The Vampire and the Goth Ch. 09

"You're right, the people here are scared. Everyone I spoke to said the village is 'afflicted' and 'cursed', but no one would elaborate. I finally had to speak with the priest."

Vadoma asked, "So what did he say?"

Lasho ran his hand over his face. "The villagers have lost children recently. People have said they've heard a mysterious woman's voice singing outside the homes of the families that have been affected. The people believe it's a ghost or a witch that has been stalking them, but the priest doesn't agree."

"What does the priest think?"

Lasho sighed.

"The priest says that he thinks it's a vampire."

We were both silent

"I don't want you guys to leave camp. I'm afraid of what will happen if they find you."

Vadoma and I looked at each other.

"It's killing kids, Lasho," I said.

"Yes, I know."

"We may be the only ones who can stop it."

Lasho sighed. "I know, but... I have a very bad feeling about this."

Vadoma took Lasho's hand. "We protect children, even gadje children. It's Romanipen."

"What does Romanipen mean?" Elizabeth asked.

"It's the Romani culture, the spirit of their community. Vadoma was saying that Romani law calls for the protection of all children, even those who aren't Romani."

We went out again that night, trying to protect our tribe, but also looking for something that was killing children. After the moon set, as we walked into a clearing, we heard it -- a woman's voice softly singing a lullaby.

"Pod pierzyną czarnej nocy
W blasku srebrnych gwiazd
Gwiżdże swoje kołysanki
Rozśpiewany wiatr,"

The voice trailed off in the dark as Vadoma looked at me.

"That was Polish, wasn't it?"

"Yes, it was," said another vampire as he emerged from the trees.

Vadoma dropped into a defensive pose, although the man made no aggressive move. Instead, he turned to me and said, "I'm surprised you didn't recognize her singing."

"Why would I recognize her?"

"Because she's your sister."

"Oh," I said, completely stunned.

The man turned to Vadoma and put out his hand. "We've met before, but we haven't been introduced. I'm Janek Szymanski, Stosh's brother. I take it you're Vadoma, Stosh's sire?"

"Yes, I am," Vadoma shook his hand and looked over at me, mystified.

"Janek? You're a vampire," I said, in shock.

Janek laughed. "Yes, I am. Can't get anything by you, brother."

"So that voice... was that Jadwiga?"

Janek shook his head slowly and frowned.

"No, that was Maria. I've been tracking her for years to make her tell me what happened to Jadwiga, but she keeps slipping away from me."

"Is she the one that's been killing children?" Vadoma asked

"I believe so," he said sadly.

"Do you know why?"

Janek shrugged. "Maybe. Why don't we sit down and talk? We have a lot to catch up on."

Janek led us to a rock overhanging the river. We sat down together and waited for him to speak. He stared into the river for a moment, then he turned back to us.

"The last time I saw you was the night that you attacked us. You killed Mama and Papa in front of us and you almost killed Maria."

I ran a hand over my face, feeling deeply ashamed.

"Janek - "

"It's okay. I mean, it's not okay, but the night you attacked us was also the night you were sired. I know now that you couldn't control yourself. And I think your sire was trying to save Maria's life somehow, by having someone else turn her."

Janek turned to Vadoma. "You trusted the wrong man."

A look of horror crossed Vadoma's face.

"What happened?" she asked.

Janek stared into the river again, his face an unreadable mask.

"Things didn't... they didn't go well for Maria," he said finally.

We stayed silent, hoping he would continue.

"She was sired by a bad man. Nicolaus made her into a whore. He loved to make her fuck every vampire they came across, whether she wanted to or not. And usually, it was not."

I cringed to hear it. Maria had talked about becoming a nun before she grew into a love-sick teenager.

"I think that's why she goes after kids. She's looking for a way to recover her purity."

"Jesus," Vadoma said

Janek sighed and looked at her with sympathy.

"I believe you were making the best out of a bad situation. I know Stosh attacked us because he was newly sired. And I believe that Maria was driven insane because of the way she was treated. The only one I blame in this is Nicolaus."

I put my arm around Vadoma, and she leaned into my chest and cried. I cried with her. Janek didn't blame us, but we blamed ourselves.

"Maria killed Nicolaus. I don't know how, but after she did, she set out for Lodz. And she went straight back to where we used to live. Our house was gone, but Piotr and Magda built a new house on the property."

"Piotr married Magda?" I asked, surprised. Magda was the only child of the farmer next door. He and my father had worked out a deal for me to marry Magda, combine our properties, and care for our parents as they aged.

Janek chuckled bitterly. "Yes. Papa always meant for you to marry Magda, and after we thought you died, well, it fell to Piotr. It worked out great for her family. Her father got Papa's land, he married off his daughter, and the only condition was that they had to raise us."

"Please tell me they treated you okay."

Janek laughed. "Oh yes, they were good to us. I know you didn't like Magda, but she was a good mother. And Piotr took care of us without complaint. I think it was because they couldn't have their own kids. We were always clean, we never went to bed hungry and we were almost never sick."

