Tonight’s item has been kept here for safekeeping for over a hundred years and is still sought by many. It’s a nineteenth-century Romanian cremation urn. Dark green in colour, almost black, with some Christian symbolism engraved in silver. Contained inside, the last earthly remains of a Great Elder Vampire. But who would be so bold and cunning to fight and kill such a powerful creature? Her name was Valentina Balan...
Even after thirty years of farming, the breaking light of dawn was still breathtaking. Features of the landscape, always there, unappreciated, momentarily had their time in the spotlight and shined. Farmer Constantin surveyed his grain fields with great satisfaction, his old but sharp eyes taking in every detail of arable land and the distant castle. He frowned suddenly. Something was visibly wrong in the top field – flattened crops spoke of a trespasser overnight. He rode his donkey up the hillside to investigate and upon closer inspection, he made a horrific discovery. A tiny broken body had been deposited in the field, arms and legs twisted across the torso, a terrible look of frozen fear on the dead child’s blue face. No stranger to death, but still greatly disturbed, he knelt next to the corpse and tried to recognise the girl. It was Zandra, the Butcher's daughter. Two marks on her little neck where she’d been bitten by… what? An animal? It had to be an animal. Only an animal could do such a thing…
…
‘Will you please step forward, Tina,’
Valentina Balan smoothed the creases on the black silk of her
servant's dress and stepped into the kitchen.
Castle Verlesco’s head manservant, a big, bearded man named Georgescu,
was sat at the kitchen table. ‘Take a chair,’ he pointed. It was not an
invitation.
Valentina slid the wooden chair across the stone floor and
gently sat down, locking eyes with Georgescu.
‘You are not like the other serving girls, Tina,’ he
observed. ‘They do not find it so easy to stare me in the eye.’
Valentina quickly broke eye contact and looked towards the
floor. ‘I am sorry, Georgescu. I did not mean any disrespect.’
He grunted, disbelieving. ‘You have been working for the
Count for one week now. During this time you have been late on two occasions,
frequently disobedient, and lazy in your work.’
It hung in the air for a while. Valentina continued to play
sheepish. ‘I am sorry, Georgescu.’
‘You are sorry, I am sorry,’ he replied. ‘Sorry I ever employed
you.’
She looked up. Was this a dismissal? She hoped not, having
not yet achieved her objective.
‘Your references appeared to be very impressive. Too
impressive. So, we sent a message to your supposed previous employer to see if
he would confirm what was stated on the letter you provided.’
‘Ah,’ she exclaimed. She had hoped that the deception would
have taken much longer to be discovered. ‘I am sure, sir, that I am not the
first girl working here to overstate her employment history, am I not?’
He laughed. ‘You are not, that is true. What shall I do with
you, Tina?’ He thought about what he would like to do to her, and the drool
began to pool at the corner of his mouth. ‘How much do you need your position
here? What are you prepared to do to keep it?’
Valentina recoiled but replied without fear. ‘Not that.’
Georgescu was disappointed, but not surprised. ‘You do not
act like a simple peasant girl. You are hiding something, I think?’
She sighed. ‘I can see there is no fooling you, Georgescu,
so I will be plain. My full name is Valentina Balan. You may have heard that
name before, yes?’
A spark in his eyes showed he had. ‘The vampire huntress?
You are Valentina Balan?’
‘The same,’ she smiled. ‘I am hunting a great evil,
Georgescu, and I have reason to believe it hides inside this castle. I pretended
to be a simple serving girl as it was expedient. This ruse has allowed me free access inside these walls.’
‘You believe that there is a vampire here?’
‘One of the Great Elders, I believe.’
‘Do you know how ridiculous that sounds?’
‘Completely. But nevertheless, I believe it to be true. You
must have heard the stories, yes? The missing boys and girls? Poor Yetta from
the village, found at the bottom of the well, her young body horribly
mutilated. And Zandra, left for dead in the barn of Farmer Constantin, pints of
blood missing from her corpse. What do you think is responsible for such
crimes? Who could do this, but a vampire?’
Georgescu considered it. ‘I think that these children were
killed by a man. A man who acts like a demon, certainly, but not a vampire. The
vampire is a myth.’
‘You noted, Georgescu, that I did not act like a serving girl.
You also, do not act like the simple peasant you pretend to be.’
He raised an eyebrow. ‘You are presumptuous.’
‘I am clever,’ she said without arrogance. ‘So are you. So
why are you pretending to be a simple manservant?’
Georgescu stood up suddenly, and walked around the kitchen
as he spoke. ‘My mother and father died when I was very young. I was stateless,
drifting. Until the Count found me. He employed me, gave me a position when no
other would, and more – he educated me. Taught me to read the books in the
library. He is a great man, Valentina, and I would do anything he required of
me. There is no more loyal servant than I.’
‘Count Verlescu is a vampire,’ she replied.
‘No.’
‘Having investigated every person in this castle over this
last week, I must come to that conclusion. It can only be him.’
‘No.’
She glared at him until he felt obliged to explain himself.
‘You have not met the Count in the course of your duties
yet,’ he stated.
‘That is correct, he does not leave his room during the day.
Does that not remind you of anything? I will not be satisfied until I have
spoken with the Count, Georgescu.’
He looked angry for a moment, but then his face cleared. ‘Very
well. I will take you to him, now, if you would like? Then, when you are
satisfied he is not the creature you seek, you will leave this castle never to
return.’
She nodded in agreement. ‘If you wish.’
‘Then, come.’
…
They paused outside the door of the master bedroom before
entering. ‘You will not do or say anything to upset the Count,’ Georgescu
instructed. ‘He is a very ill man. You will let me lead the conversation.’
