At the front steps of the broad porch that ran along the front of the farmhouse my brother had a quiet word with Peter, the latter leaning over so that his ear was close to my brother’s lips and then he led Abdul away as Benjamin began to wipe the dirt from his moccasins onto the corner of one of the steps. Abdul looked back at me with a shrug that conveyed disbelief but no urgency as he followed the vampire still holding his leash without struggling around the corner of the farmhouse and as he disappeared I felt a burden lift from me. I felt free for the first time since the vampires had captured me. I followed Benjamin inside as the other vampire knocked his boots off against the side of the porch. As I stepped up onto the porch the succulent odor of cooking meat hung in the air like a perfect fantasy mingling with the smell of onions which I had not had since my mother had made us dig up the wild ones that grew alongside the roads and in fields with our bare hands. A third unidentifiable but delicious scent wafted up to me alongside the others, a grainy yeasty smell sweeter than anything I could have imagined. My eyes closed involuntarily as I inhaled deeply when my brother threw open the door and we stepped inside. The room inside was long and dark, lit up by only a low burning fire that crackled over a bed of orange coals in a stone fireplace along the back wall and what light leaked in from outside. The room had once had several windows, but they’d all been covered with boards and sheets of dingy plastic. Two long wooden table lined with benches ran down the length of the room. Three men eating from ceramic bowls looked up from one table as we entered, and a couple of vampires sat at the other nearer the fire. Their eyes lit up at my brother’s entrance and embraced even me but flitted over the vampire who entered with us warily before they returned to their steaming bowls and shoveling chunks of broth-soaked meat into their mouths. My brother and I sat down across from the men, but the vampire sat with his own kind only a few feet away, but the atmosphere lightened considerably once everyone had taken their places. Only my brother stiffened as if he were assuming a burden that had been lighter on the trail. He sat very straight at the bench and he spoke slowly and clearly when he spoke at all. Mostly he simply listened as a wash of reports broke over him as the men spewed words at him nearly as excitably as puppies jumping at someone’s knees. They updated him on harvests, meat stores, possible vampire, and human sightings and even sickness among the livestock and the men. My brother took it all in, nodding as they spoke or asking pointed questions at moments. I listened, as my own report, the mission given to me by the General gnawed at me and I waited to ask my brother for the opportunity to speak in private but when there was a break in the conversation my brother immediately got to his feet, motioning me to remain seated and said loudly in the direction of a door at the end of the room, “Mary get Eli some food.” The trio of vampires followed him at a command rubbing their hands together against the cold as they left.
I tried to shake off the unease imbedded deep within myself and relax. The fire, an orange glow behind the men, crackled lazily and the floorboards creaked underneath their weight shifting on the bench. A stifling warmth seeped into my body. They didn’t speak to me as they sat and ate but instead just cast my curious glances. They were all wearing a mixture of homemade and looted garb and had short well-trimmed beards. A young woman wearing a faded yellow dress and bonnet, her waist wrapped in a tan apron came out of the door at the end of the room carrying a steaming bowl in her two hands and sat it in front of me. Her shoes slapped against the wooden floor as she walked. She smiled at me beautifully, a wide smile with a full set of teeth and smooth plump cheeks but nervously her eyes shy. My face simmered at her attention. As soon as she had set the bowl down, she turned and walked from the room without a word to anyone. I watched as she returned to the kitchen her skirts swaying just off the floor and her golden braid swung slightly in time with the motion of her hips. The pink backs of her heels were like two diminishing stars until the door closed behind her and my eyes abdicated command to my nostrils.
The scent of the steaming stew swept over me in a glorious wave that set my mouth to salivating. I picked up the spoon and shoveled a heaping spoonful into my mouth. It scalded my tongue and I swished it around my mouth and pulled in air with a hiss. It was sweet and savory with the hint of some herb that I’d never tasted. Tender chunks of meat fell apart with the first nudging of my teeth. Rice exploded between my molars and potatoes dissolved into creamy filling morsels. Carrots added crunch to the entire