I sighed from relief. Knowing that Janek and Jadwiga were raised with love helped to assuage some of my guilt.

"It wasn't a good situation, but it was the best we could have hoped for. Until Maria came back."

Janek's face darkened again.

"Jadwiga saw her first. She was getting water for Magda, and she saw Maria in the trees. At the time, we still believed everybody died in the fire, you, Mama, Papa, and Maria. So when Jadwiga said she saw Maria in the trees, and that she still looked like she did when we were little, Magda said she was crazy. She and Piotr laughed at her, and for a moment, even I thought she was just making up stories again. But she seemed so sure of it. She told the story like she believed it, and I just knew she was telling the truth."

Janek rubbed his face with his hands again.

I felt compelled to ask. "How did she kill Piotr?"

"You don't want to know."

"I want to know, Janek. What happened to Piotr?"

Janek tightened his jaw. "I let her in. I opened the door and invited her in..." His voice broke into choking sobs.

I grabbed Janek and held him while he sobbed on my shoulder. I continued to hold him while he tried to speak.

"I mean, she was our sister, right? Our sister! We thought she died with Mom and Dad. And I was...so happy to see her... so relieved... We all were. Except for Magda. Magda knew what she was. When she started to scream that Maria was a vampire, Maria picked her up by the throat... and shook her so hard... she cracked her skull. Piotr told Maria to stop and tried to order her out of the house... but she wouldn't let him. She broke his back and she told him she was going to have her family again, one way or another, and she was going to start with the twins..."

Janek sat back on his heels. His face was grey, and he was shaking violently.

"Janek..."

"She drank my blood first, so I couldn't stop her from hurting Jadwiga. Then, she went after Jadwiga. Maria offered to change Piotr, but he refused. He called her a murderous bitch and told her to fuck off. So Maria made us drink his blood, and then Magda's."

Janek choked down a sob.

"Magda's last words were the Lord's prayer. And Piotr's last words... they were... forgiveness for us... I killed our brother, Stosh, and I killed Magda. And the last thing he said was that he loved and forgave us."

I choked down a sob.

"It wasn't you, Janek. It was Maria. Maria made this happen."

Janek wrapped his arms around himself and rocked his body back and forth as he sobbed. I reached for him, but he recoiled in horror.

"No! Don't touch me! Please... just don't touch me..."

I sat back, unable to do anything, and waited for Janek to calm down while wiping my own tears away.

Eventually, Janek got ahold of himself.

"She made us both vampires, Stosh, Jadwiga, and me. She said we would never be separated again. She said she was getting her family back and it would all be better."

"Oh God, Janek."

We sat in silence for a while, then Vadoma spoke.

"What happened after she made you vampires?"

"We went looking for Stosh. Nicolaus told her that Stosh was still alive and that he was probably traveling with you and your tribe. So, we tried to find him. And everywhere we went, there were dead children in our wake. Eventually, we figured out that Maria was killing them."

Vadoma was openly crying now.

"Why would she do that, Janek?"

"I don't really know. I think she thought that if she somehow sired a child, she could reverse everything that happened to us. So she dragged us all over Europe trying to find little kids to sire. But they always died. I guess they're not strong enough."

"No, they aren't," Vadoma said, her voice thick with emotion and tears running down her cheeks

Janek nodded. He sighed deeply.

"We couldn't take it anymore. Jadwiga thought that if we found you, the three of us could somehow heal her. But we didn't know where you were, and we didn't know how you might have changed from what happened to you. Would you be as crazy as Maria? Could we take that risk? I didn't think so. So we decided to end it ourselves."

"What happened?"

He sighed. "We turned her over to the witch hunters. I thought they would burn her at the stake, but we ran into her about five years later outside Prague. Jadwiga apologized to her! I walked away from them in disgust. By the time I realized what a mistake I'd made, they were gone."

"Did Jadwigs help her kill anyone?"

"No, and I haven't seen any evidence she's traveling with Maria," Janek said, sadly.

"How do you know Jadwiga is still alive?" Vadoma asked.

"Jadwiga is my twin, and I still feel her. I know she's still alive. I don't really know how, but I know it's true."

Vadoma nodded. "A twin would know."

He smiled. "Yes. I can still feel her spirit. But first I have to find her."

Vadoma responded, "We have to find Maria. If she's killing children, she needs to be stopped."

Janek and I agreed. "We can use Stosh to bring her to us."

I didn't relish the thought of being used to trap my homicidal sister, but I knew that it might be our best bet to end this.

"Well, first we need to get back to camp so we're not exposed to too much sunlight. Janek, why don't you come with us?" Vadoma asked.

"What kind of camp do you have?"

"Your brother and I live with my family. We're Romani, and we have shelter. Our people protect us during the day and we protect them at night."

Janek gave me a sly smile. "So you live with the Gypsies now, słychać bracie?"

"They've been very good to me, braciszku. Better than I've deserved."

Janek stopped and put his hand on my cheek.

"I don't blame you for what happened."

I sighed.

"You don't know what it means to me to hear you say that."

Janek smiled and hugged me.