the girl that is always waited for, but never waits for herself…[story part 17]

“It is you,” the monk said, and with that, stopped even his breath, in await for an answer.

Regina knew how to play each and every card, for she let the monks stir in their own emotions and thoughts, before providing an answer.

She looked questioningly at the monk, confused a bit.

The monk repeated the same phrase in Latin.

Regina said nothing again, and before I even knew it, the monk was trying to muster his words in yet another language.

Then, Regina, with an air of irritated aristocracy, blurted out:

“Eu sunt.”

“Ich bin.”

“I am.”

“Je suis.”

“Ego sum.”

“Jag är.”

“Sono io.”

And she kept going, faster and faster, one after another, language after language.
She must have said it in over thirty languages in total and with each one the monk opened his eyes and mouth wider and wider and stepped back further and further.

With each word Regina let out from under her breath, she also put a determined step forward, and the monk one backward.

She continued doing this heading for the entrance to the chapel.

She started walking towards the monks and the entrance to the chapel, with very determined paces, one, after another, after another. Step by step she took, made the monks tense even harder, each one pounding their faces like a tidal wave.

By the time she reached the entrance of the chapel she had run out of languages and continued to say:

“It is me and I can understand your petty languages. Now leave and let me be.”

She was really determined in making this monk have a heart-attack, or this is who she was, and I just didn’t knew it because she was different with me. I couldn’t tell. In any case, this episode really reminded me of the little excursion we had back at the monastery in my hometown. I giggled inside me, on the outside I tried keeping that same aristocratic air Regina had. It suited me and I liked it.

I followed, and they treated me as they treated her. With fear.

The monk that spoke was no more than twenty years old. He was the youngest monk I’ve ever seen. He was merely a young boy.
He followed us closely but cautiously.

“But you must see him…” he said.

Regina was still walking towards the end of the chapel.

“Who?” She responded. I was curios myself.

“The one before me.” The monk was quick with the answer.

She stopped short of two meters from the end of the chapel, which also held the crypt of Dracula.

“He still lives?” She asked with an amazed expression on her face.

“Yes, and he waited for your return for this long…” The monk added in fear.

I was getting the hang of what was going on here.

“Then I shall meet him now.” She responded.

She turned back and the monk led us quickly to a room outside the chapel and into the main building. The monk opened the door and retreated, leaving just the two of us in the room.

In the middle of the room there was a single massive double bed. Inside the bed was an old man, barely breathing, but perfectly conscious. His eyes sparkled at the sight of Regina and his mouth gasped for more air that he could hold.

“Hello…” she said smilingly approaching the bed. I stayed put.

“I have waited over seventy years for your sight once again. I do not know…” he trailed off.

“If you are an angel…” he looked shortly at me,

“Or a demon…” And Regina grabbed his hand and smiled towards him. The sunshine coming through the window above the bed was flowing down her dark curls and her smile that I couldn’t see but I knew it was there. She had an aura as I watched her from behind, the sun being occluded by her body.

For me, that truly looked like an angel, not a demon.
No demon would take pity in putting an old man’s fears and questions to rest, on his death-bed, so he could leave this world in peace.

“I am what god made me father, I do not need a purpose or a name, I am one of his children…” She was being kind with him and I knew it.

The old priest (monk?) smiled mildly and seemed very pleased with the answer. It was the answer he has been waiting for all of his life.

“I am what the Earth beneath my feet requires me to be, and I obey…” Regina added.

The monk nodded and Regina approached his forehead. My heart stopped for a second there but then, the monk closed his eyes and Regina kissed his forehead.

She reached for her pocket and gave him a little crucifix.
“You are free to go now father, your duty is complete.”

I almost started crying in seeing the kindness in her. She stood up and we both walked out of the room.
I perfectly knew that Regina was not a religious… being. She almost despised religion and considered it to be a plague upon mankind, yet she took the time to put an old monk to rest. She took the time to be kind with the ones who needed nothing else but kindness, for they were on the brink of death.

When she turned, her eyes too were short of a blink in letting a tear roll out. But they didn’t.

As soon as we left the room, the monk that led us there entered the room and closed the door after him. We continued on the hallway out of the building and towards the chapel. On our way she had told me that she met that old man when he was merely a young boy, not even twenty years of age, she had met him when she last visited this place. When she last visited her long-lost relative, Vlad Tepes.

And now, the cycle would repeat maybe, in a century, once more. For the monk that received us now was also barely twenty, and, maybe, in another seventy years time, she would return once again.

The monks had an entire book about her, which held sketches of her face, her body, and tales of how the angel returns once in a century, to seal the devil’s tomb on this Earth time after time.

