vampire was with him.

  She had averted her eyes from the many crosses that surrounded her. She was in extreme discomfort, being in this place. But it was a case of one-on-one, because, for her, God did not exist. At least, not in a manner that could harm her.

  The priest’s footsteps, however, could be heard. As he made his way towards her, his legs felt like chocolate melting in the sun. He wondered if this was how Jesus felt when approaching Golgoltha.

  Serenely, she sat in one of the pews, waiting for him to approach her. She was not frightened of him; for he represented no threat to her.

  He regarded her. Dark, shoulder length hair, hidden under a pastel blue woolen hat. She wore a coat of the same colour. Her short legs dangled over the bench, and she playfully kicked at the pew in front of her.

  “Little girl, in the name of God, tell me, why are you here?”

  Nina turned her head to face him. She smiled, her death-white pallor unable to betray that her youth, her life, had been taken from her.

  “I’m here to help you, Father.” The little vampire seemed most sincere with her words.

  She stood up from the pew, and yet, kept her distance from the priest. “Though we cannot talk whilst you hold that in front of me. Put it away, Father. Please.”

  The priest was reluctant to follow her instruction. There was an uneasy stand off.

  “I did say please.”

  The priest sighed heavily, and placed the cross under his vestments.

  “May God protect me, and may God have mercy on your soul.”

  “Regarding your first point, it’s a bit late for that,” said Nina. “I’m not so concerned about the second part either.”

  “Child of Satan! Why are you here?”

  Showing no sign of being upset by the priest’s curt words, Nina spoke gently. “Oh, come on now, Father. There’s no need to be rude. I told you why I am here. I’m here to help you.”

  The priest placed his hand over his chest and felt the outline of the cross underneath his clothes.

  “You can leave this place and never return!”

  “So much for the God who loves unconditionally,” Nina tut-tutted.

  “I can leave, yes. But you cannot, can you Father? Because you are alone. Go outside, and Juliana will kill you. She told you so herself, didn’t she?”

  “She could be saved, as you could be, child.”

  “Then we are not so different in our thinking, are we Father? Do you know that I have not killed?”

  “It does not matter. Whilst you side with the Father of Lies, it does not matter. You and the creatures that reside in that castle are damned.”

  “Will you not help me, Father? Will you not pray for me? I am no more than I appear to be. A simple little girl.”

  “Enough of these games! In the name of the Fath-”

  Before he could complete his holy instruction, Nina hissed at the priest, and the cross underneath his clothes became engulfed in flames. He cried out in pain, and the cross fell from him, charred and bent by the heat of the fire.

  “A simple little girl with some extraordinary powers,” continued Nina. “We can help each other, Father. We can help each other.”

  Nina extended a small hand to the priest. He grabbed it, and shuddered.

  “Cold, aren’t I?” laughed Nina. “Yeah, it does that. Never mind. Anyway, I’ve been at Castle Dreymuir a while now. How long, I cannot remember. It’s possible my real mother is dead. I do not have the bloodlust; not in the same way that the ones you know as Mariana and Juliana possess.”

  She paused, expecting the priest to say something in reply, or offer a retort, but nothing was forthcoming, so she continued.

  “I would like to return to things as they once were, but maybe I cannot do that,” said Nina, almost sounding sad as she spoke.

  “I expect too, that you would like to be able to leave this place, be free to come and go as you please. Maybe even build a new congregation, right Father?”

  “Yes,” he nodded. “I would like to leave. But you and I both know that she will attack me. It would seem that even here, God has forsaken me. Indeed, the Devil’s power is great.”

  “Now you’re speaking my language,” smiled Nina. “At least you and I are on the same page.”

  “And what are the words written on this page?”

  “Little Nina was avenged, as the ones who made her a vampire lay with a stake in their chests, fleas and maggots feasting on their rotting corpses. Their heads lay separated from their bodies, and those hateful creatures had their eyes ripped out by the ravens who once feared them.”

  “What is this? You want the Dreymuir women killed?”

  “Not women, Father. They’re not even human. They are already dead. The question is, are you prepared to do what is necessary?”

  “Why would you want them to die?”

  Nina’s eyes darkened. “Do I look well to you, Father? The scent of your blood hangs heavy in the air. It calls to me. I am a vampire, Father, but I did not have a choice in the matter. I have wanted vengeance ever since. Now, I see an opportunity, and I will not let it fall from my grasp, as easily as the cross that fell from your hand. But if you don’t help me, I fear I will become a greater monster than those that have made me.”

  “Child, what are you saying? You do not want to kill?”

