Blueblood 4: Dracula - 5. Are You Dracula?

We ended the night…well, it was practically sunup when we got back to our house. We had told Eva we wouldn’t be up for breakfast and to not worry about making anything.

Sliding into bed that night, Colin pulled me close, resting his head against mine. He smiled as he let out a breath. “This evening was…” he didn’t say anything for a few seconds.

I chuckled. “Unexpected?”

Colin laughed. “It was that.”

Looking in his emerald eyes, I kissed him gently. “Tonight was interesting. I never thought someone could manage to keep his humanity and become a threat to us.”

Colin shrugged. “A vampire feeds, but the only requirement is the subject being fed on has blood.” He thought a moment. “It’s when there is a choice the vampire becomes picky. Deciding to feed on a human is the first selection when there is the luxury of a choice. Then the choice becomes, are they fit?” He shook his head. “The idea of stability mentally is not even considered.”

“Iilya is a holdover from an era that was full of paranoia.” I sighed.

Colin smiled and chuckled lightly. “I think you were right when you said that other than distrust, we have a tendency to fixate on a subject.”

I nodded. “I’m guilty.”

Colin looked surprised. “You are?”

“But I was that way before I was turned.” I smiled. “I fixated on you.”

Colin smiled at that and kissed me. “That, I think, is okay.” He shrugged again. “I’m fixated on you, so, we’re even.”

If Eva and Greta were suspicious about us, we were gone mostly at night and they didn’t say anything about it. We patrolled the next night.

Gabriella frowned. “I’m feeling quite odd about this village.” She commented to no one and anyone.

Alex looked puzzled at her. “Why?”

“I hadn’t read Dracula until I knew we were coming here.” She said. “I got the book when I knew and…” she chuckled, “…I began to think of this village as vampire central.”

“So, what’s odd?” I asked.

“I just thought there were traces of vampires all around.” She sniffed the cool, but pleasant summer air of the evening. “I’m barely picking up on even the slightest trace of any vampire.”

“They could have been scared into hiding when Iilya came after them,” Colin said and then grinned. “As if they didn’t trust enough as it is, they were more careful.”

Gabriella nodded. “I’m just not sensing much.”

“Perhaps they are mostly in the outlying rural areas?” I suggested. “Those that would prey on humans would be detected. Those like Alin that prey on cows wouldn’t.”

Amasis, who almost never spoke up about too much, cleared his throat. “Sorry, but…you’re forgetting about the god aspect.”

Alex frowned. “God aspect? We don’t worship vampires.”

Amasis smiled. “Don’t you? Other than the God you chose to worship. This Jesus Christ or another Holy Man...Since I’ve come out in this world, it seems to me that you do.” He smiled. “Devon showed me various movies about Dracula and various themed movies after that. There were many other movies and even performances on a weekly schedule that seemed to idolize vampires. I’ve seen a lot of writings about the subject. This…Anne Rice, Stephen King. There were movies, The Twilight Sagas…” he chuckled. “I admit I liked the Buffy, The Vampire Slayer movie and series. There is a lot of literature about us. A lot of it seems like worship to me.” He shrugged. “My point is…when there is a vampire in the community, family or just one you know of…they are treated differently than other people. I was. Why? Because I didn’t die?” He shrugged again. “With people to help them, they may not need to hunt.” He looked at Wayne. “There were vampires like you were. Alone, with no help. You hunted as needed. These vampires in this village may not have to.”

George nodded. “That’s a sort of prison.”

“It is.” Colin agreed. “We need to work hard here. Get them some freedom.”

“And we’ll start with Alin.” I said smiling.

That next afternoon we told Eva.

“There will be a young man coming to the house,” George told her. “I am a doctor. He is seeking treatment for a condition I have successfully treated in the past.”

Eva nodded. “So, you’re not here for this…translation program?”

“I’m here because I invested in it,” George explained. “I own part of that, but I was first and foremost a doctor. There is a young man that will be staying here about a week for treatment for what is known as Polymorphic Light Eruption. That is a kind of sensitivity to sunlight.”

Eva’s eyes narrowed. “He can’t take sunlight?”

