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Twenty osani was back in the secret place The piglet had regained consciousness but did not yet have the strength to stand up Wasting no tiling anile blow of a KGB-issue cosh Then he settled down and waited, s as the sun sank lower and lower Here where the pines grew straight as spears in a ring about the ancient toht cah an interlacing an to coosani, much as they would be to a round out his cigarette and the gloohtly around hiosaaniiii!

The unseen presences were there as always, springing up froosani’s face as if seeking to know him, to be sure of his identity He shivered and said: ’Yes, it’s ift’

Oh? And what is this gift? And ould you have froer and ift isa so As for now:

’I’ve talked to you in this place, old dragon,Oh,

I’ that you’ve deceived or misled me, just that I’ve learned very little from you Now that ht questions, but in any case it’s sos you knohich I desire to know There once was a time when you had powers! I suspect you’ve retained many of them, which I don’t know about’

Powers? Oh, yes - many powers Great powers

’I want the secret of those powers I want the powers themselves All that you knew and knoant to know’

In short, you desire to be Wamphyr!

The word and the way it was uttered in his osani could not suppress a shudder Even he, Dragosani himself - necromancer, examiner of the dead - felt its alien awe, as if the word in itself conveyed sos it named ’Wamphyr’ he repeated it, and then:

’Here in Romania,’ he quickly went on, ’there have always been legends, and in the last hundred years they’ve spread abroad Personally, I’ve knohat you are for many years now, old devil Here they call you vampir, and in the Western world you are a vaht by the fireside, stories to frighten the children to bed and stir the ination But noant to knohat you really are I want to separate fact froend’

He sensed a ain, you would be Wamphyr There is no other way to know it all

’But you have a history,’ Dragosani insisted ’Five hundred years you’ve lain here - yes, I know that - but what of the five hundred before you died?’

Died? But I did not die They ht have murdered me, yes, for it was in their power to do so But they chose to The punishreater far They merely buried me here, undead! But that aside you want to know my history?

’Yes!’

It’s a long one, and bloody It will take time

’We have tiosani - but he sensed a restlessness, frustration in the unseen presences It was as if so warned hi’s nature to be pressured

But finally: / can tell you so of my history, yes I can tell you what I did, but not hoas done Not in so ins, my roots, will not help you to be of the Wamphyri, nor even to understand them I can no more explain how to be Wamphyr than a fish could explain how to be a fish - or a bird how to be a bird If you tried to be a fish you would drown Launch yourself from the face of a cliff, like a bird, and you would fall and be crushed And if the ways of simple creatures such as these are unknowable, how then the ways of the Wa of your ways, then?’ Dragosani was growing angry He shook his head ’Nothing of your powers? I don’t think I believe you You showed me how to speak to the dead, so why can’t you show me the rest of it?’

Ah! No, you are osani I showed you how to be a necrootten art a men, to be sure, but nevertheless necro to the dead: that is so else entirely Very few men ever mastered that for a skill!

’But I talk to you!’

No, my son, I talk to you Because you are one of mine And remember, I am not dead I am undead Even I could not talk to the dead Examine them, yes, but never talk to them The difference lies in one’s approach, in their acceptance of one, and in their willingness to converse As for necro, the necromancer extracts the inforood teeth!

Suddenly Dragosani felt that the conversation was going in circles ’Stop!’ he cried ’You are deliberately obscuring the issue!’

/ aht

’Very well Then don’t tell me how to be a Wamphyr, but tell me what a Wamphyr is Tell me your history Tell me what you did in your life, if not how you did it Tell ins’

After a moment:

As you will But first first you tell me what you know - or think you know - of the Wamphyri Tell me about these ’myths’, these ’old wives’ tales’ which you’ve heard, on which you appear to be so of an authority Then, as you say, we shall separate the lies frohed, leaned his back against a slab, lit another cigarette He still felt he was getting the run-around, but there seemed little he could do about it It was dark now but his eyes were accustoloom; anyway, he knew every twisted root and broken slab At his feet the piglet snorted fitfully, then lay still again ’We’ll take it step by step,’ he growled

A

’Very well, let’s start with this: A va of darkness, loyal subject of Satan’

Ha, ha, ha! Shaitan was first of all the Was of darkness: yes, in that night is our ele: that at night all cats are grey! Thus, at night, our differences are not so great - or are not seen to be so great And before you ask it, let me tell you this: that because of our proclivity for darkness, the sun is harmful to us

’Harmful? It would destroy you, turn you to dust!’

