Preys and Predators Part 1 Chapter 39

 

39                Bloody Choices Count

 

Vlad crouched into a ball like behind the divan to protect himself from the sunlight. It was his weakness then.

‘Every curse comes with a deadlier curse to it.” The old lady told him. “One that will inflict more pain to you.”

It was when Count Vlad attacked Ottoman territory, massacring tens of thousands of Turks and Muslim Bulgarians. Sultan Mehmed launched a campaign against Wallachia to replace Vlad with Vlad's younger brother, Radu. Vlad attempted to capture the sultan but failed. Worried for his safety, the advisers convinced the ruler to leave Wallachia. When the local Wallachian army saw the Sultan departure, they deserted to Radu.

It was a loss situation for Vlad, and he went to Transylvania to seek assistance from the King of Hungary but was imprisoned instead. There he met the gypsies who were to share his cell.

“I vow to fight for your people, and a land for yours to keep.” Count Vlad told the inmates of his cell.

“We harbour no land, Count, but the safe passage on your land. We do not encroach onto settlements and villages, but will take our stay at the fringe for trade. We do not steal but offer a fair bargain for our wares. All we ask is no persecution of us there. We are travellers of the land, and shall remain so.” The leader of the group spoke on their behalf.

“The nobleman perceived as rascals and reported us to the King. We pleaded out case, but the noble man held influence. He forgotten his ancestors were once like us; they were named Magyars; nomadic tribes like us.”

“I will give you the passage.” Count Vlad affirmed his intention. He then reeled from the pain on his chest. The leader called upon the healer to attend to him. The healer checked the Count’s vitals and then spoke.

“You suffered much and your injuries are internal. You may cease to breathe soon.” The healer was an old lady dressed in rags and held many vials on belts on her frame.

“I must think of a cure for you. Either you can wait for die waiting.” That was the healer’s words towards the Count. There were bouts of pain for the Count, and finally the healer spoke.

“I may hold a cure for you but it is with a price to you. A costly price but the reward of it is immortality.” The healer told him.

“Healer, immortality is craved by all since the start of the living, but it remains a fallacy to all. We will live to the time we have to die. I am to do so with my injuries.”

“True, Count. Immortality eludes us except our memories to the ones who may choose to tell it or lose it forever.” The healer smiled displaying the missing tooths. “But immortality allows you the extra time to kill your enemies or their generations to die too, would it be worthy of yourself. And the injuries healed.”

Count Vlad was baffled. He was given the choice of a new life. He nodded to the healer.

“A cure that is a curse within another.” The healer looked at him. “Does blood distaste in you?”

“Blood? I am a warrior. I have killed many others, and while their blood may have not stopped flowing, another would had been killed by me.” Count Vlad hardened by his early years as a hostage of the Turks, was punished hard with sessions of cuts and blows that left his body bloodied.

“And you have impaled the enemies and hold their blood in the pots below.” The healer reminded the Count.

“Blood is the elixir of life. It held the nutrients of every living creature. It is the same shade and flows throughout their body. A predator kills its prey by severing the flow of the blood. It will feed on the parts that held the blood.” The healer points to the bats that hung by the ceiling with their fangs hooked on the narrow crevasses.

“The night creature is one that does not kill but takes what is needed to survive. They fed on the preys’ blood. It gives them nutrients.”

“Bats? I …...” Count Vlad looked at the hanging creatures that will hunt at night.

“I do not eat them.”

“Eat? I did not say eat, Count Vlad. I was to say prey like them. Can you drink blood?” It was the curse he had to carry to cure his injuries and made him a monster.

“Master, are you alright?” Rosa appeared at his sight. She was dressed in the plain frock and without shoes. “Your wounds are healing. Here, please do take into my blood.”

Rosa offered her right wrist to the Count. She had offered him before but on many occasions, the Count had declined. He knew the lady understood his sufferings but she suffered from the captors. They have her ravished before his eyes. Monsters they were and Rosa fought hard. She was beaten with sticks and tortured but she never gave up on her master. Her churi knives were confiscated.

“I am fine, Rosa. You need to rest.” Count Vlad looked away. His urge was there but he saw the pin in Rosa.

“You must feed, Master. If you are not well, you cannot avenge for me.” Rosa had tears on her eyes. “I am your servant.”

“I will not die until I avenge your pains, Rosa.” Count Vlad looked to the heavy chains on his limbs. “I will break free soon and they will suffer for it.”

“How is the doctor?” Count Vlad asked.

“I have seen twice. He is chained like you but heavier chains than yours. He is alive.”

“Hyde or Jekyll?” The Count asked.

“Both.” Rosa said. “He is in pain when he sees me. He became the other but the chains are too thick for him to breakthrough. They also got the other monsters to fight him. He is in pain.”

Count Vlad tears flowed from his eyes. He could feel the pain then. The door to the room opened and a figure came in.

“Hello, Vlad.” The voice spoke to the Count.

“Radu, you animal.”

“Emotions, brother.” The newly arrived approached the Count. He was holding the cloak on his arms. “I am here to see you. Leave us, servant.”

“She stays with me, Radu. Why are you here?” Count Vlad looked to his brother. “I saw you before and never once you help me. Or Rosa.”

“We met and I cannot help you. If you must know now, I am the leader here. I own the Syndicate.” Radu the brother of Vlad said. “I am known to them as the Professor. To you, I am Radu Tepes. Thank you for saving my life.”

Radu was held hostage with Vlad at young but he remained there at the Sultan’s court. After the Sultan first defeat of Vlad, the Sultan opted to reward Radu's ongoing loyalty by setting him on the throne of Wallachia in Vlad's place. He was also later made the head of the Janissary. The war against his brother, Vlad was still on. When the forces of the Sultan approached Târgoviște, they encountered over 20,000 of their kind impaled by the forces of Vlad III, creating a "forest" of dead or dying bodies on stakes. This atrocious, gut-wrenching sight was too much even for them to bear therefore they had to retreat to regroup.

“It was my strategy to deter the bigger army of the Sultan.” Vlad had defended the killings. “It worked then.”

“It did and your infamous night attack on the Sultan’s army was the deciding factor in the war.” Radu told his brother. “But it drove the boyars to side with me. And the earlier enemy, the Saxons resented you. You were deemed a monster.”

“You pursued me far and long, Radu.” Count Vlad eventually was chased out of the land by Radu. “Yet….”

“Yet, you saved my life when I was fatally wounded. You gave me your blood when I was dying.” Radu looked at the other. He was wounded fatally, and Count Vlad came to his rescue. Soon after that, Count Vlad went into hiding and soon retired to the valley, while his enemy thought he was dead.

“Your tarnished blood that soon made immortal but with the curse.” Radu lived on and one day was declared dead, but he went also went into hiding. “Bound by blood, we are brothers and also as the monsters.”

“You cursed me, brother. I had to stay away like you did, but I took my time to build another empire called the Syndicate. It took a long time, and with careful planning, I avoided the authorities and our enemies. Thanks to you, and your blood, I will restore our kingdom.”