Just as soon as those words left Tepes mouth, a wisp of a woman with long dark hair walked past. Her frame was small and slight, almost like a fairy. Her chin was slightly pointed, and the whole effect was somehow beautiful. She was wearing a burgundy dress with gold threads. Her chest billowed out of the top of it just slightly. When she saw Mathias, she acted as if she might know him, but then she quickly ducked her head and darted down the hall. Mathias was puzzled. “What was that?”
Tepes laughed. “I think you mean, ‘who was that’. That, Mathias, is our queen.”
“If she’s the queen, why’s she here?”
“Because she teaches here. Her villa is in Italy.”
“Why doesn’t she have a castle?” Mathias asked.
Tepes smiled. “You haven’t seen the size of her villa.”
Mathias stopped. “What’s wrong with her?”
“Why do you ask that, Mathias?”
Mathias rolled his eyes; it wasn’t worth his time to explain. “Never mind.”
“Come Mathias. I think you’ve been through quite enough for one day. Let’s get you to your new home.” Tepes motioned for Mathias to follow, and he did.
* * * * *
Mathias was uncomfortable. His new “home” was so opulent that he imagined that Buckingham Palace would be ashamed. He had never seen so much gold on any surface in his life, and to be honest, it made him sick to look at it.
He would have been happy with a room; a clean room would have been great. He didn’t even need a bed, but this was verging on ridiculous. First of all, his room was the size of the old house he’d lived in with his parents. And if that wasn’t bad enough, he had a small area that housed a refrigerator, a living area complete with a couch and a large TV, and that wasn’t the worst part. His bed was massive. It was a four poster with a canopy. The entire monstrosity was draped in burgundy velvet. To say that Mathias felt completely out of place would be one hell of an understatement.
He did not complain, however. It wasn’t because he was afraid. No, it was better to play it safe and act like nothing was wrong. If he complained, well, the last time he complained, his aunt had hit him, and these were vampires. Who knew how many years of experience they had. Not to mention, knowledge of torture.
He thought it was nice to be off the streets, at least for a while. He didn’t belong here. For Mathias, the idea of a street punk living amongst all this stuff just didn’t make sense. He’d let Tepes get him in decent shape, and when he knew what he needed to know to survive, he’d jam.
There was a knock on the door.
“Yeah?” he asked.
“Mathias, may I come in?” Tepes asked through the door.
“Uh... sure.” Mathias smoothed his clothes, and felt fascinated by the texture of the new cloth. Magically, his wings fit exactly outside of his shirt, and when he’d asked, Tepes had said it was magic that was developed by a vampire centuries ago.
Tepes entered the room with a concerned look on his face.
Mathias looked around, trying to figure out what was wrong.
“Mathias, I am worried. Your thoughts are all over the place. I can hear them through the door.” Tepes settled himself on the couch and rested his hands on his knees.
Mathias sat down on his bed and sighed. It was going to be hard to get away with anything here. “Why are you worried? You know I can survive.”
Tepes sighed. “But Mathias, this is Siberia. Surviving in Siberia is different than surviving in the city.”
Mathias didn’t understand. It was strange to have someone worry about him when there was nothing to worry about. “I still don’t understand why you give a shit.”
The great vampire raised his wings and then resettled them around his shoulders like a cloak. “Mathias, where do you really have to go? Why don’t you just give me a chance to make your life better?”
Mathias raised his head and stared. It was hard, so fucking hard. He wanted to trust someone, but it was too soon. “It would be easier if I knew why you were doing it.”
“I know you, Mathias. Probably better than you know yourself. You never could stand to have someone take care of you. You were always so independent.”
“Uhh...” Mathias stared and cocked his head to the side like a dog.
And then, it was almost as if Tepes realized what he had just said. “I apologize, Mathias. I know that this is a different time, a different place. You see, the first Mathias was my best friend. He was like a brother to me. And you are so much like the man he was.
