Immortal Confessions (9 page)

I went outside. The night was cold, but the
wind had gone, and the stars were out. The corpses were where I’d
left them, frozen solid. I picked them up and moved them into a
stand of trees a few yards away. After, I listened, and heard
animals moving nervously in the barn. Their uneasiness was likely
because they were hungry. Most likely they had not been fed today,
by the growling of their stomachs.

* * * *

I entered the small barn. There was a cow, a
small pig, a small herd of goats, and a few chickens. There were
two horses, though they were not quality animals. Alas, this was a
poor farm: that was to be expected.

I was happy to see there was one room that
was being used as a tannery. There was a large pile of skins that
had already been processed, the fur supple and thick. There were
other skins that had been stretched, and some that were in process
of being tanned. Likely, the man had been trapping all winter,
planning to head to the nearest town to sell his wares in another
few weeks.

The skins would fetch a good price when a fur
merchant journeyed into the rural market to buy them for a client
in the city. But selling them direct to a clothier in the city
would give us the greatest profit. We had our money here to start
our life together, if I could learn enough on my own to finish the
skins in transition, and tan a few more.

* * * *

I fed the animals, and brought the pig’s body
back in with me, after drinking its blood out of Anna’s sight and
dressing it. She took it from me when I came in, thanking me. As
she prepared its flesh for dinner and storage, I told her what I’d
discovered.

“Can you trap, at night?”

“I’m not sure,” I said. “I will have to try
to discover his trap line, which may take a few nights. And this
one is almost over.”

“I will do it, as you sleep,” Ann said.

I was taken aback. “Love, your place is here,
it is my duty—”

“Stuff your duty,” she said flatly. “We don’t
know that these people will not have kin nearby or be missed, when
they do not show up for church tomorrow morning.”

It was Saturday already? Must be. I tried
another tack. “Love, what if you are set upon by another bear, or a
wolf? I saw skins of the latter in the stack in the barn.”

“I can shoot a gun well enough,” she said
staunchly. “And I will take one of the horses. Hopefully, the horse
will know the trap line. In winter, the man would have needed it,
unless he wanted to spend nights in the forest, leaving his young
wife alone.”

I was still guessing daughter, but didn’t say
anything, as it was a moot point. I was impressed again with her
mind, that she had thought of that, when I had not. I was a little
irritable actually that she had, her being a woman. I told myself
with a flash of pride that this intelligence and ability to plan
was why I loved her, and had not loved anyone before her.

“Agreed,” I said, nodding. “Please return as
soon as you can. Take no chances.”

“I will leave after sunrise,” she said. “I
need to use the time now to inventory what is here. I know prices
of woman’s clothing and men’s, and household things. There is not
much we won’t need though, Dev.”

“I know,” I said, getting to my feet. “There
is some livestock also that we can use. I’ll go now and take care
of the animals.” Mucking stalls...ugh. “At least I’ll have a ready
supply of blood.”

Anna looked ill, then nodded. “You are right.
They would die without someone to care for them. It is more of a
sin to not make use of them. I can also use the meat. There is not
much food in the larder here.”

I nodded. “I will begin to learn how to treat
the skins, so they fetch the best price. If we work together, we
can accomplish more.”

“But it will be day,” Anna said in confusion.
“How can you be outside in the day?”

“So long as I am covered, and my skin is not
exposed to sunlight, there will be no danger, Love.” I gave her a
kiss to reassure her.

She nodded, and we went about our duties.

The break of day had me at least a passable
skin-worker. The materials and processes were simple enough. I was
encouraged that although the bear’s skin had been soaked by snow,
and then dried again, it was not too late to save. That night I
finished the skins that needed a final scraping, and stretched
them, and spread a mixture of tanning ingredients on the skins that
had dried already. I also took stock of what was in the large skin
pile. There was fox, beaver, muskrat, wolf, and many raccoon. The
pile was predominantly rabbit, though, and not as lucrative as I’d
hoped.

I went back to Anna, and crawled in bed
beside her. She held me for a few moments, and then got up.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

I resisted the urge to ask her to come back.
“Be careful,” I said, kissing her hand. “Take the bay horse, he
looks in better condition. Any sign of danger, leave everything and
run.”

