“That people,” I said putting my hands up in the air, “is how get rid of vampires, or “demons” as you call them.”
It was then I noticed how dirty my linens were, “Does anyone around here make clothing?” I asked.
“I know someone who does it a few towns over. I can take you there after I eat,” she said, “Would you like to join me?” she asked.
A lot of places over the years got rid of the Hall and started eating in their homes, much like Sodom. So, I took Noemi up on her offering and wondered what type food they hand there. I noticed lots of sheep and chickens running around. Noemi walked up to a door that was angled into the ground and opened it. We walked down a few short steps that opened up into a room that had been dug out. There were fruits, vegetables and various meats all around. The meats were hung up off the ground and the vegetables were arranged in an organized manner on the ground.
“This is my cellar, we each have our own. I mostly slaughter, garden and building things, it’s how I live,” Noemi said.
“I kill vampires, that’s how I live,” I said.
She grabbed a small section of meat, about foot long and round, that was hung up and tied with twine in one-inch sections. She grabbed some, what I found out to be, butternut squash, onions and zucchini. She had a firepit set up outside her little cement-like hut. The hut itself was a decent size, but she appeared to like cooking outside. She got the fire going and got a flat, rounded rock and a rock that had been hollowed out, it looked much like a wok. She chopped up the onions, squash and zucchini and tossed them in the wok-like-rock and placed it in the fire. She placed the rounded rock on the fire and waited a few minutes. While she was waiting, she cut the meat up in one-inch sections, then put it on the rounded rock.
The meat started to sizzle, she went in her hut and came out with a small box and opened it. She pulled out three small bowls and then went back to her cellar and came out with some herbs. She threw them in the three separate bowls and started to smash them with a makeshift pestle. She then tossed the herbs, separately and with different measurements, on the meat. A robust scent hit my nose. I loved her focus; how meticulous she was. She flipped the meat and repeated the seasoning process. She threw some of seasoning in the vegetables that were cooking. She worked quickly and accurately, stirring the vegetables, checking the meat then finally serving it to me on a wooden plate.
“Do you need food to survive Feher Demon?” she asked.
“No, I don’t, I eat because it tastes good, but the food just goes into me. I’ve never have had to go piss or shit like you mortals.”
“Why are you helping us?”
“I’m not meaning to, I hate vampires and if that means I have to deal mortals to kill them, I will,” I said, taking a bite of food, “This is good!”
“Thank you! What did mortals do to you to make you hate them so much?”
“That,” I shoved some food in my mouth, “you will never know.”
She looked sad, took a bite of food and spoke with her mouth full, “Where you going after this?”
“The next town in any given direction.”
“Can I come, I have two horses behind my hut, we can travel together, I’m not well liked here anyways,” she said.
“Why? You are a nice person,” I said, “and you can cook good.”
“I’m too manly for them, I do everything a man can do, just better, even love a woman,” she stopped and looked at me, moving her short, cropped hair off to the side of her face.
“Ahh, Lilith’s influence still lives on,” I said and chuckled.
“Lilith was real?”
“Yes, she was, she no longer is.”
“How do you know?”
“I killed her, she’s the main reason the mortals betrayed me, and Derium, my brother was right by her side.”
“Hmm, so the stories are true. So, I should assume that the man-wolf is real as well?”
“That is correct. He is my other brother, we are the spawn of Lucifer.”
“That’s very intriguing.”
“You aren’t scared?”
“Of what, you would have killed me if you wanted to,” she said, licking her lips.
“You can come, if you die, you die, if you get changed, I will kill you,” I said, licking my fingers.
“I wouldn’t ask for anything else,” she smiled and set her plate down next to the firepit, “I haven’t named my other horse, you can if you want.”
It was the first time in a long time I thought of Wretch, Wretch before I knew he was Lucifer, “No, that’s okay, I don’t get attached to animals, for reasons I will explain to you in time.”
