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.
Dracula awakens to find Andrei has put the boat ashore to attend to business of his own. So what does he want to do? Take a walk? See what's going on in this week's chapter of Dracula. Don't forget to see what the other Briefers are up to. Their links follow my tale! Enjoy!
“I do not
hunger,” Nico replied.
Well, that
answered that question, at least for the moment. But that was still a situation
Avram intended to monitor. For Nico’s sake, as well as his own.
After a
time, Dracula straightened, perhaps tired of staring at himself, although Avram
would have sworn that would never happen. He began to pace the length of the
boat, as he’d done before, in the space beneath the church floor, his expensive
black Venetian boots thudding heavily against the wooden deck. At least there
was more room for him to walk here, although Avram didn’t think Nico would
appreciate that fact as he hated confinement of any kind. He assumed that’s why
he didn’t spend his days resting in a coffin as other vampires were said to do.
But that was hearsay, of course. He had no personal knowledge of any other vampires
and had no wish to meet any should they actually exist. If he hadn’t already been
aware of Dracula’s nature, he would denounce vampire stories as mere
superstition. Local legends meant to frighten the young and the foolish. But he
knew only too well now that at least some of the stories were real. Vampires
truly walked the earth. And common sense insisted that if there was one, then there
must be others for Dracula was surely not the only one. Which led him to wonder
which other old wives’ tales had their roots in reality. Maybe he should ask
Nico…
He was
drawn abruptly out of his reverie by the sound of Nico’s imperious command of,
“Come!” He glanced up, startled. But before he had a chance to respond, the
vampire strode to the side of the boat nearest to the shore. As Avram watched,
he leapt onto the land in a graceful arc that would have been the envy of any
ballerina before turning expectantly toward Avram.
What
does he want to do now?
Avram
shook his head. “Meshuggeneh,” he
muttered under his breath, but he followed nonetheless. What else was there to do? Not possessed of
the vampire’s impressive athletic ability, however, Avram couldn’t just vault
onto the shore. He eased himself over the side and waded through the shallow
water in which Andrei had drawn up the boat. Luckily, it came no higher than
his knees. He jumped in surprise when his path was bisected by a small gray
snake that swiftly skimmed across the surface of the river. Just a grass snake,
he realized. Nothing to get excited about. His cheeks heated, as he chose to ignore
Nico’s snicker of amusement.
He pulled
himself out of the river and onto dry land, rejoining his employer. “And we’re
doing this why?” He leaned down and wrung out the bottom of his pants legs.
“Exercise”
was the ridiculous reply.
Avram
narrowed his eyes at Dracula. “Excuse me?”
Dracula’s
bland expression gave nothing away. “Exercise. Do you need me to tell you what
the word means, Avram? I would have thought you’d have heard of it before.” Not
waiting for a reply, the vampire pivoted, turning his steps toward the tree
line.
Avram
sighed and followed. “Where are you even going? We can’t go very far or Andrei
will leave without us.” He eyed the wild grass carefully for any distant relatives of the water snake that
might be lurking there, trying to match his stride to Nico’s. He started to add
that Nico might get his clothes dirty if he continued in this vein, but then
realized he probably didn’t care as he didn’t want to wear those things to
begin with.
Nico
slowed his pace, allowing Avram to catch up just as they reached a narrow dirt
road, probably the same route Andrei had taken. “He will not leave without us,”
the vampire said with great confidence.
“How can
you be so sure?” Avram argued, more from habit than because he believed what he
was saying. Therefore he was not surprised when at the vampire’s reply
“Because I
am sure.”
to be continued
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