Sangu & Catina

There was once a vampire named Sanguisuga, although he went by the name Sangu. He had no recollection of ever being anything except a vampire. If he had been anything or anyone prior to that, the knowledge of it was long forgotten.

The only thing he knew was that he was very old, even though he looked to be in his mid-twenties. He had seen human civilization rise. He watched many great empires, dynasties and cultures rise and fall as he endured. If his earliest remembrances were accurate, he was at least twice as old as the earliest Egyptian dynasty.

In all of those years, over all of those millennia, he had killed almost two million people in order to feed his bloodlust. Like all vampires, it was his preferred, required sustenance. He could, like any other vampire, drink animal blood. However, vampires find animal blood a distasteful, desperate substitute for human blood.

His life was a sullen, lonely one. Humans were seldom active during his normal waking hours. He usually preyed on them during the predawn and evening hours. If he could find humans outside of the homes, such as hunting parties or homeless people, he preyed on them during the night. Occasionally, if the sky was sufficiently overcast, he was able to hunt during daylight hours.

Most of his kills were quick ambushes. Others were victims of his hypnotic skills. He did, however, become acquainted with some of his victims, especially the younger women. He may have been evaluating them as potential mates before killing them.

Over the millennia, Sangu developed a taste for killing thieves, thugs, murderers. He yearned for the love or a woman, a true love, a mate to share his life. His inability to achieve this yearning frustrated him. It caused him to carry a particular hatred for those who preyed on women. These were often his most brutal, ugly kills.

Despite his failure in the search for a true mate, Sangu searched for that one true love. He had married at least a hundred times in his life. Most of the women were ones who caught his eye, not vice versa. He courted, wooed and entranced and ensnared them. He converted them to vampires and lived with them, finding brief periods of happiness. However, none of them proved to be his eternal love. One after another he tired of them. On a few occasions, he was even betrayed. In the end, he had killed all of his wives.

Almost a thousand years had passed since the killing of his last wife. It caused him to lose some of the desire to find a mate. He resigned himself to a solitary life. It would be less painful than the inevitable pain presented to him by his previous wives.

Sangu's wanderings had brought him into an area known as Transylvania. He was living in the dark forests near the Somesul Mic River. He preyed regularly on travelers, thieves and hunters. On the rare occasion that one of his kills was discovered, it was usually blamed on the wolves and bears of the area.

One overcast day he was searching for prey in the late afternoon. He spotted a single person just outside of a nearby village collecting wild fruits, berries and mushrooms. He assumed that it was a townswoman. She would make for a satisfying meal.

As he neared his victim she looked up and saw him. She was a young girl, certainly in her early teens. He felt the fear of being approached by a stranger pour out of her. This stimulated his appetite.

However, she was so beautiful. Beautiful in an innocent way he had not seen in hundreds, if not thousands of years. Her hair, which was mostly covered by a red scarf, was flaxen yellow…quite rare in these parts. She had deep, vibrant eyes of the color of the sky he was forbidden to view. Her dress and form indicated she was transforming from a girl to a woman. His bloodlust was uncharacteristically interrupted.

Just as she was about to scream and try to run away, Sangu spoke. "Fear not, young lady. I mean you no harm. I am but a weary traveler searching for food and a place to rest."

She hesitated, looking up at him with her intoxicating, blue eyes. "My name is Catina, sir. Would you like some plums and berries? I have found many."

'That is very kind of you, Catina," said Sangu as he selected a couple plums and a handful of berries.

Catina smiled and gazed into his eyes as he enjoyed the fruits and berries. Even though he was not trying to entrance her, his eyes penetrated her in a way she had never before experienced. It may have been due to her internal changes, but that could not account for all of it.

They chatted as he ate. Her lilting voice was as beautiful as her eyes. Catina lived in the nearby village. She was the daughter of a woodworker and seamstress. She expected that she would be a seamstress like her mother. But she really wanted to be a cook or baker.

Sangu told her he was a lover of travel. Not having a trade or skill to discuss, he opted for telling her of several places he had visited in his life. She was rapt upon his every word.

The day was starting to wane and Catina said she needed to return home. It was dangerous to be out after nightfall. Her parents would be starting to worry. Sangu excused himself and headed back toward his lair. He had no active bloodlust fogging his mind. He could only think of Catina and her hypnotic eyes.

Three days passed, during which time Sangu had killed a pair of thieves he happened upon as they were dividing their take. He yearned to see Catina, but the daytime sun had prevented him from searching for her. He had entranced, ensnared thousands of women over the millenniums with his guile. This was the first time in his life where he was the one being entranced. He was used to being the spider, not to fly. It was fascinating but somewhat unnerving. He had not wanted the company of a woman in nearly a thousand years. Now he was feeling that desire ahead of his bloodlust.

Finally, another cloudy day gave him the opportunity to watch for her. He sat in a thicket of trees looking at the village. He saw many people, but not her. He was tempted to venture into the village, but thought better of not exposing himself to the people. It was best he remained unknown to all but her.

Well into the afternoon he finally saw her. She had a basket and was walking out toward the area where they had first met. He walked to the plum tree and picked some ripe fruit. He thought it best she found him this time. He could even offer her some fruit.

