Carpathian Vampire
...when you've never known love...
By
Lumi Laura
Translated from the Romanian
by
Dragoş Tătărescu
Tragedy's Workshop
Healdsburg, CA
Copyright 2014 Luminița Laura
ISBN-13: 978-1-310-33572-3
ISBN-10: 1-310-33572-9
Cover illustrations and design by Richard Sheppard
www.ArtStudios.com
Author Web site:
www.LumiLaura.com
Book Web site:
www.CarpathianVampire.com
FOR
My father, Romond Laura
Acknowledgements
Many people have helped me with this book and through life, too many to thank publicly, but here are some of the more important ones: the Roma family who for most of the writing of this book made my life on Earth possible; my mother and father who gave me life, I love you; Dragos Tătărescu, my initial translator who understands my immature Romanian and is awesome with English.
Finally, to the anonymous person in America who accepted at face value a request from a derelict Romanian girl he'd never met, expressed his confidence in her, accepted the financial risks, and made this publication a reality, I owe a debt of gratitude that I can only hope my writing will repay.
Author's Note
For those who might wonder about such things as the origin of the idea for this work of fiction, let it be known that this volume came into the world as a result of a discussion I had with friends concerning the nature of immortality. I decided on the spot that I would write a vampire novel. The thought of doing this greatly excited me, and I dove into the task with boundless energy. I wanted to set the novel in the Carpathian Mountains in my native Romania, and since the Roma clan I'd come to live among a couple of years before had once taken me during the summer months to the small mountain town of Sinaia, which has exotic castles and an old monastery, I decided to set my story there. My subsequent researches into the history of the town led naturally to its connection with Queen Marie of Romania (1875-1938), who frequently visited the area and lived there at times. The fact that the Queen did actually have an affair that resulted in an illegitimate child who quickly disappeared from public knowledge was a great piece of actual history with which to connect my fictional work, and I decided to make my story about that forbidden child, a girl I supposed, and her offspring. My fictional take on this actual person is that she should be the great grandmother of the protagonist of my story, which is set in current day Romania.
One must keep in mind that vampires are not real and that this is a fictional story that I have intentionally intertwined with the lives of real historical people and events. In the same vein, I make use of, but only briefly, the fact that a Ms Maruka Cantacuzene, who was an actual friend of Queen Marie, had an aversion to light and lit her home with oil lamps, but only faintly, and to the point of which visitors to her home did stumble over furniture in the dark. I fictionally attributed this aversion to vampirism, although one must remember, again, that vampires are not real and that this person was never a vampire and did not undergo a cure later in life, as I claim in my story. Although curiously, she did lose her aversion to light. A more accurate view of even the actual people I mention in my story is that they also are fictional characters with only a referential connection to the names of those actual people who lived in this world. I would compare them to the character presented as an American president in the rather recent movie, "Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter."
Let it also be known that, although this is a totally fictional story of vampires, legends of such date to prehistoric times. Even as late as the nineteenth century, vampirism was a great fear in some communities, causing the raising of the dead to remove the deceased's head to extinguish the possibility of vampirism. But then again, mine is a fictional tale, and the vampires as well as the divine beings I've depicted, came solely from my imagination.
The sins of an author in constructing a fictional narrative are, as they say, many and varied. I've constructed a mythology for my race of vampires, and just as I've coupled my story with actual historical figures, I've also interconnected it with both existing religions and ancient mythologies. I've even linked religion with mythology, which within itself is not unusual. Of course, everyone knows the story of the Garden of Eden from Genesis, and I've also made generous use of the connection between Christ's cross and the Tree of Life. The most thorough explanation I've found of this actual history is contained in A Heritage of Holy Wood, The Legend of the True Cross in Text and Image by Barbara Baert, 2004.
Those familiar with Greek mythology will recognize the Centaur Cheiron and the god Prometheus, both of whom play a role in my mythology concerning the origin of vampirism. To the myth of Cheiron, I've added a method concerning how he received his wisdom and immortality, one that reflects back to Genesis. I've also used his painful wound and the fact that he gave up his immortality to Prometheus to my advantage in providing attributes to my own brand of vampirism. Even though some will view my uninhibited use of such religious and mythological details as regrettable, it was great fun to uncover the connections and make such a consistent and, some might even believe, believable story.
As I've already stated, my tale originated in a discussion of worldly immortality versus divine immortality. Such subjects are real and alive in the world today and will undoubtedly become more popular in the future as people strive to live longer lives. Once started, I found my story to have a life of its own, and I had but to follow where it led. Perhaps that is the reason vampirism has become so prevalent in popular culture. As soon as you say that someone is immortal in the natural world, they attain a stature, albeit a fictional one, that exceeds that of all mortal others. These contrivances allow us to consider issues of great philosophical interest and explore hidden ramifications of our most cherished beliefs and philosophical conflicts while indulging in fanciful adventures.
Those I've allowed to peruse these pages during its creation have generally, except for my publisher, been unappreciative and accused me of all forms of religious and secular offenses, up to and including crimes against humanity.
Proceed at your own risk.
*
Those who participate in such things as social networking may wish to follow me on twitter: @LumiLaura, although I'm not a frequent tweeter. If you're into reading personal blogs, take a look at mine at www.LumiLaura.com. You'll surely find more information about me there than you wish to know.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1 The First Vampire: How It Happened
CHAPTER 2 In the beginning... A Testimonial
CHAPTER 3 To Grandmother's House
CHAPTER 4 Velinar: First Bite
CHAPTER 5 Royalty's Dark Side
CHAPTER 6 Jaklin and Mikhail
CHAPTER 7 Catalin: "You'll be alright."
CHAPTER 8 Father Zosimos
CHAPTER 9 An Unfortunate Encounter
CHAPTER 10 Bounty Hunter
CHAPTER 11 The Gazebo
CHAPTER 12 Catalin: The Cross
CHAPTER 13 The Vampire Den
CHAPTER 14 Alucius Kardasian
CHAPTER 15 Bounty Hunters
CHAPTER 16 Passion
CHAPTER 17 Bunică
CHAPTER 18 The Fune
ral
CHAPTER 19 The Medical Clinic
CHAPTER 20 Visit from Rutfen and Emelia
CHAPTER 21 Confrontation with Father Zosimos
CHAPTER 22 Alu Then Catalin
CHAPTER 23 Breakup
CHAPTER 24 Graveyard Conniption
CHAPTER 25 Hunting Vampires
CHAPTER 26 Home Invasion
CHAPTER 27 Jail
CHAPTER 28 Millennium Road
CHAPTER 29 The Pleasure Dome
CHAPTER 30 Conversations with the Undead
CHAPTER 31 The Ichor Dome
CHAPTER 32 A Birth
CHAPTER 33 Court and Spark
CHAPTER 34 Death at Shadowrise
CHAPTER 35 Begging for It
CHAPTER 36 Reconciliation
CHAPTER 37 Reckoning
CHAPTER 38 Silent Scythe
CHAPTER 39 Mary
CHAPTER 40 Interrogation
CHAPTER 41 Bloody Initiation
CHAPTER 42 Cheiron, Beyond Acheron
CHAPTER 43 The Arsenal
CHAPTER 44 Battle of Ichor Dome
CHAPTER 45 Rush to Save Heaven and Earth
CHAPTER 46 Battle of Peleș Castle
CHAPTER 47 Battle of Pivniţă de Vinuri
CHAPTER 48 Another Funeral
CHAPTER 49 More Divine Visitors
CHAPTER 50 Great Evil
CHAPTER 51 The Pearly Gates