“He burns if exposed,” George said. “Colin had that. I treated him and he’s been cured. I want to do the same for Alin.” George watched as she did not look convinced about something. “That’s his name. He will be coming either tonight or tomorrow night.” He looked at her. “Is there something troubling you about this?” George pulled his wallet out and presented her with his American Medical Association card. “I am a certified doctor.”

Eva nodded and waved his card off. “I’m sure. It’s just…” she hesitated. “That’s an unusual ailment.”

George nodded. “But it is a real illness. I can treat him.” He looked at her still suspicious face. “I need a room the first couple of nights that has little to no sunlight. Is there such a room here?”

Eva nodded. “There is a storage room in the basement. No sunlight there comes in at all.”

George nodded. “That’s where we’ll set up, then.”

Alin couldn’t wait to start his treatment and showed up that night. It was only an hour after sunset he arrived.

Colin opened the front door to him and his eyes opened wider. “Wow, you’re in a hurry.”

Alin nodded. “Yes, I am.”

I was right behind Colin and I pointed to Alin. “We can see that.” I pointed to my own face and smiled. “You still have a little…”

Alin looked surprised and reached in his pocket for something to wipe the corner of his mouth where a minor portion of blood was still there and coagulated. “Oops. Sorry, I sort of ate and ran.” He chuckled. “I think I even surprised the cow at how fast I ate.”

Colin smiled. “Those days for you are about to end.” He waved him in.

I smiled as he cleaned up more. “Okay, how is it you speak English so well?” I was curious!

Alin frowned but nodded. “Well, English is spoken pretty worldwide, but…” he said sadly. “I was with a girl for twenty years in…” he shrugged, “…sort of a relationship." He smiled sadly. “Her name was Linda. She was one of those…Peace Corp; save the world types. She was from America that came here after the communist government fell apart. She was in her late twenties when we were together, but…” he waved at his face. “…this was a problem. She aged. I did not.” He shrugged. “I told her I didn’t care, but…she did.”

I nodded. “I’m sorry.”

He nodded. “It’s okay. She was the one that taught me to speak English so well.” And then he brightened. “Once I’m on this medication, I can travel, right?”

Colin nodded. “Sure, but you need a passport.”

Alin nodded. “Maybe I can visit her! I’d love to surprise her. The passport issue…I don’t know.”

“We usually work something out.” I nodded. “You could, but you still won’t age. She will have moved on.”

Alin shrugged. “Maybe she’d visit me. I should call her.” He smiled. “I still have her number.”

We took him through the kitchen to the door that led downstairs to the basement.

“Eva, this…” Colin began to introduce Alin. Eva was there cleaning up our dinner dishes and turned as we walked in. She saw Alin and screamed dropping the dish she had in her hand.

“Vámpír, egy vámpír!” She said in horror as she saw Alin.

I didn’t need the translator to know what she said. I hurried to her to stop her from running away. “It’s okay, Eva.”

She shook her head. “Nem is beteg. Ő is egy vámpír. Dobjátok!”

I did need the translator for that. In Hungarian she said: He's not sick. He is a vampire. Throw him out! “Calm down,” I said firmly. “We know he’s a vampire.”

She looked at me in shock. “You know!? And you let him in!” She said. “You invited him in!!”

“Eva!” Colin said loud. “We did invite him. Those old tales about inviting a vampire in are just a story. We can treat him. He won’t attack you or anyone.”

I frowned. “You recognized him as a vampire. How?”

“The eyes. I’ve seen it before.” Eva said as she started to cry. “It was one of them that killed my Marin!”

I nodded. “Marin?”

“My husband,” Eva said still fixed her eyes on Alin.

“So, you recognize them,” I said softly. “But you don’t recognize anything in us?”

She looked at us not sure she was understanding me. “I don’t recognize you as a vampire?” She shook her head. “But you’re not vampires.”

“Yes, Eva,” Colin said. “We are.”

Then it was again with the explanation about how we could eat and go in the sun.

