CHAPTER 13 The Vampire Den
The next morning, Alex was still worried at having told Stefan she knew Father Zosimos. If the two talked, Stefan could learn about her thinking she might be a vampire. But right now, she had something else on her mind. She wanted to find out what was going on in the vampire lair, what her "compatriots" were up to. She considered Catalin's warning, but just had to do this. She had her protection.
Alex put her cross in her handbag, told her grandmother she was going for a walk, and went into the mountains in the direction she believed she'd run after killing Radu Cuza. But that night, everything had been surreal, a black-and-white world with sinister implications behind every tree. Today, the forest seemed so friendly, the smell of pine needles assaulting her senses with affection. The dappled sunlight casting shadows on the soft duff made her want to lie down and be part of it. She heard children laughing in the distance and thought of the City of God. She felt at peace with herself, something she realized that she'd never before experienced.
Even being on this mountainside, as she'd been many times with her grandfather, seemed such a new experience that she revelled in its grandeur. She noticed the high-pitched drawn-out whistle of the wallcreeper as it flashed its crimson wings. She saw the virginal white hellebore and the bright-blue bellflower and smelled the sweet perfume of all the wildflowers lofting about her. The deep violet of the alpine primrose was so beautiful and touched her so deeply that it almost hurt. How could she be this sensitive now and so blasé before?
Just as she thought she'd lost her way ruminating over the flora and fauna, she recognized the stone cliff where the vampires had disappeared. It still took a while to locate the recess, and she was surprised at how well it was hidden within a deep depression. She'd had great courage hunting the lair, coming alone all the way up the mountain, yet, once she stood before the giant rock, she trembled. This was both an acknowledgement of her own condition, and an admission that she was one of them. She now realized that she would have to at least appear to accept them.
Alex tapped a couple of times on the rock surface, but nothing happened. She'd expected to hear the grinding of rock against rock, and the great stone move. She examined the stone cliff closer but could see no separation to indicate an opening. Perhaps she'd been mistaken about the location. She heard a noise behind her, but before she could turn around, two men grabbed her, one with his cold hand over her mouth, so she could not scream, which she would have because she was terrified. Her heart was about to beat out of her chest. They said nothing to her, but tapped a complex code on the stone surface, and instantly it began to move. The two men pushed her inside, into complete darkness, and the stone again groaned to. They released her.
The silence and darkness were more terrifying than being held, and although she actually heard nothing, she had the immediate impression of being in an enormous cavern. She smelled something akin to bat guano overlaid with a trace of death, rot.
One of the men spoke first and not to her. "She's the one who was here two nights ago. I told you she saw the entrance. No telling who she's told."
A deep-throated female voice responded. "Has she been turned, or is she one of them?"
"She's definitely human, Cosmina," he said. "Warm as baked bread fresh from the oven. And besides, the sunlight thing. She was walking on the mountainside."
"Why did you come here?" said Cosmina, angrily. "Speak up, girl. Who are you?"
Alex as aghast at how unprepared she was, and decided to play it straight. "I believe the gentleman is mistaken," she said, to quiet snickers. "I am a vampire. I've killed a man."
"Here in Sinaia, two nights ago?"
"Yes, and almost killed another."
"And caused more trouble for us than you can imagine," the other man said.
Alex's eyes had adjusted to the point where she could make out faint shapes around her. She also detected a glow on the far side of the cavern, which now appeared even larger than she'd suspected, and hints of exotic geological treasures.
"Perhaps she's the one Alu asked us to watch for," said Cosmina. "She's about the right age. Are you Alexandra?"
Alex didn't answer, just turned her head to the side hoping they'd let it go.
"Test her, Rutfen," said Cosmina.
"Why me?" he asked. "Why is it always me? Vampire blood is garbage."
"Shut up and do it," she said. "You out-of-town vampires need to earn your keep."
"Hold still, young lady," Rutfen said. "This might hurt a little, but not for long."
Alex calmed. Somehow she welcomed this testing. And although the man's hands were cold, his touch was soft, gentle. "I always get the dirty work," he said. "You know how I hate biting vampires."
"Don't be ridiculous," Cosmina said. "You'd bite anything with a pulse. Almost as bad as Old Rat Neck himself." She was a tall, heavyset woman with sandy hair chopped short.
Rutfen brought Alex toward him like a lover, his body touching her from knees to breasts. She leaned her head to the side, and his cold lips kissed her neck, as if marking the spot, and when his teeth broke her skin, the pain sent a sexual surge that caused her to go limp in his arms. She sighed as he sucked her and felt great affection for him.
"Enough," said the woman. "You'll have to turn her, if she's not already."
