New Generation
Chapter VII
So the world is spinning faster.
Are you dizzy when you're stoned?
Will the music be your master?
Will you heed the master's call?-
"Houses of the Holy"-Led Zeppelin
Christian observed the rays of the sun to his west. "The sun will be gone in a few hours, but we should arrive at the next town before it does."
"Christian?" Brian began.
"Yes?"
"I've never really experienced Romania under the threat of a vampire, but if one evening we were trapped out in the darkness what can we do to protect ourselves?"
"Be on guard," Christian said sternly. "However, vampires can venture out during the day, but only the really powerful ones choose to do so. Vlad Tepes is one such vampire, but he is very weak during the day, and after your experience with him I seriously doubt he would try such a thing at this particular stage."
"Christian, how did Vlad the Impaler become a vampire? He was born like the rest of us, wasn't he?"
"That he was. According to my father and my uncle Adrian Tepes, Lysander and Alcander's father, Dracula lost someone who was very precious to him, his wife. We don't know what her name was. Even my uncle Adrian, who's a descendent of Vlad Tepes, doesn't know her name, but whomever she was she was misled that Prince Vlad was either killed in battle against the Islamic Turks, or that Castle Dracula was about to be seized by the Turks. We don't know the exact story on that either. What we do know for certain is that she leapt from the Castle's balcony into the river Agnes below. She either landed in a part that was too shallow, or she landed on a rock because she was killed and her body was rescued from the water. Vlad Tepes was not only distraught that his wife had committed suicide, but was also upset that the Church would not allow her a proper Christian burial, because she committed suicide. Vlad believed that God had betrayed him over the incident, and he renounced Him. Over the course of many years Prince Vlad Tepes's sanity began to leave him, as he started drinking the blood of living things."
"Didn't anyone try to help him?"
"One of his closest friends and allies did, my ancestor Leon Belmont. According to what my father told me, around the year 1463 Leon tried to make Dracula reconsider what he'd done with his life. Prince Vlad, however, didn't want to hear any of it, and Dracula banished my ancestor from his Castle. Leon told Vlad Tepes before he departed, 'I hope that God will forgive you.'
And Dracula told him, 'I'll never forgive Him! Even after my death I shall not remain in my grave. I shall return to seek my retribution on Him!'
As he left the Castle, Leon told Prince Vlad, 'If you somehow manage to come back from the grave I will hunt you down and destroy you!'
From that moment in history the Belmont family has been fighting Vlad Tepes, and will continue to do so until the day he never returns!"
"That's an incredible story!" exclaimed Brian. "I never knew the whole story between Dracula and the Belmont family."
"Many do not," replied Christian.
"There is something that I want to you, Alcander?"
"Yes, Brian, what is it?" Alcander asked with a sigh, doing his best to follow Christian's request.
"I was too nervous to ask you before because I was still shaken up after everything that happened, but I remember hearing you say something that 'now he has her.' Were you referring to Jessica?"
"Yes, but I don't know if Dracula has her. Before Sander and I left to go on this mission with Christian we wanted to say goodbye to her, but her dad said that he hadn't seen her all morning, and that he wondered if maybe Vlad the Impaler didn't kidnap her. I hope he doesn't have her, but I wouldn't be surprised. Christian told me that Dracula kidnapped his mother back when she and Uncle Richter were still dating. He said that he does these kind of things when he suspects that you're out to slay him, that he'll kidnap someone you're familiar with."
"If Dracula has Jessica, what do you think he's doing to her?"
"Hopefully nothing…I've been praying a lot more that he's not harming her."
"I see the village!" Lysander exclaimed, as he pointed to the highest building, the church steeple.
"Wonderful…" Christian paused from his next comment. Something cold and white had gently landed on his face. "This is a good sign."
"What is?" asked Lysander.
"Snow," Christian told. "Snow is pure, and anything pure is go…Forget I said anything."
"Why? What do you mean?" asked Alcander.