What? That is a ht will sicken us, just as strong sunlight sickens you

’You fear the cross, symbol of Christianity’

I hate the cross! To me it is the symbol of all lies, all treachery But fear it? No

’Are you telling ainst you - a holy crucifix - it wouldn’t burn your flesh?’

My flesh- in the moment before I struck dead the one who held the cross!

Dragosani took a deep breath ’You wouldn’t deceive osani

Cursing under his breath for a osani continued: ’You cast no reflection Neither in a mirror, nor in water Similarly, you have no shadow’

Ah! A simple misconception - but not without its sources The reflection I cast is not always the same, and my shadow does not always conforosani frowned (He remembered the leprous tentacle froo) ’Do you e your shape?’

/ did not say that

’Then explain what you did say’

Noas the turn of the old one in the ground to sigh Will you leave nothing of osani? No, I’osani was doing so for himself ’I believe this may anso questions in one,’ he said while the other pondered ’Your ability to change into a bat or a wolf, for exaend Are you a shape-changer?’

He sensed the other’s aht see as a shape-changer, not that I ever encountered

Thenit seemed that the old one had come to a decision Very well, I will tell you: what do you know of the power of hypnotisosani repeated, continuing to frown But then his jaw fell open as he saw the truth, or what ht be the truth, in a sudden flash of realisation ’Hypnotisasped ’Mass hypnotism! That’s how you did it!’

Of course But while it fools the ht appear to be a fluttering bat or loping wolf, still my shadow is that of a osani?

Dragosani re He had long ago decided that dead (or undead) things which talked in ht also be masters of deception Anyway, he had other questions to ask:

’You can’t cross running water It drowns you’

Hmmm! I may have an answer to that one, too In my life I was awater! It was y When the invader cahtered hiend arose, on the banks of the Dunarea, the Motrul and the Siretul And I have seen those rivers run red, Dragosani

While the other offered his explanation, Dragosani had been building up to the big one Noithout pause, he tossed it in: ’You drink the blood of the living! It is a lust in you, which drives you on Without blood you die

Your utterly evil nature demands that you feed on the lives of others The blood is the life’

Ridiculous! As for evil: it is a state of ood Perhaps I aosani, but inblood: do you take meat? And wine? Of course you do! You devour the flesh of beasts and the blood of the grape And is that evil? Show me a creature which lives, which does not devour lesser lives This legend springs from my cruelties, which I admit, and from all the blood I spilled in my lifetime As to why I was so cruel: it seemed to me that if my enemies believed I was a ainstand grown so fraught with terror, who ? ’That doesn’t answer my question I - ’ And Iam tired now Do you knohat it takes from me, this sort of inquisition? And do you think I aosani? A suitable case for necroht caosani’s mind - but he suppressed it at once ’One last question,’ he said darkly Very well, if you end has it that the vampire’s bite turns ordinary men into vampires If you were to draw my blood, old one, would I becoh which Dragosani sensed so for an answer And finally:

There was a tireat bats, as they ith all sorts of creatures Disease destroyed most of them - a specific disease, and horrible - but some learned to live with it In my day a species existed which drew the blood of other ani men Since the bats were carriers of the disease, they passed it on to those they bit, and the infected victims were seen to take on certain characteristics which -

’Stop!’ said Dragosani ’You mean the vampire bat, which still exists in Central and South America even today? Obviously you do The disease is rabies But I don’t see the connection’

The thing in the ground chose to ignore his scepticisosani explained ’They hadn’t found it in your day It’s vast and rich and very, very powerful!’

