The Blind Vampire Hunter (13 page)

Then I heard the front door open and close
again. There was still more silence. The doubt gremlins changed
their tone.
Eric did what you suckered him into, and now he is
too embarrassed to even come back in his own office to tell you
what a fool he feels like.” ... “Watch your friend walk in here and
order you out for making him feel so stupid.

The doubt gremlins were interrupted by the
sound of footsteps against the wooden hallway flooring, coming
nearer then walking into the room. The sound of steps continued
back to Eric’s office executive chair without a word spoken.
Here it comes. Your bud Eric is just trying to figure out a way
to tell you what a damn fool you just made of him. He’s about to
verbally rip your ass a new one, and you really deserve what you’re
about it get.

The doubt gremlins dialogue was broken with
the almost inaudible, “She has no reflection.”

Jack was not sure what he had heard or
possibly was not ready to believe what he had heard compared with
what was preparing to hear, so he asked, “Eric, what did you
say?”

“I’m still trying to believe it myself, Jack.
There was no reflection of her in your damn shields.” After he said
that, Jack heard a rustle of movement, followed by his hand being
grabbed, “Here take this damn watch back.” Eric was forcing the
watch back into my hand.

“Eric, please tell me what happened. Is
everything alright?” I asked, concerned for my friend, and our
friendship, from his tone.

After an endless silence, that was most
likely only a minute or two, Eric spoke, “Only minutes after I
walked out onto the front porch, Isabella came out of your place
and walked out onto the sidewalk. As she passed I called out, “Hi,
neighbor.”

She stopped, looked my way and said, “Hi ...
Eric, right?”

“That’s right, Eric,” I answered getting up
and walking out to her. “I’m just out getting some fresh air.”

“So where are your wife and son tonight?”
Isabella asked me.

“They’re out ... visiting with my wife’s
mother ...”

“You are not with them? Why? May I ask?” She
asked me in such a very sexy way. Not to mention looking hot in
that white, low top and short, red skirt. I was really happy my
wife was not around at that moment, and all I was doing was talking
with her.

“My mother-in-law and I don’t agree on one
thing,” I told her.

Sounding very coquettish, she continued, “And
what possibly could your mother-in-law and you not agree on?”

“Marrying her daughter,” I answered
playfully.

“Well, I can’t imagine a big, handsome man
like you having a disagreement with any woman.” Grabbing my hand
she added, “I’d love to spend my time with you, but I must go and
catch the underground ... oh, you Americans call it the subway, to
work.” Rushing off, she called back, “Bye, neighbor, we’ll have to
talk again when your wife and child are away.”

As she walked away, I almost forgot why I was
there, as I watched her wiggle that red, short skirt down the
sidewalk. But I did remember, and I did look into the watch shields
you gave me and ... in the shield the sidewalk was empty. She was
not to be seen. I looked again, and she was still walking down the
sidewalk, but when I looked again into the shields; SHE WAS NOT
THERE.” Eric was getting unnervingly excited near the end of his
recital.

“Eric, please settle down....,” I said in a
calming voice.

“Jack, don’t you understand what I’m saying?
She had no reflection in the mirror of the shields. Man, Jack, that
bitch is a real vampire. ... I just don’t believe it, but you have
a real vampire living in your home.”

What followed was some thoughtful silence
which I did not want to break, as Eric needed the time to calm
down. “OH SHIT. OF COURSE ...”

“ERIC. Please calm down,” I tried again.

“Isabella Báthory. Of course. Jack, not
Isabella, Elizabeth Báthory the Blood Countess. You may have the
one and only Elizabeth Báthory living with you.”

“Eric please, calm down and tell me, who is
this Elizabeth Báthory you’re going on about.”

“Jack, Elizabeth Báthory, the Blood Countess,
was historically a young lady who married young and then as she was
getting older lost her husband in some war. Getting older, she
started being obsessed with her looks and age. Well, one day while
in a bad mood, she struck one of her female servants and discovered
that the blood that spilled on her made her skin look more
youthful, so the legend says. Well, she went crazy killing her
servants left and right. Then she went about getting even more
servants to kill so she could bath in their blood to keep herself
looking young and beautiful.”

