Young Forever (4 page)

She stared at me, considering my words. “What would you have me do with you? Would you fight like that for me? As you did with the beast?”

“I will fight always,” I said, my eyes beginning to close. “I will always fight.”

“And why would you do such a thing when it is almost impossible to survive?”

“Because it is not impossible,” I said and felt myself fall into sleep. I jerked awake then stared at her. In an instant, she was at my side, bent down staring into my face.

“Yes, rest child,” she said. “That is the only way to survive.”

And so I rested.

* * * * *

When I awoke, I could immediately tell I was in a large home of some sort. I was lying on a leather couch in a dark-paneled room. What was unusual was that the room was a library, something I’d heard of but never seen. Books were a rarity but the whole room contained shelves that were piled high with them. Some were very old and some were newer. I had only seen a small amount of books in my time and the whole place mystified me, probably more than
Gerta
did.

She was sitting in a large arm chair watching me. I turned to her and she smiled and said, “You are awake.”

I nodded and said, “You have wealth.”

“Yes,” she said. “I took it.”

“Why?”

“Because that’s what vampires do,” she said and smiled again. “We take what we want. For survival. And because we can.”

I nodded, trying to understand what she was implying. I got up and tried to cross the room but then fell to the floor. She rushed over to me and picked me up in her arms as if I were a rag doll.

“You rest,” she said and laid me down on the couch. “I will be back soon enough.”

I nodded and she left the room. I listened for her to open, then shut, the front door but there was no sound. Without thought, I closed my eyes and attempted sleep but it would not come. Even though I was still very weak, I forced myself up and left the room and began to wander around the house, even though I had to stop several times and rest. It was large, a mansion or a manor house of some sort. Whoever owned it had traveled a lot and had many artifacts from many countries. However, I didn’t know that at the time. I was a young girl who had never left her village. I just thought they were silly looking sculptures and furniture.

I finally made it to the kitchen and was startled to see
Gerta
there, putting out a feast on the old, handmade wooden table. She looked at me and smiled, then spread her hands out across the large array of food. There were all kinds of things to eat, even pies. There was lamb and potatoes. I had never seen that much food at one time before.

“Not everyone is starving, no?” she said and winked at me. “Some are still eating quite well.”

“Where did it come from?” I asked, in awe.

“I assume the wealthy lord bought it somewhere, the animals and wheat, all that,” she said, then shrugged. “But who cares? Now, come eat.”

I didn’t have to be told twice. I sat down in one of the chairs and grabbed a leg of lamb, biting into it with total abandon. I had never tasted something so delicious but, as soon as the taste of the meat hit my taste buds, they rose up sharply and overwhelmed me. That’s how long it had been since I’d eaten.

“Slowly,” she said and held my hand back from a cherry pie.

I nodded at her and grabbed a piece of bread which was covered with the most delicious butter. After I took a big bite and chewed, I asked her, “Where did you get the food?”

“If I want something, my child, I take it,” she said and pointed at her eyes. “All I have to do is tell them what I want and I usually get it.”

I stared at her. What was she talking about? Later on, I would realize she was talking about mesmerizing, something vampires do to humans to get them to… Well, let them do what they want to do. All you have to do is look into their eyes with just the right amount of intensity and… Well, then they give you whatever you want and don’t cause a fuss. It’s like mind control or hypnotism or something like that.
Gerta
never used it on me, that I know of, but she did teach me how to do it later on. It’s one of the coolest things about being a vampire.

“It’s just a look,”
Gerta
continued. “I give them a certain look, and they bend to my will. I usually get what I want, but if there is any trouble, I just take it.”

I understood that. I smiled at her until she smiled back and ruffled my hair a bit, then I stared at her face. She had something red just below her lips. I pointed to it and said, “You have something on your face.”

She licked around her lips with her tongue then sighed with satisfaction. “You were not the only hungry one, my child.”

I didn’t get what that she meant but later on I realized she’d probably killed someone to bring me this food. “Eat with me,” I said.