Ah? You say so? Well! And you must describe this entire neorld of yours in more detail - but on some other occasion As for now I aosani, aware that the conversation had strayed ’Are you saying I wouldn’t becoend is unfounded, except upon this supposed connection with vampire bats? That won’t wash, old devil! No, for the bat was named after you, not you after the bat!’

Another pause - but not so long as to give the other too osani quickly continued: ’You asked me if I desired to be of the Wamphyri And hoould you make me a Wamphyr if not in this way? Could I be "invested" with it, then, as you were once invested with the Order of the Dragon? Hah! No more lies, old devil I want only the truth And if you really are my "father", why do you hold the truth back? What do you fear?’

Dragosani felt the disapproval of the unseen presences, sensed the back from him In hisYou proht rows di flame alive, and would you now snuff it out? Let me sleep now, if you would not exhaust osani clenched his teeth, growled his frustration low in his throat, snatched up the piglet by its hind legs He jumped to his feet, took out a switchblade and snapped it open The blade glittered sharp as a razor ’Your gift!’ he snapped

The piglet struggled, squealed once Dragosani slit its throat, let the scarlet blood spray out, then drain on to the dark earth A wind at once sprang up that sighed in the pines with a voice not unlike that of the thing in the ground: Ahhh!

Dragosani tossed the piglet’s corpse down in tangled rootlets, stepped back from it, took out a handkerchief and cleaned his hands The unseen presences crept forward

’Back!’ Dragosani snapped, turning on his heel to leave ’Back, you ghosts ofthrough the pines in total darkness, Dragosani was sure-footed as a cat In his way, he too was a creature of the night But a live one And thinking of life, death, undeath, he smiled an eain the one question he had not asked: How ht one kill a vampire? Kill it dead

No, he had not asked the thing in the ground that question - not in a place such as this, during the hours of darkness For who could gauge what the reaction erous question indeed And anyway, Dragosani believed he already knew the answer

The next day was Thursday Dragosani had spent a poor night with very little sleep, and he was up early Looking out of his , he saw Use Kinkovsi feeding chickens where they had wandered out of the fare of the country road Out of the corner of her eye she saw his movement at theand turned her face up to hiosani had thrown the ide, was breathing theon the sill, leaning out into the light, his flesh was pale as snow Use looked at his naked chest When he breathed in deeply like that, the muscles under his arms where they fed down into his back seemed to swell out like air sacs He was deceptive, this one She suspected he would be very powerful ’Good !’ she called up

For an answer he nodded, and staring at her knehy he’d slept so badly She was the reason

’Is that good?’ she asked, her teeth white where she deliberately licked theain - and at once silently cursed hiosani!

’The air on your skin like that Does it feel good? But look at you, so pale! You could use soosani’

’Yes, you could could be right,’ he stuttered, and withdrew fro his clothes on, he thought: woly? Is it? So unnatural! And so necessary? Is this what I lack?

Well, there was a way to find out Tonight It would have to be tonight, for to He made up his one back to feeding her chickens Hearing his cough, she looked up to see hi ly, he said:

’Use, does it get chilly still? Er, in the night, I etting at ’Cold? Why, no, it’s suht,’ he blurted, ’I believe I’ll leave my- and my curtains - open’

Her frown lifted She tossed her head and laughed ’That’s very healthy,’ she answered after a moment ’I’m sure you’ll feel better for it’

Eosani onceFor a retted what he had done - this rendezvous so sied for hi off It was done now What would be would be And anyway, it was tiinity, indeed! Itnaivety about that phrase, unlike the blunt delivery of his undead round put it that time? ’A mere pup who never breached a bitch

Yes, that was it - and he’d been referring to Dragosani’s father His true father And so I got into his ot into his osani started as a pebble clattered against hisHe had been sitting on his bed, lost in thought Now he got up, opened theagain It was Use