  “Oh, no, Father. I do. I do have the bloodlust, and it is more powerful than anything you have in this place. I could snap your neck and back like you are nothing; and you know it too. I will kill - today, tomorrow, someday. Unless you help me.”

  “I cannot help you! I cannot leave here. I am alone!”

  “You are not alone, Father, not completely. What about the convent three miles north?”

  With all the other worries on his mind, the priest had forgotten about that. But even so, what could nuns do against vampires? He sensed the girl was deceiving him, yet her words troubled him. Yet she seemed sincere in her wanting to leave the life of the vampire behind.

  “What about it?”

  “Do we have an agreement, or not, Father? You will help me, and I will help you. Agreed?”

  The priest felt he really was making a deal with the Devil. But to be rid of the Dreymuirs, that would be an opportunity too big to pass on.

  “You need one of the nuns to visit the Castle,” said Nina. “Do not have them arrive in the traditional garb of the heathen God.”

  “You would use those women as bait! I will not send them to their death. You are tricking me, daughter of Satan, and you are not welcome here.”

  With that last sentence, Nina could no longer maintain her presence in the church. She disappeared from view. The priest found he had the shakes once again; but he retained the presence of mind to stumble into the vestry, constantly blessing himself and praising God for surviving an encounter with a vampire.

  In a small cabinet lay an array of bottles. The priest took one out, along with a glass, then decided to not use the glass at all. He placed one hand on top of the cabinet to steady himself, then gulped the glass of potcheen down in one go.

  He knew the vampire was right. There would be no leaving the church, as Juliana had already threatened to kill him, and there was no doubt she would succeed.

  Unless he did something that went against everything that he stood for and believed in.

  Unless he chose to trust the vampire.

  The Blood is the Life

  “How is she?” asked Mariana.

  “Hmm?” Juliana barely looked up from her food. “Who?”

  “Oh, dear girl, you know who. Nina.”

  “How is she? How would I know? I care not.”

  “You need to care. If you don’t manage this now, we could have a lot of problems later. I am not ready to return to the new Inn. Things need to calm down a little, and time helps people forget. The town will soon be populated once again. In the meantime, take her under your wing.”

  “If you say so, Mother.”

/>   “I do say. As for the girl, she looks rather gaunt. Have you not found her anyone yet? You spend hours out with her, and while you look fine, she looks like Death itself. I’m also not lost on how ironic that is.”

  Juliana shoved her plate away.

  “She will not feed. She will not kill. What would you have me do with her?”

  Mariana placed her fork down beside her plate, before jamming her knife into the meat on the table. She knew Juliana had resisted the life as well. Perhaps this had been passed to Nina when Juliana made her a vampire.

  “She is impossible!”

  “No, my dear daughter. You were impossible. She is being merely difficult. Perhaps you need to treat her more like one of the family.”

  “I cannot – I will not think of her as my sister! This is all Marcus and Rocco’s fault! When are you going to deal with them?”

  “All in good time,” replied Mariana. “Do not change the subject, Juliana. Just make the girl like your little sister.”

  “No!”

  “It was not a request. Besides, you are looking plump, Juliana. Get her to feed on you a little. The blood is the life, remember that.”

  “Why are you so keen to get her up to speed, Mother? What are you up to?”

  Mariana hoped Juliana would do well in her stead. In the last few days when she left the castle, Mariana observed that the priest had been teasing her; shamelessly walking about the church graveyard. He almost looked to be inviting her to attack. He was getting his courage from somewhere. Mariana believed he was getting reinforcements. She would have to do the same, but that meant leaving Juliana for a while, and she did not know when she would return.

  She dabbed her lips with a napkin and stood up from her chair.

  “I am up to protecting you, child. That’s all I exist for.”

  She wrapped a headscarf around her, and cupped Juliana’s chin with her hand.

  “Get her to feed.”

  “When will you return?”

  “When I return, Juliana. Hold the fort until then.”

  With that, Mariana left the castle silently and effortlessly.

  Juliana pushed her chair back, and decided to carry out her mother’s orders.

  “Nina. Nina! Where are you?”

  Juliana walked through a number of doors and corridors, calling out to the little girl. The castle echoed Juliana’s voice, but apart from that, there was total silence.

  “Nina, show yourself. Now.”

  Juliana stopped walking and turned around, only for the little girl to appear in front of her.

  “Pretty good at this, aren’t I?”

  “Not nearly good enough,” said Juliana, feeling outsmarted but not outdone. She grabbed her hand.

  “Come with me Nina. This will be fun.”

  Juliana ushered Nina into her bedroom. It was a huge room, with a four poster bed that was rarely, if ever used. Sometimes, when her rest was troubled, she would go to this room, lay on the bed for a while, and feel the soft furnishings on the bed warm her cold skin. Knowing it was all a façade, she would wander again, until it was time to return to her coffin.

