The Orb of Wrath (The Merchant's Destiny Book 1) (7 page)

Finally he reached the inn and, after leaving his horse in the stable, went into the building.

CHAPTER 7: THIRST FOR EVIL

Ronu finished dressing and went out to run errands. Her mother had asked her to go to pick up a dress that was at the seamstress who lived two streets below. It was a beautiful day. Not like the previous week, when it had rained every day. The archipelago of the Kingdom of Tylar was usually a very rainy place. But Ronu liked to go out for a walk in the streets in the autumn evenings, even on rainy days.

The young woman flew down the stairs of her home leading to the street, but carefully, as not to step on the long skirt of her dress. It was a beautiful green ensemble, made of fine silk, which matched her large eyes. The dress was very light and usually wasn't too hot, even at the high temperatures of those days on the Island of Megara.

Tylar was a hot country with a tropical climate. Exiting any of its cities was almost always synonymous of entering a lush forest that stretched as far as the eye could see. Enormous broad leaf trees made the progress through those lands difficult. The roads connecting the different populations required constant maintenance to prevent vegetation making them disappear, literally.

Life was quiet in the city of Bergen. Although it was a very large city, everything moved slowly there. Things were different in the cities of the coast, with all the activity of the ports, trade and transport. Ronu liked the hustle and had decided long ago that one day, she would move to a city on the coast. She loved living in her country, one of the most prosperous in the world of Oris, especially because of the export of handicrafts and fine woods, and partly because of commercial activities. Tylar's fleet controlled part of the trade by sea on the south coast since before the Great Alliance. But their city, primarily dedicated to logging and jewelry, was too quiet for her.

She was young and had time. She had just turned nineteen. Several of her friends were already married and one was even expecting her first child. But she was in no hurry. Unless the right guy came along, of course. He would have to be from the coast. She loved the sea. She always remembered the magical moment when she saw the sea for the first time, when she was ten. Since then, every year she had sought a way to convince her mother to spend part of the summer vacation somewhere offshore. Usually, it was only for a couple of weeks. But Ronu looked forward to those weeks all year long.

              “Until next time, Ronu,” a lady greeted from across the street.

              “Goodbye,” Ronu said, gesturing with her hand.

It was Mrs. Mephinosa, a friend of her mother; a little nosy but harmless. She used to go occasionally to drink tea with her mom. They always chatted for a long time. She tried to find some work to do to be away from home on those evenings. So the interrogation was avoided. "And when are you getting married, my child? Have you finished preparing your outfit? Where do you go Tuesday afternoon? I always see you walking past the Central Square."

She had arrived at the seamstress. She was a very old and very hardworking lady. She liked working women. But the lady was too old. One should have the right to rest upon reaching a certain age. She decided to rush to finish her task. This way, she'd have time to stroll along the avenue of the Poplars before returning home.

*******

Nightfall had just arrived and Vuthral was thirsty. He had long been the master of the night, in much of the island of Megara. From his lair, a castle located in a remote region in the hills south of the island, he could choose each week a different place to go feed.

When he decided to settle in the kingdom of Tylar, more than two centuries ago, he wasn't too sure he had made the right choice. At that time he was fleeing from the persecutions against his race, increasingly effective in the Duchies Carition. Tylar seemed to be far away; perhaps a more naive kingdom, with less experienced in hunting vampires. Now he knew, after the time that had passed, that he had made a good decision.

It took a while for him to find the ideal location. It's not so easy to locate a place that's far enough away on an island. Nor was it adapting the little old mansion he bought shortly after arriving, and to turn it into a residence worthy of his kind. It took nearly forty years to achieve; something that allowed him to stop longing for his ancient castle in the Duchies. But once he did, he didn't look back.

The castle also had all the amenities he could require for himself and his offspring. It was hard to find, it was difficult to access and, once inside, it had various types of defenses, which allowed the vampire to have a very high degree of security. Vuthral had worked a long time to achieve it.

There he could have all the slaves he wanted; eat with impunity, with a very low risk level. In the villages they hadn't even imagined that a vampire lived on the island. They blamed the disappearances of maids and servants on criminals or spells. At some point, the suspicions began in Bergen, one of the main cities. Since then, he had minimized the number of occasions that he "hunted" there. And when he did, it was usually somewhere on the periphery of the villages nearby, where the people were ignorant and superstitious.

The power of a vampire increases with time, as it consumes more and more human blood. Absorbing the life energy of human beings makes him more and more powerful. A vampire can feed and survive on the blood of animals, as well. But all he would do is to survive. Vuthral used a lot the resource of the animals in his castle. Most of his slaves fed on animal blood. This allowed him to maintain more control over them, preventing them to become more powerful. Moreover, his servants could buy animals at fairs without arousing suspicion, to then sacrifice them in the safety of his castle. This was also part of the security system, which had already greatly reduced the number of human "disappearances", and had thus allowed him to increase and enhance his power in total anonymity. Despite being a thousand years old, his power had increased more in the last two centuries he had spent in Tylar, than in the previous eight.

Vuthral wanted to do something different tonight. He had not incorporated a slave to his harem in a while, and he wanted a girl who was distinguished, attractive and strong, but sweet at the same time. He had been watching several candidates and finally had decided. But before hunting he needed to feed. He became a large bat and flew from the highest tower of the castle heading north.