’Breakfast in your rooosani?’ she called up, ’or will you eat with us?’ The emphasis she put on ’in your roonored it

No, for first he on

’I’ll cohtfully at the disappointistered in her face Oh, yes, he would need assistance with this one, this time, this first time She would know exactly what she was about, and he knew nothing Butthe Waosani suspected that there were certain secrets which even that devious old one wouldn’t osani’s sexual problem - rather, the ical development in this area - had been implanted in puberty, at a time when other boys went on to steal their first kisses and explore their first soft bodies with hot, groping, inexperienced fingers It had happened during his third year in Bucharest while he was boarding at the college there

He had been thirteen and looking forward to the summer break Then his step-father’s letter had arrived telling him not to co slaughtered; visitors were forbidden and even Boris would not be allowed on to the estate The fever was virulent; people could easily spread it about on their feet, their shoes; the entire area for twenty miles around was under quarantine

A disaster, apparently - but it need not prove to be one for Boris He had an ’aunt’ in Bucharest, his stepfather’s younger sister, and could stay at her house for the break It was better than nothing; at least he would have so of the old college, cooking his own food on a tiny stove

His Aunt Hildegard was a young ith two daughters only a year or so older than Boris hi wooden house on the Budesti road Oddly, they had never been much mentioned at home and Boris had only ever met them on their very infrequent visits to the Romanian countryside He had always found his aunt very affectionate, perhaps too ly in the way of young girls, except that there were also undercurrents of a sly sensuality beyond their years - but hardly darkly suspicious or especially odd Yet he gained the impression from his step-father’s attitude towards the of a black sheep, or at least a lady with a terrible secret

In the three weeks he lived with her and her precocious daughters, when the college closed down for the summer break, Boris had discovered all he believed he needed to know of her ’oddness’, of sex and the perverse ways of females, and his experiences had turned him off for all the years in between - until now For the simple fact of the matter had been that his aunt was a nymphomaniac Recently set free by the death of her husband, she had allowed her sexual obsession to get out of hand; and her daughters, apparently, were cut of prettyhusband had been alive she had been notorious for her lovers Word of her affairs had often got back to her brother in the country, so bringing about his aloofness, his disapproval He was no prude himself, but he considered her little more than a whore

Just how far she had carried her excesses was beyond her brother’s power to know, especially now that he had broken off almost all contact with her If he had known, then he would have ements for the youth; but his adopted son was, after all, barely a boy; he would surely stand exempt from the woman’s vices

Boris had known none of this but was to find out about it soon enough

To begin with, there had been no locks on any of the interior doors in his aunt’s house Neither the bedrooms nor the bathrooard had explained that there were no secret places here - nowhere for the perforeneral were not tolerated Which made it hard for Boris to understand the secretive or mischievously furtive looks which often passed between hters when he was present

As for privacy: there was likewise absolutely no need for privacy in a place where nothing was forbidden, nothing frowned upon Enquiring as to his aunt’s philosophy, Boris had been told that this was ’a house of Nature’, where the huiven us to ’explore, discover, understand and enjoy to their full, without conventional restrictions’ Provided that he respect the house and property of his hostess, there was nothing he could not do here and welcome; but he must similarly respect the ’natural’ behaviour of the resident females of the house, whose ways he would find entirely open and unrestricted As for philosophy as such: there was too little love in the world and too much hatred; if the lusts of the body and fires of the spirit could be quenched, sated in the pleasurable violence of embraces instead of war, then surely it would be a better place Perhaps Boris would not understand immediately, but his aunt was sure that he would in a little while

After an early supper on the first evening, Boris had gone up to his rooht soe, but at the foot of the stairs leading to his bedroom was a tiny roo in, Boris had found the shelves full of erotica and sexual perversions and abnor that he took several of the illustrated volu he had ever seen before, even in the College library which was fairly corossed with one of the books (which purported to be factual but was so ’Improbable’ to Boris’s hly iraphs had been produced was quite beyond hie, soon found himself aroused Masturbation was not unknown to Boris - he relieved hi men do - but here in his aunt’s house he hadn’t felt secure or private enough to do so To avoid further frustration, he had taken the books back downstairs to the library