“Now…” I sighed as we finally got her calmed down. “…that’s really why we’re here. We’re doing the translators, but he’s really why we’re here. To treat those here that are vampires, like us.” I pointed at Alin. “Did he attack your husband?”

She shook her head. “No, he was a bigger…vampire.”

“Alin is here because he wants to be cured. We can’t do that yet, but we can stop his hunger and need to feed on blood.” Colin explained.

George came up from the basement. “I was wondering if…” he looked at Eva and saw her tear stained face. “Is there a problem?” He looked at Alin.

I shook my head. “She recognized him as a vampire.” I waved at Alin as I took her toward the salon to get her to sit down.

Alin moved forward, which made Eva withdraw in terror, so he stopped. “I didn’t kill anyone. I never have. I mean you no harm. Believe me.”

Eva looked at Colin and me. “You were both vampires?”

George smiled tightly. “We all were.”

I grinned. “Except Shelly, Chuck, Mark, and Stan. They are still human.”

Colin waved Alin toward George. “We’re wasting the night. Can you start without us?”

George grinned and tried not to look offended. “I have many times with and without you.” He waved at Alin. “Let’s go.” And they went down the stairs.

We sat down as she caught her breath and composure. Colin sat on her other side.

“Now that our secret is out...” Colin said. “It’s time to be completely honest. How widespread is the knowledge of vampires in Sighisoara?”

She waved her head in a sort of shrug. “Everyone here pretty well knows about vampires. This is where this began.”

I shook my head. “No, it isn’t,” I said. “You became famous for it because of Dracula and Vlad Dracul. We pretty much know the vampire began in North Africa. There were vampires that were…created…around Egypt and various villages in the Middle East about ten thousand years ago.”

She looked at us. “You think so?”

“We know so. We’ve seen some evidence.” I said. “There were vampires that were sent out from there to weaken the people to get them ready for conquest. There are a few types of vampire.”

“But many here believe in vampires?” Colin asked.

Eva nodded. “I think the minority would be the ones that don’t.” She sighed. “We don’t talk about it openly. It’s pretty much a thing we all know, but don’t talk about.” She smiled. “That’s why we’re so cautious when they talk about Dracula and vampires here.”

“What do you know about the vampires here?” Colin asked.

She shook her head. “Not much. They keep to themselves mostly.”

“Do you know any personally?” I asked.

She shook her head. “No.” Then she looked at me. “Until now.”

“There is a hierarchy of vampires in control,” Colin said. “Have you heard about any vampire that has control?”

“No.”

I nodded and took her hand. “That’s okay. We want to change things; for us and for you. If we get the vampires here on our serum, they won’t feed off of people and livestock anymore.”

Colin nodded and got up and went to our bedroom and returned with a tablet. He pulled up the image we had of Wayne’s drawing of an Old One. “Have you seen one of these?” He said showing her the image.

She looked and shook her head. “That’s a vampire? He looks…alien!”

I nodded. “Doesn’t he?” I chuckled. “That…we believe was the first of the vampires. They are the start of this whole vampire…thing.”

Eva grudgingly nodded. “I think I’d remember seeing one of them.”

Colin smiled and sat again. “I will promise you, in a few days’ time…that young man…Alin will look a lot different.”

I chuckled. “He may become a big eater like Colin and Amasis.”

“In a couple of days, we will begin feeding him food again. Think of something bland that he will try, but by the end of a week, he’ll love food like anyone else.”

I won’t bore you with what you know by now. We came down to see George insert the needle in Alin’s heart through a bare chest and the pain began. He endured the pain as his heart started again and fell asleep. He woke and realized, to his delighted surprise, he wasn’t hungry at all for blood. The next night was the same. The third day he ate a little and loved it. He enjoyed the sunrise for the first time in thirty years. When he had gotten to the point he had the needed serum drug level in his blood, George made a disc and inserted it into his arm. Alin was a nice looking man! Aren’t we all?

We led him from the bedroom he was now staying in, for now, that moment. He was completely different now.

Eva looked up from her cooking and smiled at Alin. “I would never guess now.”

“It’s so nice to eat again.” Alin chuckled. “But I do miss a few cows.”