After flying for an hour he spotted a small farm that was somewhat isolated from the nearest center. He came down and landed on a nearby tree to watch. The farm seemed to be inhabited by a family of three: a couple in their forties and a young boy of about fifteen. The farmers were busy preparing the farm for the night. The woman was checking the animals in the next shed, the farmer was picking farm implements and the boy had gone back into the house.

The vampire decided to seize the moment and quickly went to the animal shed. The woman was giving hay to the horses and was surprised to see him. Before the woman could react in any way, the powerful Vuthral looked into her eyes and began to subdue her. After a few moments the will of the farmer had been annulled. She was at the mercy of the vampire's control. She must obey. She had to obey.

Vuthral told the woman to follow him and walked out of the shed into the countryside where he had seen the farmer. He was only a few hundred yards from the shed in front of the family home, but he couldn't see the man when he got there. So he went into the house. Fortunately for Vuthral, the front door was still open. A vampire has many powers but also some limitations. One is that he can't enter a house that is closed, unless he is invited by one of its inhabitants.

After crossing the threshold of the door, he entered a good sized room that served as a lounge and dining area. Undoubtedly, the main room of the house. The young boy was in a corner of the room, stacking logs in the fireplace, probably preparing a fire to heat the home during the night. Vuthral again used his powers and with his domineering gaze controlled the young boy and forced him to wait in a chair next to the fireplace.

Before the vampire could continue his hunt, he felt a strong blow to the back of his head. Someone had hit him. He turned and saw the farmer wielding a shovel. The farmer, surprised to not to have caused any damage to his dangerous visitor, raised his shovel to strike again. With his superhuman strength, Vuthral pushed the farmer, who was thrown against the wall of the room, leaving him dazed and vulnerable.

The vampire could have used the opportunity to use his dominant gaze, but decided that this impertinent man deserved a cruel fate. He picked up a rope he had seen at the end of the room and tied the farmer to a chair in the living room. Then he ordered the woman to enter the room and sit in a chair next to her son. He closed the door of the house and headed to the kitchen. There he found a jar of pepper in a cabinet where spices were kept. He returned to the living room and placed the palm of his hand under the nose of the farmer with a handful of pepper in it. The farmer sneezed after breathing a bit of it and regained consciousness. He was bound and helpless with his family before him. He could not understand why his wife and son didn't answer him, and why they didn't do anything.

“What's your name?” Vuthral asked, with his beyond the grave voice.

“Urlamon,” the farmer said. “What do you want from us? We are not rich.”

“On the contrary. I think you have something very valuable. Your life,” the sadistic vampire laughed. “The time has come for you to bid farewell to your family, Urlamon.”

And with a quick gesture he pounced on the woman's neck and with his fangs, hungrily sucked her blood. Urlamon screamed in horror.

“What are you doing to my wife, you filthy beast?” he cried disconsolately.

Vuthral continued sucking, while the women's skin became more and more pale. After a while, the woman's body fell to the ground, lifeless. Urlamon screaming for mercy. He said he could take whatever he wanted; they had some gold in the bedroom under a trapdoor, but to leave his family alone.

The vampire then turned to the boy and looked at the farmer. It was a look of pure evil. Urlamon begged him to leave his son. It was his only son. He offered his life in exchange. But nothing could stop Vuthral, who bit the boy and sucked his blood, thus ending his life.

The farmer wept disconsolately. Nothing mattered anymore. When the vampire untied him, he did not try to hit him again. He stood waiting for the outcome. In an evil twist, Vuthral told him that if he managed to leave the house, he would live and be free. The vampire really had no intention of keeping that promise. He just wanted to have fun a little longer. But Urlamon was so sad and grief-stricken that he barely had the strength to walk out the door. The vampire knew that the fun was over and, pouncing on the farmer, ended his life. Three human victims in one night was an extraordinarily generous portion, even for a vampire as old as Vuthral. A serving like this would sustain him for a long while. 

Before continuing his way, the vampire had to cover his tracks. He single-handedly took the three bodies in his arms and carried them out of the house, to the animal shed. Earlier he had perceived that the pigs had not yet been fed, when he surprised the woman. It was a large herd of about thirty or forty animals, and some were large. The pigs grunted as he came. It was obvious they were very hungry.

The vampire laid the corpses on the floor. With his superhuman strength and violent claws, he tore the bodies one by one into several large pieces. After that, he threw them into different areas of the pig's enclosure, giving them the opportunity to access any piece. The pigs lunged on the meat voraciously.

Vuthral then went to the house and entered the bedroom. He found the hatch where the farmer said he had kept the gold. It was not much, but he took it with him.  Then he shifted a lot of the furniture in the rest of the house looking for anything valuable. Although he didn't find a lot, he took everything he found. He cared enough to leave things messy, so that everyone believed that this had been an assault with robbery.

Vuthral vaguely remembered the distant time when he had been human. He had wanted to be rich, and didn't succeed. Now he had more money and goods that he had ever dreamed of, but he understood that the money lost much importance when you were immortal. Having all the time in the world made it easy to accumulate money, if you were smart. And he was very smart.

He left the house with the goods they had found, and walked for a while; more than a league. When he reached a crossroads, he sought a relatively close lone tree that stood about fifty steps from the crossing. It was the only lone tree in the area. At its base, he dug a small hole and buried the goods. His servants would then come to pick them up. The place was sufficiently differentiated so that they would have no trouble finding it. Finally, he flew and went to his ultimate destination for the night.