“Well, I don’t have all the time, like you have,” she laughed.
“Why are being so nice to me?” I asked, wondering.
“We are outcasts, outcasts need to stick together.”
“If you say so!’ I said and set my “dishes” down.
“I do.”
She got up and I followed her to behind her hut. She had a white horse, and a white and brown horse, I took a liking to white one, of course and hoped she was going to let me ride him, my hopes were accurate.
“The white one is yours, if you aren’t going to name it, I will,” she said.
“By all means,” I gestured to her.
“Hmmm, I think the name Sabor will work. What do you think?”
“I’m being honest, I really don’t care, you could name him shit for all I care.”
“Your attitude isn’t very pleasing right now,” she said her tone let me know she was getting upset with me.
“I’m sorry,” I said, but I didn’t mean it, I didn’t care to name the horse.
I watched Noemi, get up on her horse. Her horse knelt and let her get on, mine just looked at me as Noemi laughed. So, I jumped up and straddled Sabor. He reared back and threw me off and I hit the ground hard. I laid there shocked for second then got up.
“You filthy creature!” I said with anger in my voice.
“He knows you don’t like him, maybe you should be nicer, maybe try scratching his head.”
“I really don’t want to do that, but I don’t feel like walking everywhere,” I said.
“Put your hand out, let him smell it, he will come to you,” she said and trotted around.
I put my hand out slowly as Sabor just looked at it at first. Then after a few minutes, Sabor stepped up to me and put his head on my hand. I then proceeded to scratch between his eyes, he neighed, and it didn’t sound nearly as bad.as Wretch. He didn’t kneel again so I could climb up. I landed a little bit softer on Sabor this time and he didn’t buck me off.
We left after that, Noemi and me, with just the clothes on our backs. We went next to the river and followed it for a while. We then came to a point in our travels where Noemi had to use the bathroom. She was discreet unlike the women from before. She went behind a tree after a few minutes, came back with blushed look on her face.
We traveled another hour before we came to a point where we had to cross the Danube river. I wasn’t to sure about it, I didn’t want to get wet. I kept my mouth shut because I was enjoying the peace and we soon came to much larger village of people in a place now known as Tolna.
It kind of reminded of Sodom, a central fire pit, but with better and bigger huts. I got stares from people of course, but Noemi didn’t seem to mind it. I should have covered up, but I really didn’t care if people came after me, I could stop them, I could only be hurt my other immortals, which at the time were just vampires and werewolves, or so I thought.
Noemi got off her horse and told me to wait outside, the person she got clothes from didn’t like strangers. She was inside for a while and I was getting more and more stares, finally I broke the silence.
“Have you seen any graves just show up around the edges of your village?” I asked.
“It speaks,” a villager said. The villager was missing her teeth on the left side of her mouth. Her hair was dark, oily and scraggly, and on
e eye was bigger than the other that looked off to the side, when she looked at you.
“You’re more of an “It” than I am,” I said, “Now I ask again, have you seen any graves show up around the edge of your village?”
“That’s my mom you just said that to,” I heard someone else say and looked to see a man, the size of a small mountain, standing, looking at me with hate and hurt in his eyes, hurt for me anyways. He was tan, had long brown hair and had it braided behind his head. He wore brown pants and no shirt, his arms rested slightly angled up from his sides.
“And your point would be?” I asked, not really caring if it were his mom, sister or daughter.
“Nobody talks to my mom that way,” he said and took a step forward.
I hopped off Sabor, “What do you think you’re going to do about it?”
He screamed and charged at me, I used my speed to dodge him then quickly kicked him in the back of knee, which brought him down to a knee. I then used my strength to apply a chokehold. I didn’t want to kill the guy, just let him know he wasn’t the scariest thing around. He didn’t give up though, he fought until he passed out.
The crowd just watched in disbelief, but they watched in silence, too afraid to speak out, “If I wanted to kill him, I would have, I’m trying help you, idiots,” I said and let his body drop, “Now, I ask again, are there any graves that suddenly appeared around the edges of this village?”