“He was independent to a fault. I remember once that Mathias was in battle and had broken his leg badly in a fall. Rather than getting off the battlefield, he continued to fight with that broken leg. I still don’t know how he did it. Sometimes he would be hopping around; other times he would actually put weight on that leg. It was something to watch.”
Mathias paused. Not only was what Tepes talking about completely bizarre, but this was the first time he’d been called a man, not young man, not boy, but man.
“Sir?” he asked, very surprised when the name of respect flew out of his mouth. He wasn’t being controlled, it just happened.
Tepes wiped at his eyes. “I’m sorry, Mathias. I came in here to comfort you, and here I am, blubbering like an idiot.” The man got up and began to walk across the room, but his feet got tangled and he fell like a load of dirty laundry, hitting his head on a nearby table in the process.
Mathias couldn’t help himself and snorted, trying to keep his laughter at bay. Gone was every image of the composed and poised ruler, and in its place was this person he never knew existed.
“Yes, yes. I know. I should watch where I’m going,” Tepes mumbled.
That was all it took. Mathias exploded in laughter and promptly fell off the bed.
“Ah-ha!” Tepes pointed his finger at his laughing charge. “You are not any different from me. It is very easy to fall.” He waited for a moment, Mathias was still laughing hysterically.
“Oh, go on. Laugh your head off for all I care,” Tepes left the room in what could only be described as a sulk.
Mathias rolled on the floor to face the door. “It might just be worth staying.”
* * * * *
At first, Mathias spent the majority of his time with Master Tepes. Most of this time was spent on so-called “vampire lessons”. He learned that he could still eat food and drink whatever he wished. Strangely, though, the eating and drinking only supported part of his nutrition. The blood was needed to keep his body from deteriorating.
So, drinking blood became normal, and after a while, he didn’t even think about it. The blood, he’d learned came from donors who willingly sold their blood to the school. The students never came in contact with them and the blood was stored in the infirmary, much like at regular hospitals, for when it was needed. That way of storage was supposed to keep the blood the freshest.
Tepes taught him how to trust his wings and take flight. This ability came naturally to him. It did not require a run beforehand, as was the norm with many new vampires. For Mathias, he could simply leap into the air and feel completely at home. As soon as he was up in the air, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he had flown before, it was that easy for him.
He still did not trust those around him, but he was getting used to the routine. His day began at dawn, just as it had on the street.
* * * * *
“So how can we run around in sunlight?” Mathias asked, looking over his notebook.
Tepes smiled. “I was wondering when we were going to get around to talking about that.” He grabbed Mathias’ notebook and other books and placed them on the floor. He put his elbows on the table and leaned forward. “Sunlight is something that you will never have to worry about, Mathias. At one time, there were two distinct types of vampires. One was called Lilitu and the other Myrddin. You would be considered to be of the Lilitu type. The Myrddin type has all but been wiped out except for some minor features.
“When
peace finally occurred after the last war between the races, thanks to your namesake, the Lilitu vampires shared their blood with the Myrddin vampires. This allowed the Myrddin vampires to walk in sunlight and eat. The myth about sunlight was lumped into vampire mythos because of porphyria, which was a horrible blood disorder that amongst other things had a side effect of severe sunlight sensitivity.”
Mathias looked around, and finally looked back into Vlad’s eyes. “So where did we come from?”
Tepes laughed. “That is the very question that every species has been asking on Earth since the beginning. Though honestly, it is a very long story and we have much more to deal with today.”
* * * * *
Several mornings later, Mathias found Tepes sitting at the dining table surrounded by a mountain of food, most of which Mathias had never seen. Tepes’ rooms were simply a continuation of Mathias’ own, lots of red and ornate smatterings of gold spread about the room. He wished he had some knowledge of style, but that information was beyond his grasp. The décor was just something completely unexpected, and Mathias had no idea what the elder vampire thought about how he was perceived in the “other” world.
