The Vorbing Read Online Free Page A

looked at his mother.
    “Let’s go,” Hana said.
     
    Vlad surprised himself by being able to eat the food his mother had prepared for him. He thought he had lost his appetite after the scare he just had experienced.
    “I won’t be putting my hands in that lake again anytime soon,” Vlad said.
    Hana laughed.
    “If I ever have to wash anything, I’ll draw a bucket from the well instead,” Vlad said.
    “And what if there is another vampire’s victim down there?” Hana said.
    “I’ll wipe my hands on my clothes and be done with it!”
    “You’ll have to face the vampires sometime, Vlad.”
    Vlad sighed.
    “I know,” Vlad said, idly chewing.
    “It appears you share the same destiny as your father.”
    “I don’t want to end up like him.”
    “Aren’t you proud of him?”
    “Of course, I just don’t want to die like he did…alone, in agony, and before his time.”
    Hana patted Vlad’s hand affectionately.
    “You’re becoming a man, like your father,” Hana said sadly. “How your father would have wished to see how strong you have become.”
    “I must put fresh garlic on father’s grave. I don’t want it to get desecrated by the vampires the way it was the first time, remember?”
    Hana shivered.
    “Oh, don’t mention that, please,” Hana said.
    Vinegar Tom, Vlad’s ginger cat, entered their dwelling with something in his mouth.
    “Oh look,” Vlad said. “Vinegar Tom’s caught a mouse.”
    Vinegar Tom dropped the mouse. The tired, injured rodent sat on the floor, staring at the cat in terror, acutely aware of its own impending doom.
    “They’re doing the dance of death,” Vlad said, as he watched with fascination. “How can such a tiny creature fight a huge beast like our cat and live?”
    “With help,” Hana said, as she picked up Vinegar Tom and the mouse scurried down through a hole in the floorboards and escaped.
    “Why did you deny our cat his prize?” Vlad asked, outraged.
    “There’s too much bloodshed around here already, Vlad,” Hana said. “He may only be a mouse, but he has a life and a family, too.”
    Vlad finished his meal in silence; made the sign of the cross and left the kitchen area.

Chapter Three
    Vlad walked across the golden field, twirling a stick he had found like a sword. Thick, black clouds blanketed the sky, but the sun still shone underneath them. The sunlight refracted through the falling autumn leaves from the swaying oak trees on the hill. The gentle rustling sounds of the leaves blowing in the warm wind calmed Vlad. He loved nature and felt most comfortable being outdoors. A gagging cloud of thick smoke interrupted Vlad’s relaxation, and he looked around for the source of it.
    Human and animal victims of the vampires from the night before were being burned up on funeral pyres in the distance. Charred embers of flesh blew everywhere in the swirling breeze. Beside it, a religious procession was taking place. No service was possible in Nocturne’s church due to the extensive damage from the vampire attack of the previous evening. At the head of it walked the stern town elder Vrillium Gladwish, holding a makeshift crucifix aloft.
    “Another procession,” Vlad said to himself. “Why are they wasting their time?”
    “Don’t you believe in God?” a voice asked.
    Vlad turned around quickly and saw his paramour, Ula, standing there.
    “Yes, I do, Ula, but you can’t beat the vampires that way.”
    “God protects us from them.”
    “Yes, but can he destroy them? He can’t, can he? It is up to us to decide our destiny, not God.”
    “Vlad, don’t speak such blasphemy,” Ula said as she hugged him.
    They watched the procession pass. Vrillium Gladwish solemnly scattered holy water on the ground as he went. Children followed in his wake, scattering incense from a canister and rose petals to mask the smell of dead bodies and singed flesh. The rest of the crowd carried portraits of the saints and chanted prayers. Vrillium gave Vlad and Ula the