Good morning and Happy Hump Day! If it's Wednesday, then it must be time for more flash fiction from the Wednesday Briefers! We're a group of authors who bring you our finest flash fiction every week, 500 to 1000 words, inspired by one of our prompts.
Well, this night is not going well. Dracula's paramour is dead and so is her husband, though not by the same hand. Now he and Avram have to hide before the villagers catch up to them. What are they to do? See what's going on in this week's chapter of Dracula. Don't forget to visit the other Briefers and see what's up with them. Their links follow my tale! Enjoy!
Avram shot Dracula a look that clearly warned him not to argue. The vampire managed to hold his tongue, although he was clearly disgruntled at having to do so.
You’ll get over it.
“I have to make arrangements to get you both away from here,” Gunther continued, “but I’ll need a little time. In the meantime—”
“Time is what we don’t have,” Dracula snapped. So much for good intentions. “Did you not hear what I just said? Villagers with torches are headed in this direction. Unless you want to see a bloodbath in your precious church, it is imperative that we leave here immediately.”
Gunther took a deep breath before responding. “There is no need for the threat of violence, Count Dracula. Might I remind you that we are in a holy place—”
“I am very well aware of that, priest, and I have been coming to this so-called sacred place of yours for far longer than you have walked on this earth. Longer than anyone else in this village.” The vampire drew himself up to his full height, his fists balled by his side, as if he intended to strike. Despite his outward ferocity, Avram realized that was just a façade to cover his inner turmoil. He could tell that the woman’s death had affected him more than he cared to admit. Despite having seen many deaths during his lifetime, he was not the hardened warrior his ancestor had been. Avram had known Nico far too long to be fooled by his affectations in front of others. But he was also revealing secrets he should not reveal to anyone. Did he not understand the meaning of discretion?
“We do not have time for this. Nico, please.” He placed a firm hand upon Dracula’s sleeve. He could feel the tension in the arm beneath the white silk of his expensive shirt. Not that he really expected him to attack Gunther. His words were meant as much to reassure the priest as to deter the vampire. “In the meantime, what?” That question was aimed at Gunther.
“There is no other recourse,” Gunther continued, as though Dracula had not spoken. “It’s dangerous for you to leave the church, and you can’t afford to be caught here either. You have to hide, at least for now. Obviously, returning to the castle is not an option.”
“Obviously,” Dracula seemed about to begin another rant, but he subsided when Avram applied subtle pressure to the arm he still held. Gentle but firm.
“But where can we hide?” Avram asked Gunther.
“Come, I will show you.” He beckoned them to follow as he hurried in the direction of the altar. “And bring that trunk. Unless you don’t care if it’s found.”
“Wait a moment.” Avram forestalled the complaint the vampire was no doubt about to voice, holding him in place where he stood. He stared into Dracula’s hazel eyes intently, wondering if Shakespeare was correct when he claimed that the eyes were the window to the soul. If so, Nico’s did not seem as impure as others would choose to think. “You don’t have to do this, you know. As fast as you are, you can evade the villagers quite easily if you leave here alone. There’s no need for you to be burdened by me, I’ll only slow you down. You should get away, Nico. Go quickly and I will follow you as soon as possible. We can arrange—”
Dracula was shaking his head before Avram had even finished speaking. “No, no, no. I will not have that. You think you are so clever but your so-called solution is out of the question. We will leave together or not at all. Do you think I am so weak as that? Come, let us see what this priest of yours thinks he can do for us.”
“And yes, first the trunk,” he added before Avram could remind him. He couldn’t help but smile behind Nico’s back but hid it quickly on his return with the item in question.
Confident that Dracula would now follow without argument, he led him past the pew where the blacksmith’s wife lay, past the altar, to the spot where Gunther stood waiting. Dracula gave no indication that he’d noticed his coat no longer covered the dead woman, or that Avram now carried the garment. Avram wasn’t sure if that was due to indifference or distraction. He hoped it was the latter.
The church lay in almost total darkness. The only light came from a few candles grouped about the altar that someone had lit, and what moonlight that was filtered through the stained-glass windows. The flames flickered eerily, but Avram wasn’t bothered by the almost ghostly shadows they cast. He didn’t find the darkness unnerving, as many of the villagers did. Residing as he did with Dracula, he’d become accustomed to living mostly during the hours of the night.
“Where is this hiding place, priest?” Dracula’s patience seemed to be reaching an end.
In response. Gunther pressed on the floor with one foot. At first, nothing happened. Then Avram watched in amazement as the floor began to move back, revealing an opening just beneath. He gestured toward it. “There is the hiding place, Count.”
Avram had a feeling this revelation would not go over well with Nico, and it didn’t. Something about the blackness beneath their foot bore too strong a resemblance to a tomb, and he knew that was something the vampire could not abide.
“You expect us to… to scurry underground, like rats?” His indignation was rising steadily. “And then what, you seal us up, perhaps forever? What if you die, what then? We are unable to exit your tomb. I—”
He stopped abruptly, listening. Now Avram heard it too. Angry voices. Many of them.
No choice now. It was either descend into the earth or face the villagers. Into the darkness they went.
to be continued
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