Valentina nodded but did not agree aloud. They entered the darkened
room and approached the grand four poster bed. The room was shaded, but oil
lamps provided a little artificial light, but not enough to make her
comfortable that there wasn’t something awful lurking in the shadows.
Instinctively, she reached for the cross on the chain around her neck.
‘Count?’ Georgescu said with a gentleness that belied his
form. ‘Are you awake?’
An ancient old man stirred in the bedsheets, his head
emerged from under a blanket, his watery eyes blinking like an owl. Valentina noted
his withered arms and legs. This old man was obviously bedridden and seemed
incapable of threat. ‘What is it, Georgescu?’ he bleated. ‘I am very tired.’ He
seemed to notice Valentina for the first time. ‘Who is this?’ his face
brightened at the sight of the pretty newcomer.
Georgescu shot a warning look towards her, a reminder to
follow his lead. ‘This is Tina, my Lord, the serving new girl. I wanted to
introduce you both.’
Count Verlescu flashed a toothy grin at her. ‘Another new
girl? What happened to the last one?’
Georgescu looked shifty. ‘Do not let it worry you, my Lord.
Do you have any questions for our Lord and master, girl?’
‘None,’ she replied quickly. Perhaps she had been wrong. Her
mind raced. If her target was not the Count, then who was it?
‘Then we will disturb you no longer,’ Georgescu said, about
to draw Valentina away.
‘Wait!’ the old man croaked. ‘Bring her closer to me. I
would look at her.’
Valentina shook her head slightly, but Georgescu ignored her
distaste for the idea and shepherded her nearer the old fossil. She looked down
at his pathetic form and tried to hide her disgust.
‘You are very beautiful,’ he leered up at her. ‘Such lovely
blonde hair.’
She clamped her mouth closed, resisting the temptation to
speak out of respect for Georgescu.
‘I should like to drink you up,’ the Count grinned.
Valentina wondered then whether she had been right after
all. Before she could act, two big hands bit into her shoulders. Georgescu. He
was frowning, not enjoying this, but his eyes were steely, determined.
‘You want her, my Lord?’ he offered. ‘She knows about your
true nature, Lord,’ he said as she tried to squirm out of his grip. ‘She
thought it was you snatching the children.’
The Count chuckled, the sound like a drain emptying. ‘Me?
Chasing after little girls? In my condition?’
Georgescu released one half of Valentina to snatch the crucifix
from her neck with a free hand. ‘You won’t be needing that,’ he said, as he
tossed it across the room.
Valentina fought with the big man but was outmatched by his
brute strength. ‘So, you procure the victims, do you not? To keep this old
relic alive?’
‘I am nearly five hundred years old,’ The Count crowed,
looking his age. ‘My days of hunting prey are over, but at least I have my
loyal servant here to keep me well fed!’
Valentina twisted in his grip and struck out with her knee
and kicked Georgescu in the groin. He groaned but didn’t give up on his slow
relentless pushing of her closer to the keen mouth of the Count.
‘I’m so hungry for her, Georgescu! Give her to me!’
Valentina found herself forced down onto the bed next to the
repellent creature. The Count strained his wrinkled face towards her, making
the most vile anticipatory sucking noises. It was now or never. She ran her
single free hand down her smooth leg and found the sheathed silver blade tucked
in the garter above her stockings. Clasping and drawing it, she twisted the
knife and jabbed it into the old man’s side. Unsure of how to react, he
initially laughed, then the cleansing power of silver burned icily through his
ancient body and he collapsed into dust and bone. He croaked like a frog as the
ravages of time caught up with him. Georgescu gasped, horrified at the loss of
his master, and Valentina used the distraction to slip off the bed, roll
backwards and stand up.
‘My Lord!’ Georgescu wailed. ‘What have you done to him? How
could you?’
‘I am a vampire huntress,’ she answered. ‘What exactly did
you expect?’ she retrieved her little knife from the smoking remains on the bed
and held it to Georgescu’s throat. ‘You’re next,’ she informed him.
His eyes widened with fear. ‘I am not a vampire,’ he
stammered. ‘I’m a mortal man. If you kill me, that will be murder!’
She considered that, but only for a moment. ‘Tell that to
the mothers and fathers of the girls you kidnapped and brought here to this
parasite... Tell it to brothers and the sisters of the dead children you dumped
around the village to draw attention away from this castle... Tell it to the
devil. When you see him.’
She slashed at Georgescu’s neck and ripped a red line across
his throat. Blood flowed from his carotid artery as he sank down on his knees
then keeled forward onto the bed. His blood mixed with the remains of his
master and the resulting mass began to bubble and fizz. Even in death he was
feeding his master! Valentina leapt forward and dragged the body away from the
bones and ashes, fearing the spilt lifeforce could reanimate the vampire and her
eyes widened in horror as she saw that was exactly what seemed to be happening!
Shapes were forming in the gore, growing, pulsating… She acted, grabbing an oil
lamp with her left hand and smashing it against the side of the bed post and
she tossed it onto the sheets surrounding the throbbing mass of flesh. The
flame caught the oil and set fire to the bed, sterilising any stirrings of
vampiric resurrection. Satisfied both
Count and servant were neutralised, she wiped her tiny blade on her dress and
slid it back into the garter on her right leg.
It had done its work. So had she.
The encounter with Count Verlescu and his loyal servant
taught Valentina Balan a very useful lesson – to always trust her instincts. Understanding
the immense danger posed even in death by the remains of a Great Elder Vampire,
she decanted the ashes into this urn and placed it here for protection in the
Scarlet Vault. She was a magnificent woman and I fear we won’t see the like of
her again. Many vampires – and their human agents – would like to get their
hands on this. You’re not a vampire, are you? You do look a little pale…