Mathias sat down at the table in the chair across from Tepes and began grabbing things that looked familiar from the various platters spread in front of them.
Tepes cleared his throat loudly and ruffled his wings in the process.
“What?” Mathias asked.
Tepes stared at him, and then looked down at the table. “Have you no table manners?”
Mathias looked down. He had spread crumbs everywhere. Some of them had ended up in his orange juice.
“Okay, so I’m messy,” Mathias said.
“There is much more to it than that. You’ve seen how we hold ourselves here. Look at my place at the table.”
Mathias looked at the elder vampire’s place. Minus a slight bit of butter on the butter knife, there was nothing out of place. “So, nothing I do is right?”
He figured the man was being nice to him. If he wasn’t good enough to stay in Tepes’ rooms, why did he bring him here? They were all the same. People only wanted what they could get from you.
“That I did not say. You need to learn from example, become the vampire you were born to be.”
Mathias didn’t know what Tepes’ plan was, but he was having no part of it. He looked up at Master Tepes. “Fuck you.”
If Tepes wanted a little peon, he could use someone else.
Tepes raised an eyebrow and breathed loudly through his nose. “Mathias, we do not speak with such vulgar language here. I’ve let you get away with quite a lot of bad language. And when you first came, we talked about that, did we not?”
“Well, this is the way I speak. If I’m such a goddamn mess, why did you bother?” Mathias tried to get up and leave the table, but quickly found that Tepes was once again asserting dominance. He simply could not move.
“Mathias Drvar, while you are in my home, you will abide by my rules!”
Mathias glared at the man seated in front of him. “Your rules? What fucking rules? I’m supposed to respect you just because you say so? Please. Your rules don’t mean shit! I never asked for this.”
Tepes rubbed his temples. “Oh, Mathias. Why do you always have to be so difficult?”
Mathias filled his mouth with saliva and spat into Tepes’ eye.
The great vampire stood. His height seemed to double and his wings blazed behind his back in what, to Mathias, looked like black fire. His eyes glowed red as coals. The vampire leaned over the table, stopping only when their noses were almost touching. “Do you want to die?”
For the first time in a long while, Mathias was scared. He was more scared than when his cousins were trying to kill him, more scared than when he died the first time. It all became real. The fear and the anguish made him feel like he’d been punched in the gut.
The vampire grabbed Mathias by the arm. Mathias stared at the man in shock. He thought the huge vampire was going to kill him for sure. Then, to really make all of this worse, Mathias wet himself.
Tepes stopped, and then he released his hold on Mathias. “I... I’m sorry, Mathias.”
Mathias ran from the room and into his own, slamming the door shut behind him. He whipped back around and turned the key in the lock, even though he knew with the magic that Tepes had, the vampire could enter anywhere he liked at any time. But, the lock was something at least.
* * * * *
He crawled into his bed and buried his face in the covers. He wanted to escape, needed to, but he didn’t have the advantages he had the last time…
When Mathias was sure that his aunt and everyone were asleep, he packed his things and left his bag on the couch. Then, he tiptoed into the kitchen where his aunt kept her purse. Moving through the dark, he narrowly missed bumping into the kitchen table and managed to reach the counter without any mishaps. Just as he was reaching into her purse, her car keys tumbled from the purse onto the counter. He froze. “Please God, don’t let them wake up.”
He looked around. Somehow the noise wasn’t noticed. They hadn’t woken up. He wiped the sweat from his brow and grabbed the bills he could find in her purse. A few twenties, a fifty, and some ones. He had almost two hundred dollars. Then, he grabbed a few blank checks from her checkbook. He hoped that it would be enough to get him far away. He didn’t care where, just so long as he couldn’t be found.
He dashed back into the living room and grabbed his bag. He surveyed the house that had been his hell for the last few weeks. One thing he knew for sure, he would not miss this place. He would miss the dog, but he had no way of rescuing it.