Time passed as he awaited her appearance. She finally appeared and he got up from his seat. "Ah, Catina," he said. "It is very nice to see you, again."

The two of them talked as Sangu helped Catina gather berries and ripe plums that were otherwise out of her reach. He never noticed how quickly he was slipping under her spell. The situation was normally just the opposite. Her blue eyes were like bottomless wells and he wanted to drink them dry.

All too quickly their allowable time had passed. Catina said she needed to head for home. She asked if she would see him again. He said he would be here as long as the fruit and berries lasted. Then he would be forced to move on.

She turned to leave, then turned back and gave him a hug. The feel of her young body against him was almost too much to bear. He returned her hug. Then she hurried away toward home.

Three days passed before he got another cloudy day allowing him a chance to see her. The sky was thick gray with a few sprinkles of rain. As he sat watching for her, he hoped the weather would not deter her.

She finally appeared on the trail with her basket. He was eating some berries as she approached. "Sangu!" she exclaimed, dropping her basket and running to give him a hug. "I thought you had left."

"I am still here," he replied as he embraced her. "I said I would stay as long as the fruit lasted."

"But it is almost gone," she said.

"I know."

"Where will you go?"

"To the south in search of better weather and food."

"I want to go with you. I love you."

"That would be difficult. You have family here. I don't think you realize what you are saying."

"I don't care. I am fifteen. Many of the other girls are already married."

"Let me think about it. We can make the decision at our next meeting."

They gathered a basket full of fruit and berries. They also found a few mushrooms. When it was time for her to leave for home she embraced him with an urgent tightness. He returned her hug with much of the same. Before they separated, she pulled herself up and kissed him passionately. He was hopelessly entangled in the spider web. He was all but hers.

Sangu spent the next two day pondering the idea of taking her as his wife. He feared her reaction to finding out his true nature. Would it destroy their love? Would he be able to convert her? He needed to think this through.

Two days later Catina found him near the plum tree. She immediately clasped him in a passionate hug and kiss.

"We have to talk," said Sangu, breaking them apart after a moment.

"Yes, my love. I want you to meet my parents before we leave. But I am ready to give myself to you, now," she said as she pulled off her dress and undershirt to expose her girlish bosom and perfect, pale skin to Sangu and the gray steel of the sky.

"No, there is more," replied Sangu as she stepped forward to embrace him. "There is more we must discuss."

"What is it, my love?" she said with a hint of confusion and fear in her voice. She stood still, wearing only her shoes and underpants, waiting for him to speak.

"I am not what you think. I am not a normal man."

"I know you are not," she said as she wrapped her arms around him. "That is why I love you."

The feel of her bare breasts pressed against him made it hard to speak. "I am not a man," he managed to get out. "I am a vampire."

Catina released him and stepped back. "What are you saying? You're lying. Don't you love me?"

Sangu slowly opened his mouth and exposed his fangs. Catina put her arms across her breast. Her fear was palpable.

"I love you, Catina. I want you to be my wife. But it is impossible."

"Why?" she asked, the first of several tears rolling down her cheek and falling onto her breast.

"I live by killing others and drinking their blood. I am immortal. You are human. You will grow old and eventually die. I can do neither."

"Then make me a vampire," she cried as she embraced him once again. "I want to be with you forever."

"I fear to curse you that way. You are gentle. You do not want to become a killer. It will tear you apart in ways you cannot imagine."

"Then kill me," she sobbed as she stepped back. "I cannot bear to be without you."

"I cannot harm you. I have loved you since the first time I saw. There is one way we can be together. But you will have to be very strong and brave."

"Anything, my love. I will do anything to be with you."

Sangu took her hand and led her back up into the woods. He took her to a shallow hole with a coffin lying at the bottom.

"You must do exactly as I say. Then we can be together for an eternity."

"Yes, Sangu. I will do as you say."

Sangu stepped down in the coffin and laid down. He picked up a wooden stake and held it out to her.

"You must drive this through my heart," he said, touching the tip of the stake to the center of his chest. "You must be strong. You must kill me. Then we can be together for eternity."

Catina looked confused. "I cannot kill you, Sangu."

"You must. It is the only way. Kill me and go live a long, good life. When the time of your death comes, we can then be together through all eternity."

"Are you sure?'

"Yes, it is the only way."

Catina stepped into the hole beside him and knelt down. He took the stake and put it into her shaking hand as he looked into her wet eyes.

"Be strong, my love. Do this for our love."

She leaned forward and kissed him with a long passionate kiss. Then she pulled back up and looked into his eyes with a sadness that can only come from tragic love.

"Be strong, my love. Let your hand be strong and true. I am ready."

Catina plunged the stake straight through Sangu's breastbone, piercing his heart. A strange feeling that he had never before felt grasped Sangu. He felt alive, he felt free for the first time in his existence at the exact moment that his life was being ripped away from him and fading away into darkness. Catina fell forward onto him as he gasped and died.

Catina went back home and did as instructed. She lived a good life as a baker until the winter of her forty-ninth year. She was laid on her deathbed by an epidemic that was sweeping through the realm. Her last words were: "Sangu, I am coming to be with you at last." No one understood what she meant.

Her story of the cursed relationship, separation and desire to rejoin Sangu was found in a hidden journal years later. It was translated into this tale.