"Well, I was about to say that anything pure is good, but then I remembered that Lysander was born on a night that it snowed heavily. Therefore, not everything that comes with snow is pure."
Alcander laughed out loud, and placed his older brother in a headlock, before Lysander pushed him away. "Oh, kiss my ass!" he told them.
Brian attempted a giggle, but he couldn't laugh like that Alcander and Christian could since he still did not feel completely welcome.
Christian ceased laughing once the four of them entered the town. "Lets get the horses in the stable," he told them, "and buy our rooms for the night." Unlike at the last town, Christian helped in putting the horses into the stable and sent Alcander inside to purchase the rooms. Christian told Alcander not to worry, and that he should go into the inn's tavern and relax himself.
The tavern was adjacent to the Inn Keeper's desk, and Alcander sat on the stool in front of the bartender. "Welcome, young sir," the bartender told him. "You certainly appear young to be traveling."
"That may be, but I'm not too young to wield a sword," Alcander told him, as he un-sheathed his sword for the bartender to see.
"That's an impressive looking sword! Were did you get it?"
"It's a family heirloom. It's been in my mother's side of the family for generations. I don't know how old it is."
Alcander returned the sword to its sheath and the bartender asked him, "So what would you like to drink?"
"Just a brandy."
"Very well." The bartender poured Alcander a brandy and placed it before him. "Here you are, sir."
"Thank you." Alcander took a sip of his brandy, and watched the bartender light his pipe. The smell of the smoke from the bartender's pipe was different from the smell of cigars that he was familiar with. "What is that you are smoking?"
"Opium, sir."
"Opium…" Alcander began. He was familiar the plant, because it was grown some in Romania, but he never knew anyone to smoke it.
"Yeah, one puff of it puts me in a perfect state of happiness. Would you like to try some?" he asked, placing the pipe in front of Alcander.
"Well…I don't smoke actually, although my brother and cousin sometimes smokes cigars."
"Cigars! To hell with cigars! The feeling you get from this is something you'll never experience with a cigar! Sure you don't want to try it?"
"Well…I guess one puff won't hurt me."
"Just make sure to breathe in hard, otherwise you won't feel the effects of it."
Alcander breathed in as hard as he could on the pipe. He coughed out the smoke, but he was left with a bright a cheery look on his face. When his older brother, cousin, and still unwanted companion entered the tavern Alcander greeted them with a beaming smile.
"What the hell are you so happy about, Cander?" asked Lysander.
"I've never felt better, Sander."
Lysander looked at his younger brother's glass and asked the bartender, "How many of those has he had?"
"About one sip," the bartender told him.
"Damn Cander! You're not drunk on one sip, are you?"
"Absolutely not!" Alcander declared. "I'm just in a good mood, is there something wrong with that?"
"No, not at all." Lysander sat on the stool next to Alcander and said, "I wouldn't mind being in a good mood either. Barkeep, give me the same thing that you gave my brother to make him happy."
"You'll have to smoke this to get happy," the bartender told him, flashing his pipe.
"What is that?" asked Christian.
"Opium."
"Cander you smoked opium?!" exclaimed Christian.
"One puff of it, just to try it," he told him.
Lysander laughed. "I wonder what Mom and Dad would think if they found out that their 'little boy' smoked opium?"
"I could really care less what Mom and Dad would think."
Lysander laughed at his brother's response, and Alcander eventually joined him. Christian laughed too. So did Brian, although very reluctantly.
"I'll tell you what," Lysander declared. "I want to try some of that stuff too."
"Same here!" responded Christian.
"Yeah, same here," added Brian.
The bartender gave Lysander, Christian, and Brian a puff of his pipe; although Brian had to take a second puff because the bartender told him that he "wasn't inhaling it." Just one puff was enough for the party to relax and enjoy themselves for the evening, and for the first time since their mission together started Lysander and Alcander treated Brian as though he was their family member, like Christian. Due in part to the fact that under the influence of the opium they honestly forgot how much they despised him.