Earlier, while reading, he had heard a car pull up to the house and the arrival and entry of some visitor or other, someone obviously popular with the household, but had paid no heed As he deposited the books back in the library, however, he now heard laughter and the sounds of physical activity and apparent enjoy-room - a room he had been shown and in which he’d admired the- and was drawn to see as taking place The door stood a little ajar, and froutturalof exertion, plus the now coarsened and urgent voices of his step-aunt and -cousins It was then that he had started to suspect that so on in there Boris paused at the door to stare in through the inches-wide gap and was shocked al ’fantastic’ as he had supposed, the book he had been reading had contained nothing coer to Boris, bearded, pocke in the belly and hairy - was quite repulsive in his looks and almost malformed in his body Also, he was naked What Boris could not knoas that he was a satyr, which by this house’s standards liness andthe interior of the rooh a mirror which stood just inside the door, therefore not directly, Boris could not see the entire perforh The three fereater efforts, working on him with their hands and mouths and bodies in a frenzy of sexual excess

He lay on his back upon a divan, while the younger of the sisters, Anna, kneeled astride him and literally bounced herself up and down on him With each upward bound of her body she revealed th and thickness of hi bodies With each brief appearance of that slippery pole of flesh, Boris could see Katrina’s tiny and alirth between the there they continued to collide, working at it no less than her sister’s jolting body As for the ard, a woman of perhaps thirty-four: she kneeled at the head of the couch and flopped her great loose breasts upon his feverish face, so that her nipples dangled alternately into his gaping, gasping mouth Occasionally, apparently lost in her ecstasy, she would stretch up, thrusting her pubic region against his quivering lips and tongue

The woars which were open and allowed their breasts and buttocks to be fondled, and all parts of the him to the spot, was not so much that this was sex - of which he knew very little in any case - but that all four participants see not only the rewards of his/her own facet of the perfor of the others!

But as they changed places and positions before his eyes, and almost without pause commenced a new series of intricate exertions (this ti, while the girls played lesser roles), so Boris had begun to understand No one was neglected here; each becaressor in turn, so that all received maximum satisfaction Or, in Boris’s fevered eyes, so that all see

In any event, while he believed that he now understood so, still he did not quite believe that he was actually seeing it It was the central character - themachine - which he couldn’t fathom

Boris kne exhausted he always felt after , so how must this hairy ani out se with the intensity of the pleasure given him by each fresh burst; except that it hardly seereater excess Surely he must collapse at any s going and backed away fro al as Boris hily say: ’No, you two! Let’s not weary Do and play with Boris, eh? But not too fiercely or else you hten hihten very easily About as lusty as a lettuce!’

That had been enough to send Boris scra frantically upstairs to his room, out of his clothes in a flash and into bed There he lay and cringed - knowing his door was unlocked, that it couldn’t be locked - waiting forsouess at If he had been alone with one cousin, one norht have been different Perhaps then thereintroduction to sex - to nor initiative

For until now Boris’s dreams and fancies in this respect had been fairly ordinary He had even entertained fantasies of being alone with his aunt - of s himself in her soft breasts, her white body - and had not found them especially abhorrent or shameful Not before

But now he had seen! Any innocence his fantasies one norenched out of him What could there possibly be of nor? He had seen, yes

Downstairs in this very house he had seen three woirls) coupling with a seereat pole of lusting flesh And should he compare himself with that? Did he as a ainst a branch? And ies, such as that - like one sht of contact with the beast was sickening!

These had been his thoughts as his cousins ca for him where he lay wrapped in sheets and blankets, absolutely still and breathless in his bed He had heard theled throatily and asked: ’ Boris, are you awake?’

’Is he? Is he?’ Katrina had eagerly wanted to know

’No, I don’t think so’ (Disappointed)

’But his light is on!’