“Yes!” an elderly man spoke up, He had gray, curly hair, a haze over his eyes but a soft smile. He wore a black vest with a long sleeve, white shirt and matching black pants, “We have been cursed a long time. Nobody ever wants to mess with them. Then at night people, sheep, all go missing.”
“You must dig the graves up at during the day. If you encounter them at night, dismember them, and burn them and leave them out for the sun. You have to fight in crowds with them at night,” I said.
The crowd chit-chatted and stared at me then I heard Noemi’s voice, “Causing trouble already Feher Demon?”
Then I spoke up, “My name Roldian, I am here to slay these vampires. If you cause me no harm, I will cause you no harm.”
“It’s true, he has helped me in Baja, we have no demons there,” Noemi said and handed me garments.
“How do you know they will fit?” I asked puzzled.
“He looked at you through the door, he knows his measurements.”
“How did he make them so fast?” I asked sill puzzled.
“He makes up clothes in advance different sizes, all the time. He saw you, grabbed what he had.”
There was a little frustration on her voice, “Thank you,” I said, “There are graves here, I can’t leave without showing them.”
So, we asked them to show where the graves were at. The big fella was still resting comfortably at my feet when the elder with the glazed over eyes, ironically, led the way. We walked backed a little the way we came and then veered to the right, just before river and then walked into a heavily wooded area and down a hillside. There were sixteen fresh graves.
“I’m glad you all brought something to dig with, this is going to take some time, even with my strength and speed,”
They sat back and watched as I dug up the first grave. With it being heavily wooded I had to drag the body out into an opening before the sun hit it. Flames and screams shot out and gasps from the villagers came to my ears. “You might want to get busy, instead of standing there” I said to them and they slowly got started.
I dug up three more graves as the villagers dug up the rest. The whole time I was thinking about my new clothes, my old ones stunk, as so did I. I finished up my last grave and then told Noemi I was going to the river, she then tossed me a rounded, wax disk and told me to wash with. It was the firs bar of soap I had ever seen.
I got on Sabor and patted the side of his neck, then I went out to the river. I stripped down, taking the soap disk with me and first washed my dirty clothes, the soap had musky and lilac smell to it. I walked the clothes up to a rock on the bank and left them there to dry, as I headed back into a swift part of the water. I went down waist deep and started scrubbing with the soap.
I then noticed a school of fish swimming around me about five inches away from me. Then there was turtle, massive in size and a tail like a alligator, but with a little mace-like tail. I took a step towards them and they swam off. They came back a few minutes later and then I walked a little down stream and they followed. I then decided to sit down in the river. The turtle came up beside me first, the fish swam around me, I could feel them brush up against me every now and then.
I heard a splash behind me and Sabor was in the water, splashing around, it was almost like he was jealous of the fish and turtle being around me, “It’s okay boy, you have nothing to worry about,” I said, then got out.
I walked over to the new clothes Noemi gave to me and looked at them. They were definitely white, I put the pants on first, no underwear back in those days, they fit well, bagged out at the legs and then fit snug around the ankles. There were little draw strings so you can tighten the cloth around the ankles. There was a white long-sleeve shirt and, white vest, the shirt though had a surprise, a hood. I liked it, it helped hide my white hair and then two purple disks fell out, much like the red ones I used to have. When I picked them up, they had wire fashioned to them. One wire between the two pieces and a wire off each piece. They fashioned to my face much like glasses, and fit better than the red ones I had. I put the hood on and noticed a flap with buttons and two slits on the other side of the hood. The flap fit over my mouth and button to the other side off the hood.
“I had him add a few things!” I heard Noemi say and when I turned around, she stood there naked. She was every bit as chiseled as I was. She had a very muscular chest for a woman, muscles formed a V at her waist much like mine and if not for a visible vagina, she could have easily had passed as guy, “Szappan!” she said and held out her hands. I assumed she wanted the soap disk, so I tossed it to her and looked away.
