Dracula 5: The Devil is lurking

Yami remained there, lieing on the street on his back for a couple of seconds and then moaning in slight pain on his back, he crawled to the stairway of the church that was close and sat there still panting. His hand went to his chest-pocket to take the small, black leather alcohol flask he had as always and after opening it with his teeth he took a good swing of it, letting the burning alcohol flow down his throat. He sighed once. Joey had started to approach him slowly and touched his shoulder friendly.
“You did it pal…” he whispered.
Yami only looked at him, trying to catch his breath, and nodded.
“You alright?”
“Ugh! I don’t know! My back is killing me!” Yami growled in frustration
Joey couldn’t help but chuckle a little. Some meters away were Kisara with Tea. Kisara’s eyes were fully opened now and also full with fear. The drug had passed so she was fully awake now…and the events of the previous minutes had started to come to her mind. She was now shivering all over in fear and cold. Tea had wrapped a blanket around her small shoulders and Kisara was holding it tightly on her as if trying, in vain, to feel warmer…or safer… Yami felt a hint of pity for the girl. He groaned in pain standing up again, for the bones of his back were still killing him, and he walked to her. He extended the alcohol bottle to her.
“Here. Have some of this. It will help”
Kisara looked up at him shivering all over, he could feel even her teeth clattering. Was it the cold? Was it the drug? Was it all together?
“One sip. I want the rest!” Yami said again with a bit rigid voice
Kisara took the small, leather bottle with both or her white, trembling hands and raised it to her lips. She took a small swing of it and coughed a little when she felt it burning her throat.
“It…burns…” she barely whispered in a small, sweet voice that could even belong to a little girl!
“Absinthe. Strong stuff.” Yami plainly said taking back the flask.
He took another good swing of it again. Kisara looked up at him and cracked a small smile. Tea looked at him too. He looked at her too but the moment of silence was destroyed when someone yelled
“He killed the vampire!”
Soon other followed and kept yelling all together.
“He killed a vampire!… He killed the vampire!”
Yami and Joey stood up and soon they were cornered by the entire village again…surrounded by countless angry and scared eyes.
“Emm…and isn’t that a good thing?” Joey questioned confused
“Vampires kill only when they are hungry…once or twice in a month but now…they will kill for revenge!” the witch said and her voice was trembling and she seemed even older now
“Yes! Yes!” everyone was yelling in agreement
“You always this popular?” Joey mumbled to Yami.
“More or less…” Yami said and took another swing from his absinthe.
“Whoever you are…you just singed our doom!” the old woman said again
“His name is Yami!” Mai appeared from the crowd walking to him
Sounds of surprise and fear were heard from the villagers!
“I heard that the name in some oriental language means ‘darkness’…”
More murmurs followed. Mai looked at him in eye with her hands on her hips.
“Your reputation precedes you!” she told him in the face provokingly
Yami didn’t move a muscle.
“Really? Don’t tell me…” he mocked
“Kill him!” some yelled
“Send him away!” the other half were saying
Now half of the village was yelling to kill him and the other half to send him away! Mai’s voice was heard over them.
“He is the first man to kill a vampire in more than three hundred years!”
She then smirked to Yami.
“That deserves a drink don’t you think?”
“No!” they all yelled
“Kill him!”
“Send him away!”
“He is a threaten to us!”
Mai turned to Yami and smirked again.
“As you can see you are not welcome here!”
“I am used to it…”
“Well thanks to you, the vampires will come sooner or later! So if you still value your lives I would tell you to leave!”
“I can help”
“You helped us enough! Now go before vampires come!”
“That’s right. The vampires will come after us but they will come in here! They will attack to every man woman and child in here, demanding to hear where we are…”
He leaned forward so his face was inches apart from Mai’s and finished his sentence.
“…And you will have no answer!” and withdrew again
Mai remained silent for a second and then she smirked and turned to the people.
“Mister Yami over hear has spoken right. The vampires will come for him…but they will come here!”
She turned to face Yami again.
“So here is the deal. You will be staying here till the vampires appear! And when that moment comes you and your…”
Stopped looking at Joey with a rather uninterested look.
“…Companion will be thrown to their feet and you’ll be alone! Deal?”
Joey gulped and he was not really…pleased with this “deal”.
“Emm…I don’t really like this deal! Maybe we could make a few small changes-…”
“Deal!” Yami cut him
“Yami!” he protested
Mai smirked again.
“You sure have courage! Very well then! You two will be staying to our inn! Anna that has the inn will take good care of you and there will be some place for your horses at the stables too!”
And then she added with a grin.
“…Of course you will pay for the staying and for whatever you eat of drink”
“Thank you for your hospitality!” Yami said sarcastically
“Don’t flatter yourself!” Mai said starting to walk away in her provoking way, “Tea will take you there…”
Meanwhile Tea was done with helping Kisara and she had left her to the “witch” to take care of and she walked to them
“Let’s go!” she said coldly.