“Oh, no,” she said and patted her stomach. “I am quite full.”

I nodded, thinking I understood what she meant. I stared at all the food then, for a moment, I thought of my siblings, still hungry while I had all this food, much of which would go to waste as I couldn’t eat it all. I felt bad, really, really bad then. It overwhelmed me and I almost started crying. I couldn’t think of it then; I had to push it from my mind, so I turned to the woman. “What do they call you?” I asked.

“I am
Gerta
,” she said. “And you are?”

“
Isotta
,” I said.

She nodded. “Beautiful name.”

“It was my grandmother’s,” I told her. “My father’s mother.”

“It is nice,” she said.

“Thank you,” I replied.

“Just eat,” she said and stood. “I will find you some more suitable clothing and be back quickly.”

I nodded and she left the room. I began to eat and eat and eat. It was fabulous, that food, so tasty. But then, out of nowhere, I felt someone behind me, close behind. I looked over my shoulder expecting to see
Gerta
but it was a man who was there, staring at me and smiling. He was handsome with dark hair and dark blue eyes. His lips were full and red. He wore a very stylish outfit of the time, with all the trimmings. I’d seen men around my village like him, passing through on their way to somewhere else. I, at once, knew he was a person of wealth and dignity. Of course, I couldn’t have been more wrong.

“Oh, child,” he said, drawing near. “How long I have waited to see you.”

I didn’t get his meaning, of course. I didn’t realize at the time that he was hungry and I looked as delicious to him as the food in front of me looked to me.

He bent down behind me and took hold of my neck, massaging it this way and that before he pulled my head to the side so that my pulsating jugular vein was in front of his face. I was terrified, obviously. I quickly figured out that here was someone else who wanted to eat me. But I didn’t make a move. I didn’t make a move because I really didn’t know what to do.

Gerta
suddenly cleared her throat. She’d just come back into the room carrying a stack of clothing. I stared at her, then at the clothes. He looked up at her and grinned. She did not smile back.

“Oh,
Gerta
, I see you are fattening her up,” he said. “Good idea.”

Before I could blink, she was on him and had thrown him across the room. His body hit the wall and fell to the floor. Another blink and she was towering over him, hissing slightly.

“
Gerta
,” he said, holding up his hands. “What have I done to offend you?”

“She is mine,
Aloiki
,” she spat. “Do not touch her!”

He sat up, still holding out his hands and said, “Yes. No, I will not touch her. I just thought she was a gift for me.”

“And why should I give you anything?” she asked, glaring at him. “I have not seen you in two years.”

“I’ve been busy,” he said, then looked around her at me. “But not as busy as you. I’ve not seen a child in a while. Everyone is keeping them hidden indoors. And they are not having as many as they once were. The population has seemed to drop. The starvation is really getting to me.” He paused and studied me. “Have you been eating many children of late?”

“She is not to eat,” she said. “She is my new pet.”

He stared at her for an instant and then laughed. He laughed so hard he had to hold his belly. “A pet? Will she sleep at the bottom of your bed?”

“No,” she said. “She will not. She will have her own room here. Touch her and die.”

He nodded, as if he was considering this, then turned to me. “From where did she come?”

“What business is it of yours?” she asked, rolling her eyes. “And what do you want? Why are you entering my home?”

He sighed and sat down in one of the two wing chairs that faced the fireplace. “I have landed into a bit of a problem,” he said. “I must vanish for a while, as it were.”

“Not here,” she said. “You are not allowed here. Now leave.”

He shook his head. “I cannot. I must stay.” He paused and gave me a hard look. “Are you sure we cannot eat her? I am famished.”

“Try and die quickly,”
Gerta
said and walked over to me, smoothed the hair out of my eyes and smiled. “I have brought you some clothing. It will keep you much warmer than those rags.”

At that point, anything would have kept me warmer. Even so, I didn’t care. I was eating and eating was good. I smiled at her and felt safe in her presence, even with
Aloiki
there.

