Vampir-Schuld
This winter was horrible, I almost lusted after the snow all year, it was the only reason to look forward to winter every year, and not curse God's name each time winter came around.
I hated the cold, I wanted to be nowhere near the cold, but alas, the snow called. I had no choice but to hope for winter's arrival.
But, of course, this winter was to be snowless, it was just cold, never cold enough for snow, but it sure did rain.
I lived in a small un-important village just south of London, but of course I'd never been to London, father always said only lowlifes and thieves go to London. Oh but if only father was literate, he would know the pure joy that all those books would bring me.
I was literate, the only one of my siblings (or my father) who had the patience to learn to read from my mother.
My mother, she came from mild money, and Germany, my aunts visited us often from Germany, giving all of my siblings and myself money and clothes, and this year my aunt Olga even game me some jewelry, my favorite being a simple silver cross on a silver chain, made by a Dutch silversmith. My aunts, like my mother, were tall, femininely muscled, and had blond hair and blue eyes, and yet were still thin.
I, on the other hand, had auburn hair, with only a tint of blond highlights. I was also very tall, as in taller than my mother and her family. I had inherited my father's green and grey eyes, as well as the curves of the women of his family. Though I had never looked at myself in a mirror, my aunts offering many times, I was deathly afraid of how awkward I'd look. How ugly I would be, my aunt Friddwulfa's bronze mirror would probably dent if I were to look into it.
My father, a farmer by trade, made sure his farm produced most of the goods sold at London's markets. He was a very proud man, proud of us, his wife, his farm, especially his farm, and he considered himself a failure if he didn't produce enough crops to feed the royal family. My father was a man of few words, three of my brothers taking on that same quality, his green and gray eyes misting over whenever he looked at our fields, seeing something none of us saw, maybe it was an empire of his own, or a dream he'd had since he was young, none of us know, we can only begin to guess, but he none-the-less is a very, very proud man.
Therefore, it was to be made sure that all of the servants worked on the farms, while my siblings and I had to take on the jobs of the rest of the servants.
My sisters and I cleaned the house and cooked the meals, along our mother of course, all three of us came to learn German, because our mother enjoyed speaking in German while doing the jobs of the house.
My sisters were Ana and Grace; they're both are spitting images of my mother's family, my aunts often teased about finding them German suitors.
You may have noticed that my name has yet to come to up, well there's a reason for that. My name is very important to my mother, it meant something to her, like an old debt, she had to keep my name a secret until the debt was repaid, so she kept my name to herself. Therefore everyone just called me Arbeitkraft, it's German for "worker", and my mother says it's a name I should be proud of.
My aunts often called me "God's Daughter" because it seemed I was forever faithful to the Lord, I even learned a little bit of Latin to follow along during mass, though my mother often didn't encourage me going to the catholic masses, she herself was a Lutheran, like most Germans since Martin Luther "revived" Germany. I simply don't what I'd do without the Pope, he was almost like my guiding light, I couldn't wait for the small decrees that would reach our small church, hopefully it was a bit of new information that would help me follow the Lord better.
Now my four brothers, Friddrick, William, Kurt, and John, learned carpentry and sold our produce alongside our father in London. Apparently they weren't lowlifes for going into London in my father's eyes.
All my siblings are younger than me besides Friddrick, we're twins. My brother Friddrick is also to betrothed to Aunt Friddwulfa's daughter Charlotta, he calls her "Meine reizende braut zum zu sien." Or "My lovely bride to be" for she is very pretty. He doesn't speak German, he simply asked me how to say it, and uses that phrase when addressing her or talking about her amongst family and friends. I'm not betrothed, for my mother urged my father to let no man make an offer of marriage to me. It was very clear to me that my mother thought I was too ugly to marry anyone, and no man truly wants his wife's loyalty to lie more with God than him. It seems I set myself up for failure, because no men want a wife who is smarter, and I'm bilingual, literate, and working on learning Latin.