Yami simply followed her taking another swing from his flask. Joey tried to lift the heavy sac he was holding and followed them.

They were walking without saying a word and the only thing that was breaking the silence was the sound of the snow getting crushed under their feet while they where walking and the sound of the alcohol that was being poured in Yami’s throat from time to time.
“What kind of person gives to a man a name that means darkness?” Tea said trying to start a conversation.
“Well, when the name fits the man…” Yami said as if it didn’t really mattered.
“What makes you say that?” she said again
“I have no memories, I live in the darkness, and I hunt down darkness. Comes pretty handy don’t you think?”
He knew that it was no secret. After all the fact that he didn’t remember his past didn’t seem something important for that Transylvanian girl. At least that was what he presumed.
“No memories at all?” she asked.
Yami shook his head in a negative way and drank another sip from the flask.
“Now it’s my turn to ask, who were those three that attacked?”
“They are saying they are Seto Kaiba’s servants but no one knows for sure. They attack separately from him!”
“What did they want?”
“Blood obviously. But it appears Callisto, the blonde one, wanted Kisara especially for some reason. I don’t care though!”
“What about that girl?”
“She recently bled, therefore she is ready for marriage. She was chosen to become Seto Kaiba’s bride.”
“And obviously she didn’t want that. And the old woman that was…chanting?” he drank again.
“Her name is Setoko”
“Strange name for a Transylvanian”
“It is the name that was given to her. She is something like a doctor here. A druggist or a druid”
“Strange thing that you have an old witch among you while you have churches all around!” Yami commented bitterly.
Tea frowned.
“She’s not a witch!”
“And what about all that witchy things she was doing?”
“It wasn’t witchy!”
“Oh really?”
“It wasn’t witchy! She didn’t hurt anyone!”
“Except that girl!” Yami snapped.
Tea’s lips clenched a little at the comment and said no more. Yami decided to change the subject.
“What about that vampire that was attacking me?”
“Her name was Heather. She was killed by Seto Kaiba two hundred years ago. According to what the books say she was tough and independent lady. She knew exactly how to handle tough situations!”
“Till she got eaten!” Yami commented again and drank another sip.
“More or less!”
“Why aren’t you leaving this place since you are being attacked?”
“We lived here for centuries! Our ancestors lived here and their ancestors before them! We will not live our home!”
“How can I find him?” Yami said again.
“In his castle! But only the bravest or the most fool would go there!”
They kept walking with fast and big steps to get a bit warmer. Yami took another sip.
“They ran away now?”
“They can’t stay in daylight! That’s why they never attack in daylight.”
“Really? So what made them attack in daylight today?” Yami asked a bit mockingly.
“I don’t know. Probably they wanted to catch us off guard! Callisto seemed really desperate to take Kisara!”
“Why?”
Tea smiled a small smile, with no joy or humor.
“You’re asking too many questions”
“Well, I usually ask only two; Weather I deal with it or just kill it!”
That made Tea stop, turn around and look at him with her blue eyes.
“Some people say you are a monster and a murderer, Yami…some that you are a holly man. Which is it?”
Yami’s lips pushed back a little for a brief second as if he thought of what to answer.
“It’s a bit of both, I think” he said
But she looked at him from top to bottom with a critical look in her eyes.
“You must feel good with that right? Walking around in streets, facing creatures that are different than you…deciding who should live or who should die…or better! You leave that choice to others!”
Yami looked at her but her words meant nothing to him. He had heard such insults in the past and even worse than that so her words didn’t touch him so she continued.
“It is like…putting people on a scale and decide who should be off the scale!”
“Well in that case I could say the same thing to you!”
She grimaced in surprise.
“What are you talking about?”
“Back then…during the attack I saw people running and screaming in panic, I saw people trying to protect their children or wives and running to safety…and considering the girl…I even saw people yelling to the vampires ‘Take her! Take her and leave us alone!’ but only you…had put your body over hers as a shield…protecting her and taking her to safety. You decided that she didn’t deserve to die!”
“That’s not the same thing!” she spat frustrated.
“Oh, it is exactly the same thing! Back then, you had made the decision that she didn’t deserve to die!”
“Of course she doesn’t!” finally Tea yelled, “She is just an innocent girl, younger than me! She did no harm to anybody!”
“Oh, please! White hair, pale skin and blue eyes? I have seen people getting burned for only one of those characteristics!”
“Shut up!” she spat angrily, “And what could you possibly understand? Where have you learnt how it feels? In the alcohol bottle that you cling to?”
“Hey, hey…come on guys! We better not…” Joey stared.
However none of them moved an inch!
“…Fight…” he finished in a small voice not that the two of them even noticed him
Yami’s eyes narrowed as he was looking at her. His eyes were two bottomless pools of melted ruby…two pools of fresh drawn blood…
“Oh you have no idea what I have been through…” he said in a low, hoarse voice that hid much pain and devastation. “You have no idea…”
That made her stop and look up at him so her eyes would meet his. The man in front of her appeared to be in his late twenties but he could be younger…or even older! Her look had changed to a look of mixed admiration and pity at the same time before changing to the previous angry one, but not so convincing as it was before!
