by Lumi Laura
CHAPTER 15 Bounty Hunters
Alex walked back to her grandmother's home in a daze. The bright sun, peeking around puffy white clouds, hurt her eyes, and the sharp smell of the pine forest assaulted her senses. She was shaken by the scolding Alu had given her and trembled all the way back through the forest. She felt attached to those inside the cavern, if not Alucius Kardasian. However, she also sensed a strange attraction for him, and it frightened her. Catalin had said she'd be vulnerable to evil, and she knew that this was what he meant.
Once home, she sought out her grandmother, and although she wouldn't say why, held her close for several moments and even shed tears. Nălucă came to sniff her clothing and rub against her leg.
"Perhaps you should meet with Father Zosimos again," her grandmother suggested. "He isn't what you might think. He is a wise man and will understand, perhaps even be able to help. He is dogmatic in many ways, but his knowledge goes far beyond that of the Church."
"Perhaps another time."
"Have your friends upset you?" her grandmother asked.
"No, Bunică," she answered. "I've not seen them since yesterday."
"If you won't tell me, and you're not interested in seeing Father Zosimos either, go to them. That's what friends are for."
Alex bathed, put on a low-cut blouse — new cleavage playtime — short skirt, just a little above the knee.
Her grandmother saw her to the door. "Be careful out this evening," she said. "The people of Sinaia have reached a point of near hysteria. First, the rapist on the loose for weeks rattled not only Sinaia but also small communities all along the Vale. And now the news that he has been killed by a vampire and another man attacked have brought this community close to the edge."
Alex felt worse about her ordeal with Alu and was somewhat less than concerned about the vampire scare. She scurried out the door in a hurry to meet her friends. She tried to push back the arousal she still felt from seeing all those vampire bodies locked in passion. I'm just a royal bitch in heat, she thought.
No one was there to meet her outside Bucegi. She stood out front waiting, but heard a ruckus down the street, and shouts of "Vampire!" Moving quickly along the sidewalk, she noticed a sizable group gathered to watch what she thought was a fistfight. She pushed her way through the crowd. At the center of the commotion was Stefan Stanescu and another man, who had two people, a man and a woman, in handcuffs face down on the ground. Stefan had his knee in the back of the man and appeared ready to drive a stake through him. The crowd urged him on.
Alex stepped out from the crowd and stood over Stefan. "You can't do this!" she shouted. "I won't let you!" Alex recognized the two, realized that they were vampires, and yet wasn't convinced they should be killed. They were Rutfen and Emelia, the two who'd tasted her in the cavern.
"Stake her too," someone shouted from the crowd. "Yeah, take out the vampire lover," another added. They had reached a point of murderous frenzy.
Alex realized that she'd acted on impulse. Now her life was also in danger. Why had she stepped forward so quickly? Had she already assimilated into the vampire community?
Stefan looked up at Alex. "I've been chasing these two for years. They are vampires."
Stefan's colleague turned to face Alex. "Cuff her, Stefan," the man said. "She's a vampire too."
The man was Radu Cuza, her second victim the night she killed the rapist. She looked away. If he recognizes me, I'm doomed, she thought.
"No," said Stefan. "I've talked to Zosimos about her. He's tested and found her clean. I've seen her out in daylight."
Emelia looked up at Alex. "We are not vampires," she said. "Help us, Marie. Help us." She lowered her voice. "We're no longer vampires."
More shouts of condemnation came from the bloodthirsty crowd. Alex wondered how she'd ever get herself out of this mess. She heard more in the crowd mumbling for murder.
Then a different voice, a familiar one, came from close behind Alex. It was directed at the crowd. "No! You can't do this. You'll have to go through us too." It was a tall young man in a leather jacket, shortcut beard. Mikhail, thought Alex. A girl stood alongside him. Jaklin. Both facing the crowd.
"Two more goth creatures!" someone shouted. "Stake them also, particularly that goth Ruski!"
Alex knew she had to think fast, for her own life, for those of Rutfen and Emelia, and now for Jaklin and Mikhail. She knew that Emelia and Rutfen had been vampires when she met them in the cavern. What could have changed them?
"Test them," said Alex. "If they are vampires, we'll walk away." The presence of her two friends greatly bolstered her confidence.
"Do what you want?" asked Stefan. "I'm not turning them loose, Oxford or no Oxford."
Alex pulled her wooden cross from within her blouse. "Kiss the cross," she commanded.
Emelia grabbed it with both hands, slobbered all over it, and held it to her breast. "Christ Almighty! Save us!" she yelled.
A little over the top, Alex thought and wondered, What on Earth is going on? She had to pull it from Emelia's hands. She handed it to Rutfen.
His head jerked back, obviously afraid.
"Stake him!" shouted someone.
Alex hoped it was just a reflex. "Take it!" she looked daggers at him.
And he did. He took the cross, first with one hand, timidly, and then with the other.
"Kiss it!" she commanded.
He gave it a big smack, held the cross up for the crowd to see, and then handed it back to Alex.
Stefan stood staring at Alex. "What is this?" he said. "What sort of wizardry are you working?" He looked at the crowd. "Another cross!" he shouted. "Who has another cross?"
An old lady stepped forward with a silver one the size of a platter. Alex took it from her, felt its weight and wondered how she could carry such a thing. Alex kissed her on the cheek, and raised the shiny cross high in the air for the crowd to see, her own hand tingling at its touch. Light flashed off it. Already, the crowd had begun to quieten.
Alex turned to Emelia and Rutfen. Then as she'd seen priests do in church services, she touched the cross to Rutfen's forehead and had him kiss it. She did the same with Emelia. "Now rise," she said. Alex turned to the crowd. "This gentleman has made a mistake. An understandable one, but this should be a lesson to all here. Life is precious. Judgment and execution are not for a mob. Leave prosecution to the authorities."
Alex handed the cross back to the old woman and turned on Stefan. "How many mistakes have you made in the past?"
"But I knew they were vampires. Why were you so sure they weren't?"
"Because they said they weren't."
Stefan and Radu removed the handcuffs, and Emelia and Rutfen quickly disappeared down the street. But Stefan wasn't through with Alex. "There's something strange about you, girl. I don't know what yet, but something's not right about you."
"I'm not as much a mystery as you think."
Radu said, "Then tell me why the female called you by name?"
"Marie is not my name," she lied.
"We'll see about that," said Stefan. "A lot of strange goings on here. Radu has been bitten again, but he still hasn't changed. He thinks he's invincible."
"Sounds like a good deal to me," said Alex.
"The rapist, Petru Balc, has been watched closely in the morgue," said Stefan. "He hasn't changed into a vampire either."
"I thought they also had to feed on the vampire."
Stefan faltered. "Well, yes. But the one that got Radu the second time was one of those new feral vampires. He should have changed anyway."
Alex turned her back on both bounty hunters and quickly left with Jaklin and Mikhail in tow. All the while, she was pondering what Stefan had just said about Petru and Radu. She'd bitten both, and Emelia and Rutfen had tasted her blood as well, and pronounced her a vampire, but somehow with a warm, spicy edge. And now neither was a vampire. Alex agreed that something strange was happening, and to her chagrin, she seemed to be right in the middle of it.