“I will,” she said, and gave me a smile that
said she really wouldn’t. Then she was gone.

I slept until noon, when a knock at the door
woke me.

* * * *

I got up, and went to the door. By the
heartbeats out there, there were at least two men, maybe a
third.

“Stefan?” a voice shouted. “Stefan! Heidi! We
have your shoes!”

“This door is splintered,” another voice
said. “Maybe a bear attack?”

“There are no claw marks,” the first voice
said. “Likely brigands or deserters.”

“Should we try the door?” the first voice
said, afraid.

“They are our neighbors. Of course we must,”
the first voice said, disgusted. “Get your gun ready.”

I very quietly unlocked the door, and stood
behind it. Slowly, the latch lifted.

A man came in, another following, looking
warily around. They did not see me, watching and motionless, until
I acted, slamming the door behind them, leaving us in darkness.

One man fired, cursing loudly, his bullet
missing me to go through the roof, making a pinhole of light
appear. The other dropped his gun, and crouched down.

I killed the brave one first, and then the
coward, snapping their necks. I greedily drank from them both,
until they were cold, dry husks.

Sitting back, I realized something. I was
warm again. More than that...I could remember.

I remembered clearly the days of my youth, my
coming of age, and my first woman. My father, my mother, Danial, my
dog called Petey, and my first time with a virgin. I sighed with
relief when I determined I’d acted correctly with Anna.

I looked down at the dead men. It was their
blood. It had been human blood that had done it. Something in the
animal blood had not had enough of whatever it was I needed to
fully revitalize me.

I didn’t bother to wonder why. I had too much
to do.

I wrapped the cloak around myself, put on my
long boots and gloves, and took the bodies outside, piling them
with the others. The men had come in a covered wagon drawn by two
horses, and it was piled with supplies of all kinds. There was
rope, and bolts of cloth, and sacks of sugar, salt, and spices.

This rolling shelter would be much more
efficient than the open cart the farm had in the barn. We could
make good time, taking turns driving. My intuition told me to act
quickly. The only problem might be in convincing Anna it was time
to leave.

* * * *

By dusk, I’d unhitched the wagon, fed and
curried the two horses, and written an inventory of the wagon’s
goods, after driving it into the barn out of daylight. I’d also
piled it with the skins and the tanning supplies that were left.
I’d taken care of the animals in the barn, too, even gathering some
eggs so that Anna might make bread for herself. The money and guns
of the dead men were also inside, safely stored.

Just after dusk, Anna returned, exhausted and
chilled. She didn’t say anything as I took the horse from her, and
slowly staggered into the house. After quickly taking care of it
and the one skin in her saddlebags, I headed after her,
worried.

Anna was sitting before the fire. By her
stillness, she was either upset or angry.

Better to get it over with. “Men came today,”
I said plainly. “They are dead, Anna. We must leave here in a day
or two, at the most. More will come, especially as the weather is
finally improving.”

The sun had melted most of the snow by
nightfall. What remained was mostly in drifts under trees. In
short, the corpse pile was not only thawed, it was also now
revealed for all the world to see.

“I know,” she whispered. “I saw their wheel
trail. I was afraid for you, until I saw their bodies beside the
others.”

I felt like I should apologize, but I wasn’t
sure what for—saving myself? So I said nothing.

“I’m sorry,” she said, still whispering. “I
let them go.”

I went to her, as she was clearly distraught.
“Who, Love?”

“The animals in the traps,” she said,
brushing at her face. She turned, tears in her eyes. “There was a
fox, and a few rabbits. I let them all go, save one that was dead.
I skinned that one. He’s in the saddlebag.”

“I found him, Love. Were you bitten?”

“Yes,” she said, embarrassed. “The rabbits,
they were easy to free, as the traps were not snares, but little
wooden cages. But the fox was in a leg hold trap, Dev. He bit me,
even as I tried to help him—”

“Shh. Show me.”

She gave her hand. I rolled up the sleeve to
see a deep bite, oozing blood in places, and also smelling of the
first stages of infection.