“You sicken me!” she said and started walking again
Yami’s lips cracked a small smirk.
“Whatever you say!” he said before following her, drinking the last sip of his absinthe

After some time they were at the inn that was called “The Boar”. It seemed pretty comfortable. It was welcome to the two tired travelers anyway! They walked in and they felt the sweet warmness of the big fireplace. The floor was covered with a carpet that was a bear-pelt. Around the walls there were some hunting prices; Heads of deer and boars, tails of foxes and others. Tea walked in with the other two following. The rime that had formed on their clothes had started to melt.
“I’m in heaven!” Joey mumbled finally feeling his bone a bit warm!
Tea approached a tall woman in her late thirties that was wearing long, red skirt and the typical Transylvanian shirt above. She had long, straight, raven hair and full lips painted red as well. Her body was wavy and plump and her breasts were well shaped and quite large as well. Tea greeted her.
“Hello Anna! Do you have rooms for the…gentlemen over here?”
When Anna saw them, gasped a little.
“They are our guests.” Tea said and then added, “Temporarily!”
Anna eyed Yami and then Joey and Yami again. She swallowed once.
“Sure I do.”
She looked at them
“Do you wish to stay on separate rooms or you can have a room with two beds?”
Yami shrugged
“It doesn’t matter! I actually have money to spend! Don’t worry”
One thing Yami had for sure was that money was not an issue to him. He, might, had nothing but Church and Vatican were providing him with money for his trips and for his food or his residency when that was necessary.
“So…in that case you can have our double room. It is in reality two separate rooms but they are communicating with a door in the middle.”
“Sounds good” Yami said plainly.
Tea started to leave.
“See you around Tea!” Yami said teasingly
She frowned.
“My name is Tea Gardner!”
“Right! See you around Tea Gardner!” he said with a teasing smirk.
Tea just said a small “humph” and then left the inn. The woman gave him the book so he could sign with his name and then took a candle and the key and started climbing the stairs taking them to their room.
“We serve dinner till midnight! If you want to eat, don’t be late!” she told them unlocking the door.
She opened it. The room inside was really comfortable. It didn’t have much furniture. In the one room it had a small bed and a desk while to the other one, the bigger one it had a wooden table along with the bed. Anna let them alone.
“Well…that’s what I called hospitality!” Joey commented mockingly.
Yami seemed to pay no mind. He fell on the mattress with a sigh of fatigue and pain, since his back was still in pain after all that fighting and falling and he finally let his pained muscles to relax a little. After days of travel and hours on a horseback through rocky and showed mountains in the cold he finally could rest a little! Especially since he barely had time to return from Paris before leaving again in a hurry for Transylvania! He remained there, lieing on his back staring at the ceiling above. His mind, slightly foggy by the previous fight and the alcohol he had consumed, started to run back at the things that had happened recently and the things he had learnt about his new enemy. He would be the toughest, he thought. Some of them traveled to her as well… Tea Gardner… His eyes started to feel heavy…
“Hey Yami!” Joey called from inside.
He got through the door that was connecting the two parts of the room.
“Hey I can take the small one and you can take…”
He stopped when he saw Yami was lieing carelessly on the bed and he was fast asleep. Probably the alcohol and the fatigue had done their job since he had fallen asleep at the spot and he hadn’t even taken off his coat and boots. Joey smiled a little.
“Never mind…” he said in a low voice.
He approached him and removed his boots. He let him there sleeping. He would come to wake him up later, before midnight, when they could go down to have some dinner.

The night that came some hours later was dark and the moon was in its first quarter so it was like a small piece of light in the dark sky. The gray clouds were hiding the stars therefore the only light that was breaking the darkness was the pale moon. The castle was still there…tearing the sky… So close yet so far from the village… No one would dare to go in there again… No one would dare to even go close to it… Somewhere away from the castle…deep in the forest some lonely wolf was howling to the moon and its monotonous sorrowful yet wildly beautiful howl was reaching until the moon to the sky… The night was now in the darkest hour… If anyone would raise his head he could see a figure in the window…a shadow in the large window of the castle…a shadow that was gazing down the village with two eyes that were not human! They could see in the darkness but they were not the eyes of a wolf either… The two eyes that had icy-blue color were looking…gazing… They were gazing like a falcon or an eagle that is gazing down for its pray. The man, whom the eyes belonged to, was still looking at the village and at the mountains behind it… A smirk was at his lips soft and barely noticeable… He was gazing…he was gazing at the small lights of the small town that from up there looked like tiny fireflies in the night…
“What a calm night…” Seto Kaiba whispered to himself.
His lips drew back in a smirk to reveal two white fangs. His red tongue licked his lips.