“Okay, that’s a little creepy.” I smiled.

“I’m a vampire.” Alin shrugged and chuckled. “We’re supposed to be creepy.”

Colin nodded. “Go show Christian. We really need to speak with him.”

Alin nodded. “I can go now!” He waved at the bright sunlit sky. “I’m used to navigating in the dark. I hope I can find my way.”

It was a couple of days before Alin showed up again. We did the patrols and searched the area. We even saw some sites. When we got back one afternoon, we saw that Alin waiting for us.

He stood as we gathered around. “He wants to see you.” He said to us. “But only Colin and George.” He said.

“I don’t go without Devon,” Colin said.

He nodded with a smile. “I told him that.” He looked at George. “And you won’t go without Burke?”

George nodded. “That’s right.”

Alin nodded. “He’ll just have to deal with it.” He shrugged. “I can take you now if you like.”

Colin nodded. “We would.” He said and spoke in a whisper to Stan who just nodded. He got a translator and a solar power charger. I knew Colin had said to track us with our implanted personal data trackers. Colin waved at the door. “Let’s go. We can take our vehicle.”

“That isn’t necessary,” Alin said smiling. “It’s not that far.”

Colin looked surprised. “Really?”

Alin nodded. “A couple of hours on foot at best through the woods.”

We arrived at some ruins. There were many castles and fortresses scattered throughout Europe. This area was often in a dispute about something. The wooded area surrounding Sighisoara was thick with vegetation. It was hilly and often rocky, but we arrived at what looked like what had been one of those fortresses but falling apart due to neglect and age. He led us to an entrance that was…not more than a crack in the rocky side of a hill and below this fortress. Once we traveled a little ways in, like it was in Egypt, it became stairs which we found widened and leveled off. Unlike Egypt, the rock here was not like the color of sand, but dark earth and rock. Alin knew this way through winding tunnels and turned corners without considering where he was going. He just knew. At last, he came to a room, but it unlike Amasis’ large throne room with the high ceiling or polished floors. This had a stone floor, a nice decorative rug on the floor. There was a fireplace that had no fire now. I was reminded more of a home in England. The walls had wood paneling and there was a sofa facing the fireplace. A few chairs were about the room. There was a bookshelf of books. This looked like a den or study, library? It could have been a room in a nicely furnished home in Europe; if you went back a hundred or more years. What I noticed then was a man sitting in a high backed comfortable chair reading. He was dressed in one of those jackets that gentlemen wore to relax in a home like this. He looked up, he was holding a glass of something…it had to be blood. He was a vampire! But, blood served in one of those Brandy…what did they call them? Snifters? He even held it like it was Brandy or something in one hand as he read. He was in his early forties, dark hair and he was a man, and I will say it this; beards will age a man. Cut them off, a man can shed not only hair from his face, but sometimes a whole decade can be literally shaved off! He had a dark, black trimmed beard and he looked pretty good! His black hair was a little longer than I would have liked on me, or Colin. It touched the collar of that fancy jacket he wore, but he was a nice looking man. I think we were to see that he was cultured by the way he was dressed and sitting properly. He looked up at us, and yes, he had the eyes of a vampire. He put his glass down, closed his book and rose. “Welcome to my home, gentlemen.” He greeted in a friendly, but again, accented with Romanian flection and enunciation. “I am Christian.”

Colin nodded as he stepped forward toward the man. “I am Colin Wentworth.” He waved at me. “My husband, Devon Wentworth.” He motioned to George. “This Dr. George Holms and this is John Burke.” Then he looked at Christian.

“It is a pleasure to have you here,” Christian said graciously. “What you did, both with Iilya and with Alin was pretty impressive.” He came over and put an arm around Alin’s shoulder. “Especially with Alin.” Then he looked at Colin. “But he informed me you have another question for me.”

Colin nodded. “We do.”

I looked at the man. “Are you Dracula?”

The man’s expression didn’t waver. He merely smiled pleasantly and nodded. “I am Dracula.”

I don’t know what I expected, but not this. Apparently, neither did Colin. Colin just looked at this man and said. “Bullshit.”