I kissed her hand, once more giving her my
blood in my kiss. When I let go of her hand, it was again whole. I
studied her carefully, but she was unchanged. Her eyes were no
brighter, and her teeth were not fanged. Relief flooded me.

“What is it?” she asked curiously.

“Nothing,” I said soothingly. “Did you free
him, the fox?”

“Yes,” she said tearfully. “I’m sorry; I know
we could’ve used the money—”

“Shh,” I said, embracing her, and making her
look up at me. “We have enough with what those men brought today.
As it is, we will have to leave some things here, as there is too
much to take now, even having the wagon.” I paused. “Did you
disable the traps?”

“I broke them all, or removed the pins,” she
said, sounding proud of herself.

“Good,” I said. “We do not want any animal
dying needlessly.”

“Be with me?” she said hesitantly.

I’d thought she was never going to ask. I was
never so happy to be wrong.

* * * *

That next dusk, we left. The smaller animals
in the barn we had killed, though Anna hadn’t wanted to. However,
there was no one to care for them, and leaving them to starve or be
eaten by forest predators was not acceptable to me. Besides, I
needed the blood. The cow we did tie behind the wagon with the
extra horses, figuring to sell it on the way. All the meat went
into the wagon, along with everything from the house we could use;
mostly tools, food, and weapons.

We left most of the furniture and clothes, as
they were of poor quality anyway. I piled the human bodies inside
the house, and then set it alight. Smoke was just wafting up as we
drove out of sight.

We made it a fair distance in just a week.
Having the two spare horses helped, as I could switch them in to
pull the wagon after an eight hour stretch. Anna slept at night
while I drove, and she drove by day as I slept. We made camp and
luckily encountered no one.

We were able to trade in a town market by the
middle of that week, getting rid of the excess weapons, shoes, and
foodstuffs, along with the cow. Anna kept the cloth, saying it was
of decent quality and she could use it. That she did, sewing
herself a simple dress by the end of that first week. The dead
woman’s clothes hadn’t fit her well, as she’d been a peasant, and
mostly bones, where Anna was curvaceous and thoroughly sexy. Anna
had seemed annoyed about that, though I wasn’t sure why. But I was
wise enough to pretend I didn’t notice.

We arrived finally in Fontainebleau about a
week later. It was there I met my first vampire.

That major event didn’t happen until Anna and
I had been in Fontainebleau a week or two.

By then, she and I had sold our furs to a
clothing designer, save the bearskin, which I wished to keep for
sentimental value. The tannery supplies and the rest of the wares,
including the two extra horses, had been dispensed with at the
local market inside the city. We had enough when we finished to put
a down payment on a tiny house, and for me to buy Anna a simple
ring. Though it was true she wasn’t my wife, she’d be safer if she
were thought to be. I introduced her to any humans that met us
after as my wife, and acted as though she was. Anna was more than a
little irritated at this, as it wasn’t true, but she seemed to
relax into the role, agreeing that she wanted to wait for a proper
wedding dress before taking her vow to me.

We’d escaped together and we’d reached the
city. Now my grand plan abruptly fell apart.

Sure, Fontainebleau had opportunities for men
who were unscrupulous, as I was. Corruption was everywhere in the
aftermath of the revolution and war, and there was money to be
made, just as there is in modern times. However, the old adage was
also true: what you knew counted far less than whom you knew. I was
not a nobleman and I knew no one with influence. Furthermore, I’d
stuck to rural areas for years plying my trade as a bard, where the
music I knew how to play and sing was still enjoyed. Here that was
not the case. A new instrument cost a small fortune, not to mention
that the current design was unfamiliar. My good looks were also not
much help, as comely men were abundant here.

Blood was also a problem. I hadn’t thought it
would be, sure that beggars and drunkards would be easy to find and
dispense with. But I was unused to city life, to the sheer teeming
masses of people that now surrounded me. Adding to the trouble,
there had recently been riots in the city, along with a rash of
murders. Police or soldiers seemed to be everywhere, and
inadvertently thwarted more than one attempt to feed. Worse, there
was no animal blood to be had here unless you paid for it.