Carpathian Vampire, When You've Never Known Love

by Lumi Laura

CHAPTER 17 Bunică

  The next morning Nălucă was still sleeping beside Alex, and her grandmother wasn't up. Thinking it unusual, she went to check on her. She never closed her door at night, but Alex knocked on the doorframe and then walked into the room.

  "Bunică?"

  Alex could see her grandmother's head on the pillow turned away, just as she'd been when Alex had checked on her last night, so she stepped to the far side of the bed, and looked down at her. She seemed to be peacefully sleeping, but Alex didn't notice any movement or sign that she was breathing. She called once again, "Bunicuţă?" But she didn't stir. Alex placed her hand on her grandmother's shoulder and shook her. Still no response. Alex tried to turn her over but could tell that she was already stiff.

  At first, it seemed so normal, just a person motionless in bed. Then a strange feeling crept over Alex, and she knew. Her grandmother was dead. The cat. Yes, her grandmother had been dead when she came home last night.

  Alex went to the window, pulled back the curtain and tied the sash. Sunlight spilled into the room. She went to her grandmother and shook her again. She felt her throat for a pulse. None. She went back to the window and closed the curtain.

  Alex stood facing the wall. She heard birds fussing outside the window, children's laughter in the distance. A dog barked. She'd never felt so utterly alone. She remembered the night she came home after killing a man. She thought she'd felt lonely then. But it was nothing compared to this. She felt for the cross beneath her blouse, squeezed it with her fingers. She pulled it out, and took it to her grandmother, touched it to her forehead.

  Alex went to her own bedroom, picked up her cellphone and called her mother. When she answered, Alex said, "Bunică isn't feeling well."

  "Is she seeing a doctor?" her mother asked.

  "No, Mamă. She's beyond that."

  "Don't be silly. If she's sick, she needs a doctor."

  "She's not moving, and she's stiff."

  "What did you do to her?"

  "Mamă, Bunică died during the night."

  "Honey, are you sure? Is she breathing? How fast is her pulse?"

  "Mamă! She's stiff. She has no pulse. It happened during the night."

  Her cellphone clicked dead. Alex walked downstairs and into the kitchen. She didn't know what to do, couldn't think it through. It seemed just a few seconds after her mother hung up on her that she heard someone banging on the door.

  It was Father Zosimos, huffing and puffing. "Hurry, child. Where is she?"

  Alex led him upstairs to her grandmother's bedroom. He felt of her, then raised his arms in the air and looked toward Heaven. "Why, Father? Why?" Great anguish came from his voice. Then he turned quickly and came to Alex. "Oh, dear child," he said. "I'm so sorry you had to be the one to find her. Come. We must get you downstairs, and find someone to stay with you. A nun is on her way."

  "But Father. I don't want to leave her. She should never be alone, particularly in death."

  "Oh dear Heavens! What am I to do with you. You're stronger than I am. But then, she was precious to me... beyond words," he stammered. "We've been expecting this for sometime. She was afraid that she wouldn't live long enough to see you again. But she also feared that she'd have a stroke and be a burden to you."

  "I would have preferred the stroke, if she could still be here."

  Father Zosimos smiled. "Child, you certainly loved her. But this was her final gift to you. A sudden death."

  "Tell me what to do," she said. "I feel so useless."

  "It's not for you to do. You've been her great pleasure in life. That's something no one else could have been. Your job is through. In death, she's my ward."

  "Please, let me do something. May I say the Lord's Prayer?"

  "Together. We'll say it together."

  They began, "Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name..." All the while, Alex felt a great calm come to her. The words flowed with a significance she'd not before known. "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen." There. It's done, she thought. At least I helped that much.

  Father Zosimos turned to Alex. "May I use your cellphone?" he asked.

  She handed it to him.

  "If you must do something, get white sheets and cover all the mirrors and pictures. Stop all the clocks."

  He pushed the buttons on her cellphone. "Zosimos," he said. "Yes, yes. Listen to me. It's Margareta. She's passed on. Yes. Yes. Immediately." He hung up and turned to Alex. "The officials will be here in just moments. Now do as I've instructed, if you wish." Then he pushed the cellphone buttons once again, and Alex heard him talking to her mother.

  Alex went to get Nălucă, and then sat in a chair close to her grandmother. The nun arrived, and since Alex had forgotten, the young woman went about covering the mirrors and pictures. She unplugged the electric clock in the bedroom and stilled the pendulum in the big clock in the living room downstairs.

