Nosuë: The Wandering Vampire

I left them unconscious near the gendarme’s house, where they would be found armed and looking very suspicious, as well as asleep. With any luck, this would be conspicuous enough to call for an investigation.

The Littyans would be questioned, of course, but if they denied any altercation, the thieves would be considered deranged and nothing more. Perhaps they would even be blamed for other unsuccessful vampire robberies.

’I should have finished them off,’ I thought as I watched them lie there, huddled together, unconscious. ’That would save a lot of trouble.’

It would. Such scum didn’t deserve much, after all. I’m not very tolerant of crime.

Well, if the criminal had been a vampire I would have taken the law into my own hands, more or less rightly.

In the old days, my family had a large territory. Humans didn’t know it, of course, but we protected a vast amount of land and villages, from less… friendly vampires. Wanderers. Beasts. Pitiful, arrogant creatures who killed when they could choose not to.

These were our criminals, among others. And we did not tolerate them.

I was no longer part of a family. I was just another wanderer, nothing more, and I certainly had no territory.

But I would not tolerate an abuse of our status. I had nothing to protect, but I would fight the beast of my people if I could find it.

However, that was not the case. This time it was humans themselves who were attacking each other… as was almost always the case. And it was they themselves who had to deal with their crimes.

Admittedly, they didn’t do it too well.

I grunted, shaking my head.

It didn’t matter. This was none of my business. I was leaving, so even if those three criminals attracted the attention of the vampire hunters, they couldn’t hurt me. I was going to leave that very night; by dawn I would have found a cave in the mountains where I could spend the sunny hours.

With this in mind, I took to the less busy streets in the direction of the outskirts, ready to leave everything behind.

But I couldn’t.

I couldn’t because I remembered Taneka’s farewell: see you at dawn. As if she wanted me to go back to them. Which was absurd, wasn’t it? Because she feared me, hated me, and as much as Ronald thought he needed me to finish his book, I couldn’t stay there, where his wife could hardly sleep in my presence.

Yet now she was saying goodbye like this, as if we were going to see each other the next morning without any trouble. The night before, she wanted me to leave.

I suppose Taneka was grateful for the way I had protected them, but it didn’t matter that much to me. The raiders came and threatened my hosts, what kind of a guest would I have been if I had stood by while they were robbed of everything they had? A very ungrateful one, for sure.

I stopped when I could see the road that would take me out of the city. It led off into the hills; nearby, there was a small forest where I could hide at daybreak, or, beyond that, if I wanted to risk it, there would probably be a barn.

Leaving shouldn’t be as difficult as it was proving to be. Just one step after another. That was what it meant to wander the land of men like a wandering nightmare. Staying would be more complicated. To stay, to live with some of these humans until it was too obvious that I didn’t age.

’I can’t stay with them,’ I told myself bitterly.

As much as Ronald was drawn to my world, they didn’t belong. They couldn’t.

But I had to admit that that farewell had been very pleasant. Kind. Familiar. As if I belonged somewhere. With them, I should say.

I took a breath of the cold night air and blew it out.

“I’m going to regret this,” I commented quietly.

I turned and retraced my steps anyway, heading back to the Littyans’ house.

’Just one more day,’ I said to myself, ’just one.’

When I arrived it was early morning, and Taneka was up; I know because I smelled her, heard her, but for the first time her heart didn’t seem frightened when I opened the door.

She came out of the kitchen and joined me. And she smiled. Very broadly, I must say.

“Welcome,” she greeted.

Just a few, simple words can make a whole difference. This is true in the story but also real life: the smaller things can help someone keep going, make a choice, feel better.

Thank you for reading! We hope you are enjoying it. We are approaching the end, and it seems that the worst has passed… We can hope! Nosuë deserves a bit of peace, doesn’t he?