“This village needs to be purged of the undead scourge which has fastened us like a great tick sunk into ear of a grinning dog, a parasite that your brother has allowed to fester.”
“Why?” I began but the preacher cut me off.
“You yourself traveled here in the company of a vampire, introducing another into our midst. Now that same vampire threatens the very continued existence of this place.”
“I was captured, kidnapped, forced to travel here by the General and his vampires. I had never even heard of this place.
“Yet here you are, another brother with another vampire. Your brother already mistrusts your purpose. What do you think a few whispers of your plots would make him think?” A heavy pause filled the room. “I’ve already asked you. Now I will tell you. What is one girl, pretty no doubt, in the Lord’s eternal plan? If she were to be harmed the Father would have already foreseen it and no doubt, He would have reason to sweep her up into his heavenly bosom.” Mary gasped and stood.
“Sit down,” the preacher said curtly as the son behind him drew a pistol from his waist. “At least she understands me. Your brother is faltering on his determination to go to war. Your vampire friend has filled him with doubts with his talk of the mightiness of their army. Now I could go before your brother and present my case, but I haven’t been in the southlands and even if I had I have no reason to believe that he would trust me. I can preach and there is no doubt that the camp is in favor of the eradication of the vampire threat. They would willingly sacrifice their young for me in that cause, but obviously they need a leader and I am not some kind of warrior pope. Even if I were Benjamin is the only person they’d follow on that kind of war and the only person the vampires would follow at all.” A bit of spittle flew out of his mouth and landed on his chin. The preacher didn’t notice but the bit of frothy matter beneath his pink lips moving up and down was all I could stare at.
“You’ve been in the south and you’ve seen the General and his forces. You’re also his brother which if he has any modicum of humanity remaining should allow you to reach him.” He paused to lick his lips. “Convince your brother to go south with his army. Convince him that he can defeat the General’s forces. Lie if you have to. The Lord our Father will forgive you that if you are working towards his kingdom on Earth. Get your brother and his foul lackeys out of this precious camp and perhaps the Lord will see fit to allow you into His kingdom.”
Keenly aware that I was unarmed I stood as stiffly as if I were being robbed and unsure whether a blow would follow or if I would be left unharmed and simply deprived of my possessions. Behind me Mary was silent. My body tensed and my mind screamed against the constriction of the room which left me feeling like a dog ready to rip anyone to shreds who stood between me and the exit. The preacher smirked. Everything in me urged violence despite my disadvantage.
“Well I’ll leave you to pray and meditate on it. I will know your answer shortly.” He emphasized the final word then turned and walked out preceded by one son and followed by another.
Mary let out a deep breath and began to sob quietly. I sat down beside her trembling but didn’t touch her. I hung my head as if the heaviness in the room was actually in the air. “I can’t believe it,” she whispered. “He was so good to me when my brother died. Why?”
I didn’t say anything. Everyone was hidden behind a veneer that proved to be false. The shock was greater for Mary who had had more years of the veneer ripped off like a Band-Aid. “You have to talk to your brother,” she said looking at me with tears in her eyes.
“Yes,” I said in a voice that was low and even to my ears sounded sinister. Still trembling Mary got up.
“I have to get back to work. Liza will wonder where I’ve been.”
“Ok,” I said but didn’t rise and she left me sitting on the hard edge of the cot staring at nothing in the shadows of the shack.
When the bell rang for supper I stood, stretched my stiff legs, and walked slowly towards the farmhouse. I didn’t feel hungry nor did I feel like being amid the gregarious dinnertime crowds, but I came anyways drawn by the ringing of the bell. Men and women were filing into the farmhouse and I entered with them averting my eyes so as to avoid conversation, but as they went into the dining room were the bustle of bodies and the crackle of a large fire had obliterated the chill in the air and replaced it with an oppressive heat, I turned opening the door into the hallway. The young vampire trapped in the old man’s body sat on a stool staring at nothing with a disturbing smile on his face. When he saw me, he scowled, then smiled again and then licked his lips. His eyes began to flit back and forth, and he got up from the stool.
“Where do you think you’re going,” he said in a voice as dry and dusty as papers tucked away in some attic.
“I want to see my brother,” I said, my voice far more forceful than I felt.
“Hmm,” he muttered and kept making the sound as if his mind were processing the request. His eyes continued to dart back and forth and his tongue