He stared at me and smiled, then laughed a little at my behavior. He turned to
Gerta
and asked, “Is there more where she came from? Perhaps I could find one?”

I stared at him and decided to just ignore what he was saying. I mean, I got that they were vampires, though I didn’t fully understand what that meant. It would take a while to get used to the idea but, for the time being, I would ignore it. I needed time to acclimate. And more food in my system.

“You can have a look,” she said. “They seem to be taking children into the woods more and more often. The village she came from will be deserted soon at this rate.”

“Oh, I see,” he said. “In the woods, then?”

“Yes, in the woods,” she said.

He nodded and stood. “Very well.” He turned to go, then turned back around. “
Gerta
, she is very nice. But she would be nicer still if we eat her. It is not wise to keep a human child.”

She shrugged. “I like her. She reminds me of my sister,
Adora
.”

“That was a long time ago,” he said quietly, sadly. “She is better forgotten.”

Gerta
turned to me, studying me. “True. But this one has fight,
Aloiki
. And this world is lonely. I tire of it and she reminds me of my old life and of why I continue.”

“And why is that?”

She turned to him and said, “Because of the hunger.”

“Oh,” he said. “Yes, the hunger. It never leaves.”

“No,” she replied. “It does not.”

* * * * *

The next day, I awoke in a beautiful bedroom befitting a princess. It was a big room with lots of nice, feminine furnishing in soft colors. The bed was large, had a soft pale green canopy and was painted gold.
Gerta
had brought me there the previous night, tucked me in and made sure the fire was burning. I lay there and stared at the smoldering embers, wondering how long it would last. I got up, raced across the cold floor, threw on another log, then raced back to bed.

Then I went back to sleep. In fact, I slept until well in the afternoon. When I awoke, I got up, got dressed in the clothes
Gerta
had found me, washed my face with the water in the basin on a table in the far corner then made my way downstairs. I looked around the house for a while, marveling at its beauty.

I was still amazed at my luck. Here I’d gone from starving to death, quite literally, to the lap of luxury. Things had worked out well for me, I must say.

Then I heard a knock on the front door. This startled me and made me want to run and hide in one of the big armoires. The knock came again and I jumped a little. Should I open it or not? Another knock, which was louder. The person on the other side was getting irritated, I could tell. Well, I suppose I had to see who it was. So, I went to the door and opened it. On the other side was a peasant woman in a bonnet holding a large basket. She thrust it at me before scurrying down the steps and out of sight.

I stared after her, then down at the basket, which was filled with more food. Even though I had been eating almost nonstop since I had come to the house my mouth watered at the sight of it. I raced all the way to the kitchen where I took it all out and began to tear through it like a wild animal. There were pastries and meats and wonderful strudel. After I had gorged, I made my way into the library and found a book, sat down with it in front of the fireplace and shivered. I looked to the side and saw logs and kindling. After I located some matches, I built a fire, something everyone in my family knew how to do. Then I turned my attention to the book. Of course, I didn’t know how to read at the time and had to just look at the pictures. When I was finished with the book, I tossed it to the side and went through another one and then another, making a big pile of books on the floor. I continued this into the night when
Gerta
walked through the door said, “What are you doing?”

“Looking at pictures,” I said, thinking she might be angry at the mess I’d made.

She wasn’t. She smiled at me and said, “Now let’s put the books back in the shelf,
Isotta
.” She bent over to pick up a few books. She turned to me and said, “Have you eaten?”

“I have,” I said. “Who was that woman that brought the food?”

“She is someone I have employed to prepare your meals,” she said. “Was the food satisfying?”

“Very much so,” I said then realized she’d evaded my question. “Who was she?”

“The night you came, last night, I found a nice old estate and went inside to ask for some food,” she said. “The lord of manor ordered me out. This angered me, so I ate him and told the others in the house that if they did not send me food once a day, I’d come back and eat the rest of them. They were more than happy to oblige.”