Story Write Compilations Volume I Stories 43

 The Cursed Ones

 

Author's Note:

The urge of the Vampires and Lycan supporter calls for this macabre tale. So I gave them the cursed ones as the condition said it must involve the royal family. But of which the host did not say..... So we shall be silent on the identity for now.

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The road to the Manor is a lonely one at this late hour as most travelers would have taken refuge at the available Inns or for the penniless the sanctuary of God's house. It's known that these roads are devoid of life except those who are without a soul. It's a myth that many believes and bestow on the unwary traveler. But I am not of one neither an unwary traveler as I ply this road many times in day or night. Tonight I am on an urgent call from the Manor which brought me out with my trusted assistant, Jenkins. We rode past homes of the locals with their doors and windows latched from the inside as they cover themselves with the religious artifacts for fear of the unknown.

 

I could see the gates of the Manor as we drew near to it. It's brightly lighted by the owner for my sake as he knows the road coming here is unlighted most nights. As we approached the gates, it opened by itself and the carriage was to reach the front door of the Manor unhindered, and without any haste, I was alighting from it. Jenkins held onto the reins as he looked at the yard before him. He is as vigilant as always and I place my soul in his good hands as he watched my back. The main door of the Manor was opened by the Butler; dressed in his working suit, not a crease in sight the Butler led me to the Library without a word.

 

"Good evening, gentlemen. I came as soon as I got the message." I came to face before me a trio of elderly gentlemen who were probably having their cognac and smoke before my arrival.

 

"Tempest compared, your arrival is timely and fast." That is the host of the party; Wilhelm Von Mennen, last surviving of his generation and firstborn of the Mennen descending the twenty-first generation from the first Baron Mennen of Bavaria. I have also known him as my Uncle as I am the firstborn of the subsequent generation of the Mennen. But I have left my heritage for other pursuits and am now being recalled back here for this important reunion. My father has left me with the role and irresponsibility of the Mennen as I am the firstborn, but I chose to live with my means and build up my responsibility, much to his annoyance that he refused to see me even at his death bed. But I did see him after the funeral and I conveyed my love to him but not my apology for not being there. Since then the task of mine has been bequeathed to my younger brother, Peter Mennen. It's also of him that I am back here at the Manor.

 

Peter and myself are born from different mother's but we did not let the gap of fifteen years dampen our sibling love. I watched him when I was here and even away, I sent emails to him on my adventures. He took on the rein of the family business upon my father's death and assisted by my Uncle, he was the youngest at twenty of age in the family to manage a vast fortune of the Mennen but he did well as seen by the reports I get from the family Treasurer.

 

"Pardon me for my manners. A good evening to you too, Uncle Bormann, and also to you, Uncle Dietrich." Two of my father's cousins by far-flung marriage but family by blood. They are here for the money and hope to used it to get closer to the current Emperor of Germany. I turned back to my brother's guardian to inquire about my brother's health.

 

"Peter is in the next room and he rests well. But he is inflicted by the curse and you are his only deliverance from it as the firstborn must do it ..... And also be the next heir to the family business if you want to. " I can see from the corner of my eye the greedy stares of my other two uncles as they await their turn to speak on the matter. I know their speech well but I am not keen on it now.

 

"Uncle Wilhelm, let me see Peter please. Then we can discuss the other royal matter on hand." I was pushing my way past the elderly man heading for the other room. What I was to see upon opening the door was not of my expectation. The man who is my brother is shackled to the bed in a spread position by heavy chains. They have even attached a metal clasp on his neck so that his head would not be able to move. Before him on the bed, there are the wives of the elderly man from the Library with their prayer beads and reciting the passages of the holy book.

 

"Away! All of you. I will speak to my brother alone and in private." I shooed them off in disgust even though they are my aunties but no courteous bowing would suffice to see the treatment they had placed on my brother. The elderly men came into the room upon the exit of the weeping ladies but I told them to stay out from this room. They did hesitate and then they took their leave too, leaving me alone with my brother.

 

I bent down on the bed to pull at the locks on the chains but it would not break. I tugged at the clamps on the floor which held the chain in place and it won't budge too.

 

"Micheal, don't do that. You know the outcome if you released me. I am cursed and I cannot be allowed to be free. It's the law of the family for the last five generations. We are to be condemned to the pits of hell. But only you can do it as the many other firstborns have performed before on their siblings." Peter is awake and he talking to me as my hands held the chain taut from its holding. I released my pull with a sigh of disappointment. Tears from my eyes down my cheek as I avoid looking at my brother's stare.

 

"Micheal, look at me. You have to. I need to die soon but I must speak to you." I can see my brother is pulling at his bonds to looked at me, but I am ashamed to bring myself to see him in this state. He is my brother whom I remembered as running free in the corridors of the manor or laying on the grass playing his toy soldiers. I can't see him in this chained condition as it's not like him to be here.