  Alex held Nălucă until the authorities arrived, which was well over an hour. Before they removed her grandmother, Father Zosimos had Alex taken from the bedroom and down into the living room. Alex stood at the large window staring out into the distant mountains and valleys of Sinaia. It wasn't until they closed the door, her grandmother having been taken, that Alex realized she was still in her bathrobe.

  Father Zosimos found her wandering through the garden with the hose, trying to water the tomatoes. She'd forgotten to turn on the water. He'd advised the old man and woman caretakers and the maid of their employer's death.

  Finally, Alex's father called to say that they'd be there tomorrow morning. He'd called Gavril and Sonya, and they would also be coming the following day.

  Alex said, "Okay," and hung up. She seemed to come out of her daze. She called Jaklin. "This is Missy," she said. "I need help." She gave her directions to her grandmother's home.

  A couple of minutes later, Jaklin and Mikhail arrived. Alex was out front, still holding Nălucă, when they rode up on mountain bikes.

  "What's wrong?" asked Jaklin. "What's happened?"

  Alex said nothing, but led them inside where Father Zosimos was taking care of some last minute details. "Good," he said. "Now she'll have company. I must return to the Monastery."

  "She won't tell us what happened," said Mikhail.

  "She's distracted. Her bunică died. Stay with her as long as you can, and bring her to the Monastery when you have to leave. We'll take care of her tonight." Then he left.

  Alex sat on the sofa stroking Nălucă with Jaklin next to her. Mikhail pulled up a chair.

  "My name is Alexandra Marie Eidyn," she told them, "but you may still call me Missy. I'm an orphan, it seems." But then she shook her head. "No, my parents will be here tomorrow along with my sister's family and my brother. Or maybe they're coming the next day."

  Then she fell into Jaklin's arms. Nălucă jumped down and scurried upstairs.

  "Bunicuţă has died," she said. "I don't know why, but I can't cry."

  Mikhail then set on the other side of Alex, and he held her in his arms and kissed her face. Jaklin held her again for a while, then went into the kitchen and fixed a pot of tea.

  Alex took a couple of sips, then rose and said, "I have something to show you."

  She led them out the backdoor, across the yard, and into the edge of the forest. She pointed to the remains of a building. "This is where the gazebo stood," she said. She stepped off into the dirt and fallen leaves at the end of the old foundation and said, "This is where I found the body, or at least I thought it was a body. I remember it smelled really bad. It was Velinar. She grabbed me, and we staggered back into the gazebo. Only it wasn't just a foundation then. The gazebo was really here."

  She looked at both of them, first one and then the other.

  "I swear," she said. "The gazebo was here. And then Velinar bit me. She said, 'Dear Lord, forgive me,' and then bit me." Alex rubbed her neck. "Catalin appeared out of nowhere. He stopped Velinar because she was taking a
ll my blood. Velinar disappeared, and Catalin told me he was sorry. He then disappeared, and I fell here on the ground outside the gazebo, and passed out. Or at least I thought I passed out. Alu Kard, the old vampire I saw a couple of days ago in the cavern, said that I died, but he revived me."

  Alex stopped and looked first at Jaklin and then Mikhail. "I swear. It really happened, just like that."

  "How did your grandmother die?" asked Mikhail.

  "Her heart just stopped, they think," Alex answered. "She had heart trouble. I didn't know."

  "We're really sorry," said Jaklin. "You must have been very close."

  "I spent a lot of weekends and summers with her. I'm like her. The rest of my family are strangers."

  "We'll help in any way we can. Just tell us what you need," said Mikhail.

  "Is any of this real?" Alex asked. "The gazebo doesn't exist. Have I lost my mind?"

  "The events were real enough," said Mikhail. "I can't answer for what you say has happened to you, but you did save the lives of two people last night. The gazebo... Well, that's another matter."

  "Was I really with you last night?" Alex asked.

  "Yes," said Jaklin. "You were with us, and you loved us, and we loved you. I'm not sure about the gazebo. But I'd bet everything happened as you told us, just now."

  "Am I a vampire?"

  "No," said Mikhail. "You're simply a beautiful young woman, whose grandmother just passed away."

  Jaklin held one of her hands, and Mikhail held the other. They hugged her.

  "You must take me to the Monastery now," Alex said. "I'll not be any more trouble to you today."

  "But we'd like to stay with you as long as we can," said Jaklin. She took out her cellphone and turned to Mikhail. "I'm calling work. I'll take off the rest of today and tomorrow."

  They went back inside, and Jaklin reheated the tea. They sat on the sofa, and first one held her, then the other. Nălucă came and sat in her lap. Alex said, "This is the little critter that caused all the trouble."

  "Spend tonight with us, not at the Monastery," said Jaklin. "You can return in the morning, before your family arrives."