Turned

in the sense that they did not belong to the camp, I’d never seen them before and the men I walked with began grumbling about how over the last year new vamps were always popping up but men never made it to the camp, but also in the sense that they moved with the herkie jerky stutter stop motion of freshly turned vampires. Their faces bore a red tinge, bloodstains or maybe a rough scrubbing to remove bloodstains, and they shivered in the settling coolness as they watched us, some with hungry eyes others with unreadable expressions. My stomach turned at the sight of them standing there in the open so blatantly, my brother standing with them as if he were daring anyone to admit their existence.  They were comprised of mostly men and boys, a single woman stood among them, her face blank and her shirt ripped down her back and flapping open.  “No one is to feed without my express authority.  The penalty is death.”  My brother said and then halted as we approached. His eyes radiated mistrust pointed primarily at me.  He must have known that everyone knew that they were all stepping around the subject, except maybe the preacher, all in a tacit agreement to keep whatever fragile existence they had from fraying. Now I had been abruptly inserted into the mix and everyone was waiting to see if I would upset the balance.  The whole thing disgusted me, but I kept my feelings contained to a disbelieving glare. My brother nodded in greeting to me and said, “Evening,” to Paul and nodded or waved at the rest of the group as we went trudging by up the stairs. Even Paul’s good nature had been replaced by a scowl that seemed out of place on his round face.  The smell of the beer of the camp was heavy in the air of the dining hall even over the aromas of roast and fresh cooked corn and one of our own group called for beer as we walked in. A fire was crackling in the fireplace, the room was warm, and the angry fear of betrayal that had suffused the atmosphere on the porch was borne away by drink and gaiety. No one spoke of the vampires on the doorstep, no one mentioned the group of humans who were to have arrived at the camp shortly and who would never be mentioned again because everyone knew that whatever remained of them had already arrived.

An empty dinner followed.  My short replies soon left everyone talking amongst themselves as I cut my roast into bite sized pieces and ate a few bites before I began simply pushing it around my plate with my fork.  Mary was nowhere to be seen and the preacher and his songs were also noticeably absent though I looked for them for different reasons.  I drank my beer too quickly, cursed myself for dimming my wits when vampires were everywhere and were not to be trusted even with my brother’s rules in place and then took another and drank it.  Hot, bored, and dissatisfied I got up from the table telling anyone that asked that I needed fresh air and made my way out onto the porch.  An old woman sat there rocking.  My brother and his newest vampires had gone so I stood clutching the rail and looked out over the courtyard at the church.  Its white walls glowed as if by its own power.  My breath burst from my lungs in little puffs and the cold cleared the beer and warmth of the fireplace from my head.  I shivered and clutched my arms close to my body.  The night was clear, and the stars were spread so thickly that they draped the sky like a carpet that had a huge hole in it through which the light of the moon flowed.  Its light was greenish like a body of water and I could easily make out the face on it.  The night sky was crisper and cleaner here in the cool of the north.  Behind me laughs and booming voices filled the dining hall while back in the alley’s figures moved slipping into small cottages, talking quietly with one another.  A pair of vampires climbed the steps and entered the farmhouse shivering, their faces ashen above the scarves they’d wrapped around their throats.  The room quieted briefly and then resumed its bustle.  The old woman said nothing behind me, but the creaking of her chair continued steadily while out in the forest the howl of wolves set the dogs to barking as they ran towards the sound.  It seemed a shame to be standing out in the cold shivering in thin windbreaker when I could have been drinking in a cozy house, but I was too on edge to sit in there.   The night had wound on and more vampires had entered the house and men and women began filing out some wishing me a good night congenially.  I didn’t feel sleepy and I didn’t relish the thought of laying on my hard cot in my small cottage listening to the man who shared the room with me, who I’d yet to meet, as I stared at the ceiling and the night light oozing in through the cracks in the wall.

As I watched the people dispersing through the courtyard, I saw Mary walking quickly across the muddy space a bundle clutched tightly to her chest.  The light of the moon shimmered across her hair as it stirred with her steps.  I had descended the steps before I even knew what I was doing my gaze never leaving her face, cheeks rosy with cold and her eyes luminous in the dark.  Her skirts swayed from side to side just above the ground as she walked.  She halted just in front of me, a bit out of breath as if she’d been walking quickly and averted her eyes.  She began trailing one foot