  Nina knew it too, but did not want to alert Juliana to the fact. She had to play along if things were going to turn out the way she wanted them to.

  “It’s a lovely room, Juliana. A pity we cannot draw the curtains back.”

  Juliana surprised Nina by what she did next. She pushed the drapes back, just enough to let light through. It illuminated the far side of the room, to where a huge wardrobe stood.

  Juliana rushed over to it and pulled the doors open.

  “Here you are Nina, look at these.”

  Nina peered inside, and could see an array of dresses of all colours, styles and designs. Her own dress was brown, pinafore length, with a lace trim. It looked dowdy in comparison to what she saw.

  “You can wear any of these except the purple. That’s my colour.”

  Nina looked at Juliana, who wore a red dress and a black robe.

  “My favourite colour, Nina. I don’t choose to wear it every day.”

  Juliana pulled out a yellow dress, and held it in front of Nina.

  “With your black hair and hazel eyes – well – I can tell they are hazel even if no-one else can – this will really work for you. Come on Nina, put it on.”

  Nina had to admit she liked the dress. But her feelings of joy, which she should have had, escaped her. She felt disinterested in everything. Only one thing drove her, to see her mother again. Nina estimated that seven years had passed since she had seen her, and if she was to ever see her again, Juliana, her brothers, and her mother would have to die.

  “Are we like sisters now? This is a gift?”

  “Yes. You can think of it like that. It’s a gift.”

  Acting the big sister role was not coming easily to Juliana. She didn’t care for Nina, and she resented her mother for leaving her alone with the troublesome little girl.

  “It’s a little girl’s dress,” said Nina. “I want to wear the kind of dresses you wear. But thanks to you, I’ll never get to do that. I’ll never have a body like yours.”

  Juliana laughed. “Well of course you can. When you have more energy, you can take practically any form you would like. Including mine.”

  “It won’t be the same. I could make my body look like yours, but it won’t be mine. It will be a charade. A shell. A nothing.”

  “When we are bats, we don’t really know what it is like to be a bat. We just take the form. That’s all we’re doing, Nina. Don’t get so hung up on it.”

  Nina flung herself onto the bed and began to wail. Juliana hushed her, not liking the sound at all.

  “If you want to be treated like a grown-up, you should act like one.”

  “I don’t want to be a grown-up!”

  “Then be what you are,” said Juliana, fed up with Nina’s playacting. “Be a vampire. Hold out for as long as you can. But you can’t deny what you are. You are a killer, and you will kill one day. It is just a matter of time.”

  Nina buried her head into the bedclothes. Juliana grabbed her wrist, only for Nina to choose that moment to turn around, slashing Juliana’s wrist with a little knife that came out from nowhere.

  Blood splattered onto the yellow dress, droplets of the crimson fluid creating blotches on the wooden floor.

  “I’ll kill you!” screamed Nina. “I will bloody kill you!”

  Juliana clasped a hand over her wrist to stop the bleeding, then took it away once more.

  “No. You won’t kill me. But you will taste my blood. You haven’t fully embraced your vampire side, Nina. It’s long overdue.”

  “Noooo!”

  Nina tried to get away, but Juliana was far too strong, and pinned Nina by her wrists to the bed. Her grasp was too much for the weakened vampire, and Nina limply surrendered the knife, stained with Juliana’s blood.

  Juliana held her wrist over Nina’s mouth, but she turned her face away, refusing to let droplets of blood enter her mouth.

  “The blood is the life, Nina. Come on, drink up.”

  “No,” she whimpered. “I don’t want to become like you.”

  Juliana refused to be deterred. In the haze, torturous images of those she had killed haunted her once more. Even those she had made a vampire, like Gretchen, taunted her. But they were just fleeting images, and though Nina kicked out wildly, she was no match for Juliana, who pinched the girl’s nose with one hand, forcing her mouth open.

  One after another, droplets of blood laced the inside of Nina’s mouth.

  Nina was a vampire, but she had resisted killing all this time. That night, her plan to involve the priest had not been the only thing to die.

  Cast No Shadow

  The priest hurried from the church, and refused to look behind him, for fear that the vampire was tracking him. It didn’t matter which one it was. Mariana, Juliana, or the little girl who had the gall to see him in the church; would all be efficient at killing.

&n
bsp; As he walked, he continued to bless himself. One time, he had an audience with the Pope, who told him that ‘you cannot die whilst blessing yourself.’

  “Maybe not, Your Holiness, but I think your words will be tested this night,” he said to himself.