"Unten hier kommen unduns mit abendessen, Arbeitkraft helfen." My mother shouted at me, so I went to the kitchen, breaking my chain of thought, and began to help my mother and sisters prepare dinner. The kitchen was big, with a huge stone fireplace with spit over it so we could cook a lot of things at once, my mother once said it's a fireplace fit for a queen, we have a door to well just beside the salt pantry where we store out meats, my mother doesn't like the taste of salt so often when we cook the stored meat we try and get rid of most of the salt. The kitchen is also the warmest room in the house, and a room I enjoy reading in.
"Ich wünsche nicht zu." Ana whined playfully, that meaning "I don't want to!"
We cooked for all nine of us, which was no easy task with three growing boys, one almost grown boy, and a full grown man. Because of those five important factors we often made rather large amounts of food.
We sat down at the dining room table, with its huge oak table and twelve big chairs, one at the head and the end, and five on each side. As usual we ate in silence, simply eating our chicken soup and toasted bread. I could hear Ana and John having 'Who can slurp the loudest contest' while Grace was doing the same with William. Freddrick was giving father a look that said "I need to speak with you as soon as dinner is over" and father was barely paying attention until I noticed his slight nod, and Freddrick went back to eating his meal in silence. Kurt was brooding over something as usual, he was always jealous of someone.
But what shocked me the most was my mother's almost heavenly grin, she was positively glowing, what was going on, I tried signaling to her with my eyebrows, but it was no good she was staring directly at father.
"Ich mit kind, hast bist du beachtet?" My sisters and I stared at our mother opened mouthed.
Until Grace uttered, "Wirklich bist du mutter?" And her mouth fell back open again.
"Ja, ja bin ich."
"What, what is it ladies?!" Kurt almost yelled.
"Have some patience, I raised you better than that," my mother reprimanded Kurt, "Now, dear, I'm pregnant." And with that, my father swooped out of chair and kissed my mother on the mouth. Ana and Grace were positively light headed with giggles though. They had just learned about a women's virtue from mother and now knew how a woman became pregnant, I acted the same way the night I thought about how I came to be, laughed myself to sleep that night.
It was already a good omen that my mother had all seven of her children live past the age of ten, four of them being boys being an even better omen, but this was just beyond good blessing from God, and I was thoroughly convinced that my praying and going to mass had brought this blessing upon my mother.
That night after dinner, my sisters still giggling, and Kurt brooding over his short lecture, and even after Freddrick and father's short conversation, mother and father danced around the dining room, mother says they did this every time she found out she was pregnant.
My sisters and I went up to our room, Ana and Grace falling asleep soon, and I said my prayers, "Lord give me strength, help me keep your commandments, help me honor my parents, and you, help me understand the world you've created, and Lord, if you could, could you please bring me a man who loves me for me, I know no man would never love me for my looks, but I wish, just for a husband, who will love my brains, my analytical mind, and I know I should be thanking you for everything you've done, but Lord, I truly do want a husband." I thought I heard a creak of our door shutting, but then it opened and shut again, just air going through this drafty old house, nothing new. And then it began to rain. "Amen"
"Es regnet, ich hasst den regen." (It's raining, I hate the rain)
I woke up to gray outside my window, as usual, and I could hear the heavy splashing on my roof, the gray tint outside made a gray tint inside. I got out my bed, and brushed my hair with the ivory brush my Uncle Adelbrecht and my Aunt Griselda gave me for my fourteenth birthday. I loved it very much; it kept my hair smooth, one of my good physical qualities. I saw my sisters lying in their one bed, we could afford an extra bed, but Ana and Grace are so close, my mother's 2nd pair of twins bonded much better than her first. I sat there and watched them, they even look joyous and carefree in their sleep, but there was no doubt in my mind that my eyes read worried, scared, monotone, anything and everything unwelcoming and cold. Oh the irony, my personality was the exact same as the thing I dreaded the most, the cold, the horrible soul stealing, heart wrenching cold, I was so glad I was born in spring, never too hot, and never too cold, and there were always fresh flowers at the florists.
