Elixir of Flesh

  * * *

  After Andrei closed up shop for good that day, he retired to his workroom, where he had to commence the long work of processing the vampire that Vasile had brought him early that morning.

  After dressing again in his cloak, gloves, mask and hat, he entered the workroom and began. He smothered the fire and fished out the body with a hook, dragging it out and dropping it onto a large worktable. The wooden worktable was a human-sized, rectangular surface, pocked with knife marks and stained dark with blood. Around the edges were grooves that captured the flow of any liquids and channeled them to a reservoir at one end of table.

  Andrei put on his red-stained apron, pulled out his great knives and began to butcher the vampire’s flesh, separating out the various parts, pulling out the panoply of organs, peeling off the skin, and pulling out the bones and cartilage.

  Each of these parts would have to be separately treated, some ground, some dried, some dissolved, and so on. From these parts came the various medicines he carried: for the kidney medicine, he would remove the vampire’s kidney and grind it, wrap it in a sheath of skin and dry it; for the bone medicine, he would dry the vampire’s bones and grind them into powder; for the skin medicine, he would chop up the vampire’s skin and dissolve it in alcohol; and for the numerous other parts of the body, he would do myriad other preparations. Over time he had refined a number of techniques for making the vampire’s parts both preservable and consumable. They allowed him to store the medicines on his shelves until his ready customers came, and allowed the customers to ingest the beneficial materials without spoilage.

  While Andrei worked, Vasile entered, rested and ready to begin the evening’s hunt. Andrei had Vasile’s cloak, gloves and hat, all sanitized, cleaned, and ready to be worn.

  Vasile sat down on a chair, pulled his boots onto his feet, strapped a backup knife to the outside of one boot, placed another knife on his belt, loaded his two crossbows and slung them over his back, added yet more crossbow bolts to a pouch in his belt, filled his quiver with what arrows he could carry, and strung his bow.

  As he armed himself and dressed for the chilly evening, Vasile said, “You know, I am the only vampire hunter, and I’m getting old.”

  “I know too well,” Andrei lamented.

  “I say it because you mentioned earlier that I should get an apprentice,” Vasile said in his deep and quiet voice.

  “I would never think a solitary lion like you would consent to an apprentice,” Andrei said.

  “I think I should. I can then retire once he’s ready, finally take a chance to spend that money I’ve been saving. I want you to spread the word that I’m interested in an apprentice,” Vasile said, “Preferably someone who can shoot and that won’t get killed.”

  “I can do that,” Andrei said nodding, “Are you sure?’

  “Yes,” Vasile said, as he lifted his bag on his shoulders with his quiver and bow. He then waved goodbye and stepped out into the night.