“These blood baths really worked?” I
interrupted.

“In her mind they did. Anyway, Vampire
folklore has it that if you consume blood of the living while
alive, when you die you become a Vampire. By the way, this
historical Elizabeth Báthory was also a distant relative of the
real historical Dracula. He is believed to have become a real
vampire at his death because of his practice of cannibalism and the
drinking of blood from his victims while he lived.”

“But you said this blood countess only bathed
in blood?” I interrupted.

“At first, yes. But history reports that
eventually she started to drink the blood when the blood baths
started to fail.”

“And historically this blood countess never
got caught?”

“Oh, no. Eventually she did get caught, and
there was a private trial. The result was that all her helpers were
put to death in the traditional way a vampire was put to death.
They were staked, decapitated and then the two parts of the body
were burned separately with the ashes buried in separate areas.
BUT, not the blood countess.”

“You’re not going to tell me that this crazed
mass-murderer was not put to death,” I interrupted, incredulous of
the possibility.

“You got it,” Eric announced starting to get
excited again.

“You got to be kidding me. This
mass-murdering blood countess was not put to death?” I asked
unbelieving.

“Remember she was a countess, and the court
was made of her exceptionally influential relatives; not to mention
that she had a relative who was a king. So yes, they did not put
her to death. History tells that she was locked in her own
bedchamber in her castle with the door sealed with only an opening
large enough to slip in food. This in itself would indicate a
possible fear that this blood countess might have the ability to
enthrall her prison guards if a larger opening was permitted.”

“So eventually she did die, right?” I asked
totally enthralled in this gross history lesson.

“History reports that eventually the food
trays failed to be slid back out, and this gave way to the
assumption that Elizabeth Báthory, the Blood Countess, was dead. As
per court order, the castle was sealed and left to decay. But what
if Elizabeth Báthory after her human death, revived as a vampire?
If Vampires exist, then what else is true of the vampire lore?
Could the vampire Elizabeth Báthory have left the castle by
transforming into a bat and flying out a window? Could she have
turned herself to mist and floated out the food slot of her prison
door and again floated out of her sealed castle doors?”

“So, Eric, you believe my boarder, the woman
living in my house with my family is this Elizabeth Báthory, the
Blood Countess, turned Vampire?”

“Jack, you supplied the tool that provided
the proof. Your boarder has no reflection. In fact, now that I
think back on it, her hand, when she took my hand was unusually
cold, dare I say deathly cold, to the touch.”

“So now what?” I asked, starting to think the
worst.

“Well, I don’t think you have to worry about
your family. You don’t shit where you live.”

“And what does that blasphemous bit of wisdom
mean?”

“As long as she is happy where she’s living
... staying, she’s not going to kill the residents. In other words,
as long as she’s happy and nobody is threatening her, she will not
bring undue notice to herself by killing her landlord or anyone
else in the house. ... with one possible exception.”

“And who would that exception be?”

“You, my man, the blind guy. By not seeing
her magical self, you may be the one
blind
man who could
feasibly see past her disguise, and in not seeing, actually see her
real self.”

“Just great,” I announced, “Just bloody
great.”

“I’d strongly suggest that you make a point
of keeping out of her way and change your attitude so that you seem
totally bluffed into thinking there is nothing strange about your
never connecting with your boarder. I have another question. What
do you know of her background?”

“Di did mention that she came from New
Orleans. She mentioned it only because I have family that live near
New Orleans.”

“And before that?” Eric asked.

“There was some mention of her coming from
somewhere in Europe, then moving to New Orleans. You even mentioned
her travels to me, her boldness in traveling alone, from Europe
.... remember?

“Yes, Diana mentioned it once while telling
me all about your new boarder ...” Eric interrupted.

I don’t know anything more than that, suppose
I should question Di for more information on our boarder’s
past?”

“Definitely not. You had better start getting
into the habit of living a low profile when it pertains to your
boarder, the vampire.”

Jack mused, out loud, “Our local news out of
D.C. does seem to start out with the nightly death toll for the
day. In fact, they seem to be having a murder spree in the area
where Isabella Báthory works. She is adamant about not letting us
go see her at work.”