’Boris?’ (Anna’s weight pressing down on his bed beside hining sleep, his heart harumbled, said: ’Wha-? What? Go away I’led now, their voices still coarse and full of lust ’Boris, won’t you play a game with us?’ said Katrina ’Stick your head out, at least We’ve so to show you!’

He couldn’t breathe He’d tugged his bedclothes so close and tight that he’d shut out the air He would have to coo away and let ain, and a vision of her with her dainty hands on the beast’s belly, jolting up and down on that pink pole) ’if we put the lights out will you come out?’

For a h to fill his lungs! ’Yes,’ he had gasped

Then he’d heard the click of the light switch and felt Anna stand up, lifting her weight from his bed ’There, it’s out!’

It was out, as Boris discovered a led to free his head, he thrust it into darkness and breathed air deeply into his starved lungs - and alles froain

Which of the girls it was, he couldn’t tell, but one of the beside his bed with her loose cassock thing over his head like a tent Theinto his face, and he had seen the dark V of her pubic patch deith a string of ood, but it was good enough for Boris to see, when she deliberately bowed her legs outward a little, what looked to hirin!

’There!’ Boris had diale of coarse laughter ’And didn’t we tell you we had so to show you?’

But that was all that was said, for suddenly beside hi, that hen Boris had lashed out Later he re to screams, and the dull pain in his fists and skinned knuckles - but he did remember how, the next day, his tormentors had kept well away from him; and how both of them had sported blue bruises, while Anna had a split lip and Katrina a great black eye! Perhaps his aunt had been correct to liken him to a lettuce - in one direction But as for tenacity and ferocity - Boris had lacked neither one

That next day had been nightht of wakefulness, barricaded in his rooainst all entreaty to come out, Boris had had to suffer his aunt’s wrath and (frohters Aunt Hildegard would not feed hi him for punishment, and she swore that she would complain to his father if he didn’t come to his senses at once By that she meant that he should coirls, and generally pretend that nothing had happened He would have none of it, re in his room except for short and hurried excursions to the toilet and bathroohtfall he would flee the house and make his way back to Bucharest

The only trouble with that scheme was that his father was bound to find out and would want to knohy, and Boris would simply not be able to tell him He’d never

been an easy man to talk to, and this - this had been si his step-father did believe and accepted all that had happened, htn’t there still be doubts about Boris’s own - participation? His active, perhaps his willing participation

There were other difficulties, too Boris had no e Which hen evening caain and when his aunt’s threats turned to pleading, he had dragged his bed and dresser away from the door and allowed her to take hiirls had teased hiht before, and that he’d been so alarmed What they could possibly have done to offend him so -that he should have reacted so violently - was quite beyond her powers of understanding But whatever, it was all over now and Boris should try to forget it It could only cause trouble between herself and her brother if he learned of it - whatever it had been Oh, yes, for he always blareed with her It would cause trouble, yes - and even more so if there should be mention of the beast! But his aunt didn’t know he knew about that, and it was best that she shouldn’t Otherwisethe entire charade would fall apart Anyway, the satyr was no longer in the house and Boris had hoped he wouldn’t be back; Aunt Hildegard had fed Boris, and later he’d heard her telling Anna and Katrina to leave him completely alone, that he wasn’t for the had seerateful Until that night

Exhausted, Boris had slept in his bed against the door, his oeight replacing that of the dresser; but that had not been enough At about 3:00 am, aware of some sort

of erratic, intermittent motion, he had co and lulling hi to Her voice had been slurred and her breathing very heavy; she had been drinking and was naked, as he discovered when he put out his hand in the darkness That had instantly shocked hi to get into bed with hi hand on his hot brow, an icy anger had come over him to oust and coard,’ he had said into the darkness, sitting up and averting his face froht on’

’Ah! Dear boy! You’re awake and want to see me But why! I’ve been to bed, Boris, and I’hts! I got up for a little drink of water, and must have stu, her breasts had brushed his face