"Sweet, delicious," said Rutfen. "Yet a flavoring of vampire, but not like anyone I've tasted. You try her Cosmina. See what you think."
"No. Your companion can do it. Emelia, get up here."
"Come here, girl," said Emelia and took Alex by the hand. She was a little thing, skin and bones. "Let me smell you," she said. She leaned toward Alex, sniffed, slowly licked the blood from her neck, and then bit into her, sucked.
Alex had to pushed her off.
Emelia smacked. "Tasty, appetizing, but, yes, a warm, tangy vampire."
But Alex thought Emelia seemed confused. She stepped back with Rutfen. Emelia then slinked off into the shadows with him.
"Who turned you, girl?" Cosmina asked. Her aroma wafted around Alex, a mixture of earth and pine needles, perhaps a tinge of ashes.
Alex again realized that she was in a bad position. She didn't want to lie, and yet she couldn't tell them about Velinar, not until she felt she could trust them. "I don't know. I was caught by surprise and passed out."
"Well, perhaps someday we'll get the truth about that also. We understand the secrecy. We've all been through it at first. Where are you from?"
"Bucharest, just here visiting when that rapist assaulted me. That's when I found out that I'm a vampire. I know I'm not the same person I used to be. I just need someone to help me into this. I don't know what to do with myself."
"Well spoken," said the woman. "Alu must meet you, but first we need to show you around. What's your name?"
Alex was in another spot. She didn't want to give up her identity, and she certainly wasn't going to give them the same name she gave Jaklin and Mikhail. "Call me Marie," she said.
"Yes. Well, Ishmael, that'll do until we've gained your trust." She took Alex's warm hand in her cold one and led her down a slope out of the entryway. "Get this straight though," Cosmina said. "You are the same person. You're not a daemon or a phantom or a zombie. You are one of the Undead but still the same person."
As the cavern opened up into a magnificent chamber, Cosmina said, "This is where most of us stay. We call it the Cathedral." Huge stalactites hung from the ceiling, some slim spikes, others rippled pillars from ceiling to floor. "We've excavated paths and social quarters to make it comfortable for the few who actually live here." Her deep voice echoed.
Alex noticed that a crowd had converged on them. She hadn't been aware that she'd generated so much curiosity. She walked amongst them, male and female, and they gathered closely about her. One wanted to touch her, "So warm," he said. They were all kind, gentle.
"Don't be afraid," one old vampire told her, touching her arm. "We're all one here, even if you are a little different."
; "Are you Alu?"
"No, no, lady," he said. "Just an old vampire infatuated with your youth and freshness. All that blond hair. I've never met a warm sprite like you."
She continued walking through the crowd, and they gathered about her like ants drawn to honey. She started touching them, feeling their cold bodies, and they seemed to crave her. Some would rub shoulders with her, some kissed her cheek, something that pleased her greatly. A woman touched her golden hair and sighed. This felt like a homecoming. She'd not dreamed she'd receive such affection.
Sooner than she would have liked, it was over, the crowd dispersed, and Cosmina showed her around the Cathedral. "This isn't a permanent place to set up residence," she said as they passed a group talking softly among themselves. "It's a congregation of scholars."
"You mean like college professors?"
Cosmina chuckled, her body shaking all over. "Imagine professors who've been studying civilization for hundreds and for some even a thousand years. Learning never stops here. No university professor has the wisdom of the least among us."
Alex didn't know what to say. "I'd have never guessed."
"Unlearn everything you've ever heard about vampires," Cosmina said. "Truth is, we're the cornerstone of civilization. Breakthroughs in science, economics, politics, it all originates here. We come up a little short on healthcare, but we're working on it."
They passed a corridor that split off from the main cavern, and Alex peeked inside. What she saw was at once confusing and shocking. Half a dozen bodies were naked together, writhing on an overlarge bed of stone with a soft covering. They reminded her of a mass of earthworms all sticky and intertwined, humping. Alex caught her breath realizing that it was a vampire orgy.
"Perhaps you're not ready for that, yet," said Emelia, trying to lead her away.
Alex couldn't quit staring. It created a sexual longing in her that was much different than anything she'd ever felt. She caught herself panting, and yet it was disgusting.
"Are they all making love?" she asked.
"That's not love, honey. It's lust. We've broken new ground in that arena too."
They walked on.
"So, am I immortal? Will I live forever?"
"No. Few make it past two hundred years. Something always seems to happen. The Undead can be killed with the right technique. Some tire of vampire life and chose to end theirs. We do have a few lucky ones who've lived to be over a thousand. One of us has lived over two millennia. You won't age though. That's a plus."
"And who might that be who's lived two-thousand years?" Alex asked.
"I'm taking you to him now."