I finished brushing my hair, and put on my plain green cotton dress, and put on my white apron, my black leathers boots, and I woke my sisters and left, letting them get ready, I could even hear their laughter as I went down the steps to prepare breakfast.
I saw Friddrick in the kitchen. He had a letter; he was scrutinizing it, I guess trying to make sense of it as best as he could.
"Could you read and translate this for me?"
I took the letter, Friddrick knowing the answer already, it read
Lieber FriddickMein Herz gewärmt an der Idee von dich dieser Frühling sehen. Ich sage nicht viel, weil Arbeitskraft oder Tante Idahlia dieses für dich übersetzen, mein Herz bin mit dir immer.Liebe, Charlotta
"She says her heart is warmed at the idea of seeing you this spring, and she won't say anymore in case I, or 'Tante Idahlia' or was we know her, mother, are reading, she also reminds you that her heart is yours, and she gives her love." I said, smiling at me brothers, he was getting the same misty eyes my father got when looking at his farm. It seems as though Aunt Friddwulfa and my mother made a wise choice in pairing up their oldest children. Even with the little I spoke to Charlotta, it seemed as though she loved my dear brother very much.
"Well, I'm off to town, I'll see you in the evening Arrbetkaft." My brother never did have a knack for speaking German, so he often pronounced my 'name' wrong.
When my brother left I put some water in the kettle to heat for soup that was to be lunch today, as I went to get my hood and coat it stopped raining, so I put my hood back. I then proceeded to mass.
I walked through the woods, until I came upon a very pale unfamiliar face, he had blood red eyes, black hair, and shiny white teeth, he was even taller than me, a very rare quality as well, he also looked rather wealthy, and very, very pleased to see me. He started walking towards me, red eyes, it can't be red eyes, that was surely a sign he was a demon or possessed, so I tried my best to ignore the oncoming demon-possessed man, hopefully he wouldn't chase me if I get close enough to the church.
I was wrong, oh so very wrong.
He came up to me and grabbed my hand, and said, "Bonjour, mon nom est Innokenity, vous êtes un jeune femme très beau, et je ne peux pas attendre jusqu'à ce que la dette soit remboursée." And then he just let go and left, in a flash, was that French, I'd barely ever heard any, my mother spoke some French, so at least I knew Bonjour, was hi, and mon nom est was my name is, his name was Innokenity, that didn't sound very French, and for a wealthy man he sure did have white teeth. But those eyes. I had to go to Father Paul and ask about this man, Innokenity.
I decided to ask after mass, I caught a few things in Latin, though I still wasn't hearing the entire message, and that made me upset, maybe I was missing some vital information, something that would re-assure my faith, help me do something.
When mass was I went over to Father Paul, lucky enough for me he spoke German as well, so I could discuss this problem without anyone else from hearing it.
"Hervorbringen, geschah etwas mir, als ich im Holz war, dort war dieser extrem Lattenmann im Holz, schaute er reich und sprach mit mir auf fließende Franzosen, und er hatte rote Augen, Augen, die ich vorstellen, dass ein Dämon haben. Was sollte ich tun?" (Father, something happened to me when I was in the woods, there was this extremely pale man in the woods, he looked rich and spoke to me in fluent French, and he had red eyes, eyes I'd imagine a demon would have. What should I do?) I looked at him with pleading eyes.
"Sorgen, ich betet für dich, Arbeitkraft, der Lord schützt, ist gerade sicher, deinen Verstand von nichts des Teufels zu schützen."(Do not worry, I shall pray for you, Arbeitkraft, the Lord shall protect, just be sure to guard your mind from anything of the devil) He looked at for just a second, a little bit scared, but then put on a re-assuring face. If only I was pretty enough, and Father Paul wasn't part of the Church, then maybe, just maybe we could've had a life together. But this was wishful thinking that I had to get rid of.
End of Chapter One/Ein/Un
Please review, I'd very much enjoy knowing if the story is worth continuing, also, I don't speak fluent French or German, I used a translator, the translations aren't perfect either.