When we got at the end of the chapel, she put her fingers around the edge of the crypt and was searching for a good place to pull the lid off. I didn’t see the purpose in doing that, but I was dying of curiosity.

The Romanian government had opened Vlad’s tomb years before, and I knew for a fact, with photos, that the tomb was empty. Except Vlad’s belongings, jewelry, a sword and other miscellaneous things, there was nothing. No bones, no clothes. Nothing. I remember that the monks refused to let anyone open it and barricaded themselves in the chapel. It took weeks for the government to be able to open the tomb and lots of monks died back then, they starved themselves, set themselves on fire or found other creative ways of opposing the opening of the tomb. The island as a whole, was strictly forbidden to outside interference, and only during a short period each year you could go visit, and that visit was strictly related to entering the chapel, seeing the tomb and leaving.

What I didn’t knew was that Regina had a little superstition of her own.
She deeply believed that nobody else inside the kinship, except her and Vlad himself, would dare open the tomb. She had always longed for the rumors to be true, she always wanted Vlad to be still alive. To be the father of all that she is.

She longed for his admiration and his return, she wanted him to return and be proud of what she is. She wanted him to see everything that she built, everything that was under her control, and how good she had dealt with human affairs over centuries and thousands of decisions.

For centuries, she had returned here and left a single drop of her own blood touch his long-lost sword. For she knew, that if someone would ever open this tomb, it would be him. And he would want what was once his. He would sense his own bloodline, he would sense the smell of his own offspring, and he would know then and there, that his blood still runs through the veins of the powerful.

So she did this religiously, and every once in a while, usually once every sixty or seventy years, she would do this.

She wanted me to know all this, and she wanted me to see that vampires too, have superstitions and beliefs, hopes and dreams, that were being crushed day after day, year after year, for centuries at a time.

She had put the lid back one, lit a candle on top of it and “sealed it” with a kiss, in front of the monks, for them to continue believing in their little miracle: the sealing of the devil’s tomb. With that we were on our way.

As we left the chapel the monks were flanking us on either side, watching us carefully and fearfully.

She kissed the young monk on the cheek and he gasped in the process, then she looked in his eyes and told him:

“Guard it with your life, wait for my return.”

He nodded and said nothing else in response.
And just like that, the monks shut themselves inside the chapel and allowed us to leave from where we came from. And we did.

I noted in my diary:

“This is how you scare a bunch of monks. You don’t go there and flash everything you’ve got at them, you go there and act like their deepest fear and in the same time, their most worshiped thing. You act like the devil and god himself, embodied in the same vessel. You act like Regina. You show yourself as a broken cup, glued back together. A cup made of mercy, kindness, smiles and light, but a cup filled with fear, that seeps through the cracks and shows its nature on the surface.”

We headed back to the car where the driver was soundly asleep. He woke up with Regina banging on his window and smiling. He sprung up in fear and immediately started straightening himself up once again.

I could see on Regina’s face that she was back in her comfortable self.
We set on the road once again and in no-time we were standing inside the Otopeni airport, in Bucharest.

The driver handed both of us two tickets and shook bowed his head towards us, and with that, and a sign of relief on his face, he was gone.
My ticket read: “Bucharest Otopeni (OTP) – Moscow Sheremetyevo (SVO).”

“Are you mad? I can’t go to Moscow!” I blurted out upon seeing that.

“Why not?” Regina asked me calmly. She wanted an answer and she looked like she would indeed agree to me not going, if I would provide a sound reason for it.

I stopped for a second… why shouldn’t I go really?

“I don’t have a VISA. Don’t I need a VISA to travel to Moscow? Plus I’m underage, I need a tutor.” I said.

“That’s been sorted out.” she replied.

She handed me my “new passport”.

We were brother and sister apparently, and we both had VISAS for Russia.

Christina and Johannes Alt.

Really. Very funny.

“Alt” means “Old” in German.

Born in Vienna, both of us.

I didn’t even wanted to know how she got a passport style photo of me. It was a photo I had taken a month before to hand in for the school to have what to put on diplomas and whatnot. I did hand them in but now I had a feeling I need to repeat the process because they “got lost”.

This was, by all means, movies for me. I truly believed this only happens in movies, not real life. I had to sit down for a moment and catch my breath. Regina was looking at me smiling, the same way you look at a small kid first discovering something very interesting for him, like seeing a plane taking off, but very common to the rest of the “adult world.”

“Fine.” I said.

And with that we both embarked on a flight to Russia.
We were there in no time and Regina looked at nothing else except out the window the whole flight.