“I have been meaning to ask, Eric said,
changing the subject, “how is it that it is too dangerous for any
of us to visit her at work, but it is alright for her to work in
such a dangerous area?”

“As Di explained to me, from midnight to
whenever the shows end for the night, the theatre shows martial art
imports. Now, not only is the area known to be risky , but the
audience for such shows tend to get out of hand, even downright
dodgy, so Isabella Báthory had to prove her claims that she is a
Kung Fu Master and can handle any trouble that could arise within
the theatre during a show. According to Di, the whole graveyard
staff has to have the same training to work this particular shift.
Di has mentioned that Isabella does comes home bloodied and looking
like she has been in a fight or two, all too often.”

“I bet she does,” Eric interjected. “I bet
she does.”

“So what do you think I should do?”

“For now, stay out of her way. Don’t let her
even suspect you know anything strange about her.”

“But Eric, if she’s a vampire then she’s a
killer; she must be killing every night to continue her unnatural
existence.”

“So what are you going to do, sneak into her
room and push a stake in her heart? Afterward, how are you going to
explain a dead body in your house that
you killed
. Are you
really going to tell the authorities that you killed a bloodsucker
that is hundreds of years old? One who only looks to be in her
twenties?”

“But if she dies won’t her magic also die
with her, letting everyone see who and what she really is? In
Vampire lore don’t vampires turn to dust once killed?”

“As to her magic, who knows? What if you’re
wrong about her magic dying at her death? As to her turning to
dust, I’m pretty sure that is a “Buffy” invention so Buffy the
Vampire Slayer and her Scooby gang did not have dead vampire issues
to deal with during the shows. [Buffy’s assistants/friends
nicknamed her/the Scooby gang, after Scooby Doo’s
assistants/friends.] For now, I’d just stay out of her way. Don’t
do or say anything to make her suspect a thing. Just play dumb. You
can do that easily enough.”

“Hardy, har har,” I replied. “Eric, you are
telling me to just let a mass murderer, a woman who kills nightly,
to continue her nightly massacres? It’s not right. I feel I really
have to do something. Possibly get her into the sunlight, punch a
stake in her heart, something.”

“Listen to you ... the blind vampire
hunter.”

“Blind or not, I have always been a fighter
for what’s right and for the women of my family. Now you’re
suggesting I just play dumb and let a monster killer, keep killing?
Eric, that’s just not me.”

“It is if you wish no harm to come to your
women and yourself.”

“Wait, I got the answer: At least as it
pertains to my family. I’ll come up with some reason to have Di
break the contract with our vampiric boarder. It won’t rid the
world of this vampire, but it will rid use of her possible
dangers.”

After a thoughtful pause, “Nope, I see to
problems with that; one, if you succeed what’s to keep your now
ex-boarder for having you all as dinner? Second, I don’t think you
have a vampire’s chance in daylight of succeeding. From what you
said earlier about using Diana to keep you two apart, Isabella
almost certainly has your wife enthralled to her vampiric will.
No-way, would she even consider throwing Isabella out. Odds-on
you’ll just have one butt-ugly husband/wife fight. And what if,
afterward, Diana mentions the husband/wife fight to Isabella?”

Later, when I got back home, I placed my low
vision watch with the shields on the table beside the front door to
be put away when I went upstairs for the night; these days I was
using a talking watch.

Later that night, as my wife snored on, I
just laid in bed wrestling with my thoughts.
I have a vampire
living in my house. And I’m expected to do nothing. She must be
killing to exist. Does that make me an accomplice to murder, to
multiple murders? How can I do nothing about a vampire living ...
existing in my house? Is Eric really correct that my wife,
sister-in-law and the baby are safe? Make sense; she can’t be
staying here and killing off the residents. So what happens when
she’s ready to move? Could I possibly think of some way to end
Isabella’s existence and make it look like an accident? Jack, do
you realize you are talking about killing? But she’s a vampire.
She’s already dead. You are not killing, as long as you can make it
look like you did not kill... Isabella or Elizabeth Báthory, the
Blood Countess? If she is this Blood Countess, I have a crazed,
mass-murdering vampire in my own house! How can I, in good
conscience, allow this bloodsucking fiend to exist?