“Don’t be shy Roldian, I wasn’t when I was watching you. You are as white as snow,” she laughed.
“You watched me?”
“Curiosity, if I weren’t into women, I’d be into you. I like your muscles….all of them,” she said and walked by me, bumping me with her hip, with a smile on her face.
I had no desire after Lilith to ever touch a woman again, the thought hadn’t crossed my mind up until that point. I watched as she walked by, her tone ass firming up with each step. I oddly found her very attractive, but Sabor snorted and took my attention away.
“I’m starting to think you are Lucifer,” I said, expecting him to change into Lucifer, but he didn’t.
I took my mouth flap and glasses off and after Noemi bathed, we headed back to Tolna, where the big, sleeping beauty, was up. He just gave me a look and walked away, its what was best for him. They had meat cooking over a fire when I we got to the center. They had other stuff cooking as well, I didn’t see or smell any potatoes, so my interest was limited.
The villagers cheered me and Noemi as we rode by them. We got off our horses and mingled with the villagers. The big buffoon never talked to me but made passes at Noemi, as I just chuckled a little bit. The villagers handed out wooden plates, nothing of fancy design, just roughly rounded, so you could put food on. The villagers let Noemi and I load up our plates first.
The meat had a nice smoky flavor to it, everything else was unseasoned or maybe I was just spoiled by Noemi’s cooking. They passed around a liquid, that was neither wine, beer or any other alcoholic beverage today, but it had an alcoholic taste to it. I drank two or three cups just because it tasted great but had no effect on me. Noemi was drunk after two and the creeper buffoon was upon her, so kept my eyes on him. She was definitely drunk as she playfully patted his chest and squeezed his biceps. Then another villager bumped into me, spilling my food on the ground. They apologized as they picked up the mess they made. I then turned my attention back Noemi and
the buffoon, and they were gone.
Something didn’t sit right with me and strained my ears to listen, I could hear the rustling of bushes beyond the lights cast. I moved fast and went looking for Noemi. After a quick search, I saw the buffoon face down, ass in the air, moving about, next to a tree. I thought Noemi was under him but as I got closer, I saw puddle of blood under him. He gasped and turned to his side, he was holding his throat, which was slashed open. I looked next to him and Noemi was standing up, torn shirt, busted lip, bloodied knife in hand and wild-eyed, sinister smile, look on her face.
“Are you okay?” I asked, but didn’t try to reach out for her.
“Oh, I’m fine, he put up a little bit of a fight, but I got the better of him. I knew he was a rapist from the get-go, it’s something I like to do, hunt them down, make them feel useless.”
“Were you…?” I went to go ask a question but Noemi answered it for me before I could finish.
“Yes, by my own father, then two nights later, I slit his throat and I found joy in watching him bleed out.”
“I killed those who raped me,” I said, not to one-up her, but to let her know she wasn’t alone.
“You were raped?”
“Yes, by two, whole towns,” I said. We went and sat down by a tree and we exchanged out stories in greater detail. I understood her hate for most men, and she understood my hate for everyone. I blamed Lilith for putting thoughts like that in people’s heads a hundred years earlier and they still thought it was okay to do.
“What should we do with his body?” Noemi asked, “I don’t to leave it here for them to find.”
“I will take care of it,” I said, knowing his body would be too hard for her to move.
“SABOR!” I called and after a minute, he came trotting through the bushes. I tied the buffoon’s ankles together then climbed up on Sabor. Together we headed to the river, I could have carried him, but I didn’t want to get my new clothes dirty. We waded out to the middle of river, where I let go of the rope that was tied to the buffoon. We watched a little as the body floated downstream, then headed back to where Noemi was. She had her horse, but wasn’t on it, she was patting its side and talking to it.
The Godsend Backfire: The Beginning Page 9