 

"Micheal....please. I begged of you. I need to talk to you." His pleading hurts mine but I had to consent to his plea. I looked at him and he smiled. "Thank you. I do miss you much. Your letters are nice to read but I am duty-bound to sit here to manage the family business as what father has dictated for me. But not you, you are a carefree soul like your mother before she was Mrs.Mennen. You have her more in you than of our father. I know I have not seen her but I see her portrait and it tells me she is a strong lady. So is her son who is also my brother. " I can see the tears also run from his eyes as he knows his time with me is going to be short.

 

"Peter, we can still beat this curse. I can bring you with me, and we can travel and do the things we want. Leave the business to the Uncles' as they are already eyeing it now. They have been but the rules said only the firstborn son can carry the name. But we need not follow the old ways. We take what we need and leave it to them. I have seen more when I was out there. I need no name to back me up when in the trade or even in conflict. Nobody outside of this county knows about us as the Mennen. The royal name means nothing but the gold we carry holds our credibility more. I have made some fortune on my own; not as big as the family but enough for me to live comfortably. Who needs so much when life is too short to spend it all. Let the grubby hands of theirs try the business instead of living on our regular handouts. Please say you do, Peter." I held my brother's hand in the hope he will say yes to me. But he declined my request.

 

"Micheal, it's not the money I am concerned about but the curse we as Mennen carry with us. It's the curse we are to get rid of or I will terrorize the people around me including me when I need to feed. It will be uncontrollable and even you are at stake......" Peter pulled at the chains as his body reacted to his thoughts of the need to feed.

 

"Here, Peter.. Take my blood. It makes no difference to me as we are family." I offered my wrist to his mouth but he shook his head in a display of refusing my blood to satiate his needs. "Peter, my blood is as good as any. Why do you refuse? I can be your feeder, and you need not take another anymore."

 

"Micheal! I cannot bear to live like this. I want to die than to always desire blood when I hunger for it. Do you know the life as a blood-sucking vampire is so disgusting and lonely? I cannot walk to anyone without the urge to bite their neck and suckle their blood. That's why we are condemned to death by the family ruling so that we do not feed on anyone or lest our kins. Let me die please." Peter is sobbing in his tears as I know he fears also death. It's one of his fears since he saw our father buried in the ground.

 

I stood up and stared at the window. I know now it's not the Uncles' who sent for me but Peter himself. I saw the wooden stake by the bedside and the mallet next to it. I picked it up and looked at the tip of the stake. It's still coated with the leftover stains of the blood of my sister which I killed when she was with the curse at the tender age of five. I placed the stake on the heart of Peter as he closed his eyes. I looked at his face; watching his lips quiver with fear knowing he is to die. I raised the mallet above my head with my right hand while my left-hand holds the stake steady.

 

"Forgive me, Peter." My right hand came down but it hit the clamps on the shackle at his right hand. The shackle gave away and I did the same to the other shackle. Peter laid there in silence as I opened the other clamps to freed my brother.

 

"Why?" Peter as asking but I had no time to explain my action. I punched him in the face knocking him out. I ran to the window and opened it wide. Beneath the window is Jenkins with the carriage and he is looking up. I grabbed the bedsheets off the bed and tore off strips of it. It's not a hard task for me as I am with the abnormal strength as one of the Cursed. I tied the strips of the sheets to form a rope and fastened one end to Peter's waist. I pushed him over the window and held the other end of the makeshift rope as I released it gradually to lower my brother to the carriage. Once that was done, I leap off the window and landed on the carriage.

 

"Ride, Jenkins." Without much ado, the trusted assistant whipped the horses to ride us out of the Manor's ground onto the dark road.

 

It was dawn when Peter awoke from his slumber. He squints his eyes as he tried to see where he is in the dark hold of the ship we are on. I was waiting for him and I walked up to him with his morning drink.

 

"Peter, you will be fine here. The place is covered by the sunlight and we are on a ship to our new home. It's one of my ships designed for us who are cursed. I am taking you to see our cousin, Count Dracula. He will know how to accommodate our needs. If you are going to ask about the business, I had arranged with London to have a suitable person to manage it for us. That person will report to us on a monthly period to our new address to be disclosed soon. Our grubby Uncles' can be retired back to their homes and await their allowance like before." But Peter is sitting there looking confused. "Yes, Peter. I am cursed too. But I learned to live with it. And so shall you. We have a long voyage and there is much I can tell you about the benefits of being cursed. Please drink up your blood. It's a fine specimen we keep on hold for the regular supply. Taste differently from your usual wenches..... This one is Morrocan."