As fast as he could walk without making much noise, he made his way back into the kitchen. He opened the door to the basement. “If I can get down these stairs God, please.”
He crept down the stairs, remembering to close the door softly behind him. He weaved his way through the maze he’d made earlier. Once he reached the secret door he spat on his hands and smeared the hinges with it. He hoped it would be enough. He knew going back upstairs wasn’t going to work. If he left through the back door, the dog would probably bark. And, the front door was not an option. It was too close to his aunt’s room. This basement door was his only chance. “Please, don’t let them squeak.” He lifted his hand to the doorknob and turned it gently. The door opened stiffly, and seemed to grind against the hinges, but there was no squeak. Finally, the door would no open any more than it had, and Mathias squeezed between the door and the jamb and finally got out of the house.
He didn’t waste time trying to shut the door. He ran down the hill as fast as he could. He knew he had to get out of town, as quickly as possible. His aunt always got up at seven. If he could get out of there before then, he’d be okay. He didn’t even stop to take a breath, sticking to the shadows and froze in mid-step when he heard the sound of a car driving by.
At last, he saw Main Street in the distance. Seeing the street gave him a bit of hope and he stopped to calm himself. No sense in rushing. He was there. He walked to the bus station as he would on any day, not wanting to draw attention to himself.
He was careful, trying not to make noise when he walked. So interested in not making a sound, he almost stepped on an old man slumped on the sidewalk. He was dressed in old faded clothing. Some of it bore the stains of god-knows-what, but at least it covered him, kept him warm. His long white hair was matted in spots, and he reeked of alcohol.
He sighed. “Not like I can get anything better.”
Mathias tapped the old man on the shoulder. The old man groaned in his sleep and farted. Mathias had to suppress a giggle. He shook the man. The man jerked awake and tried to scramble away.
“Mister, it’s okay. I just need some help.” Mathias said, hoping that he could calm the man down.
“Boy what you doin’ out here this late?” The old man asked while scratching his crotch.
“Mister, I gotta get out of here... If you buy me a bus ticket to New
York City, I’ll give you twenty dollars.” Mathias figured that the guy looked like he could use it.
The man looked at Mathias for a minute. “You got that hungry look in your eye, kid. I’ll get you ya ticket. Don’t haveta give me no money neither. What’s your name?”
Mathias smiled. “Mathias Drvar. You sure about the money?”
“I’m sure, where you goin’ you gonna need it.”
Mathias nodded and handed the man a hundred dollars. The old man looked at the money for a moment, almost as if he was thinking about taking the money for himself, but thought better of it. They waited for hours. Anytime a car drove by, the old man hid Mathias behind his grimy coat.
Finally, very early in the morning, a car pulled into the parking lot. A man stepped out of his old yellow Subaru and unlocked the door to the station. He was a wiry man wearing a grey uniform that consisted of a muted grey cotton shirt, a darker grey tie, and a pair of charcoal grey pants. He stepped in and locked the door behind him. After what seemed forever, the man inside the station opened the door and flipped the sign to “Open.” The old man patted Mathias on the head and walked into the bus station.
Mathias watched through the window. The bus station was old and cruddy. The walls were peppered with torn advertisements from various years. The chairs were the old neon plastic chairs on rails that had been popular during the nineteen sixties and seventies. The desk was covered in laminate that was peeling in places. He felt for the man as the sales person wrinkled his nose at the sight of him. The sales person checked the man’s ID and held it by the very edge as if not to touch it. A few minutes later, the old man was walking outside to him. He handed Mathias the bus ticket and some change. He couldn’t help but smile as the old man patted his hands after he handed him his things.
“Now, first bus outta here ain’t til 6:45. You hop on that bus, then change in Cleveland. After that, you’ll be going where you wanta go.”
Mathias’ eyes widened and he began to sweat. “What am I going to do until I can leave?”
“You gonna sit here with me. I’ll make sure you get on that damn bus.”