The flight didn’t even took a whole three hours, but it was a very boring three hours. I wondered if she could jump out the plane and swim to Moscow safely, but the I remembered we’re not above sea.

We landed in Moscow.
Fear not Russia, for the storm has arrived I told to myself seeing as Regina was getting anxious and more stirred, like a storm preparing to unleash.

Hotel Ukraina receiving Regina

When we reached Moscow it was already pass midnight, it was now the 27th of May, 2005, and, sure enough a similar car was waiting for us, with a similar driver, yet less frightened and more comfortable.

Regina nodded at him and he opened the door for her. We hopped in and in after a short thirty minute drive we had arrived in front of a very impressive, very big, and very old looking style hotel.

It read: “Hotel Ukraina.”

I was impressed, but tired. The only thing that I wanted was a nice long bath and then a deep sleep cuddled next to Regina. But she had other plans…

the definitive guide to vampires

…introduction to this guide.

so you’ve dug deep into the story, also maybe you managed to have a look over the first 10 things you should know about vampires list.
however, the story and the list does not even begin to explain how deep everything goes and, in the same time, fishing details out of

Bathory crest – notice the merge of the two sigils inside.

the story can be [I know] confusing at times.

so that’s why I have decided to write this article as a definitive guide to vampires in which you will find everything you need to know about vampires, up to and including how to deal with one, what can she do and what can’t she do, how is a vampire made and how can you kill a vampire. [ oh this sounds so dumb and naive for some, I’m aware, but I have no other way to put it – it is what it is ].

I know – I’m 100% aware that if it was me, reading this text right here, a few years ago I would have either thought to myself: well this is a nice fantasy story, or I would have smiled and laughed at how naive some people are for believing and writing these kinds of things.

Frankly, I couldn’t care less whether you believe me or not. I don’t care if you take this guide and the lists seriously, I don’t care if you regard the story as reality or fiction. I’m glad you’re reading it. I know – some people would rather believe “Dracula” the novel. I mean let’s face it – who am I to step in and squash almost everything else ‘known’ about vampires?

Well, for one – Bram Stoker not only did never travel to Dracula’s homeland, but he never actually studied anything related to vampires. All his information was gathered from libraries. I might not have his talent in writing, but I have the knowledge.

Not only did I travel to Dracula’s homeland, but I was born in the town where he was born. I grew up there, I played, partied and went to school around his house. I played in the cemeteries and castles of Transylvania and yes, some of them really are as spooky as they are in movies, just not for people who grew up seeing Dracula’s citadel out the window. Like me.

And one more thing: whether you take this guide seriously or not, I assure you – it will be more than useful for the few unlucky ones out there. Because they do walk among us, and you better know what you’re up against.

…the image of vampires in the 21st century.

The vampire today has been softened and modeled and remodeled by countless books and movies in mass-media. We have been brainwashed and have absolutely no idea anymore about what it is and what does it represent. We don’t know whether they are afraid of garlic or vervain, whether they burn or implode. We don’t know whether holy water works or if they even exist at all!

And who do you think made all this possible? Why all of a sudden, over the course of 10 years, vampires became SO well-known and SO changed – turned from bloodsucking monsters to sex symbols – starting with Anne Rice’s book.

They did. Yes. I’m not being paranoid.

I won’t start saying that, well,I know because they told me directly because that would not be true, at least in part. That would be like the president of the US telling me, and just me, personally, that aliens visit Earth. Fake and gay some would put it.
You should be aware that the vampires, before mass-media explosion, were very much feared, hunted and there were countless vampire hysteria cases where villages, whole regions started killing and hunting vampire actively.

Ireland has such a case even in the 7th century, then in the 8th and all the way up to the 14th century. Countless bodies were found with stones in their mouth for apparently preventing the fangs to come out. The stones were inserted prior to their death experts say.

This is the link to the news coverage.

The same happened in Italy, in the 16th century Venice, and also in Florence later. A female body was found with an exact stone like that in her mouth, inserted prior to death, to prevent her from feeding.

This is the link for that.

There are many more cases like these. The witch hunts are nothing compared to the vampire craze. All the way leading up to the 19th century and beyond, there have been groups of people, societies and organizations that actively hunted for vampires. There have been many vampire epidemics over and over again. The most famous cases are those of Peter Plogojowitz and Arnold Paole in the 18th century. There’s so much information about those two that I can’t decide on what to link here, so I will leave you to search for them if interested. I will invite a guest writer who has already composed a very complex and hefty list of the most known such accounts. I don’t really care for them to be honest.

The vampire belief in today’s Transylvania is very much alive and still going as it did hundreds of years ago. As recent as 2004 (as I was saying in another post) there have been active vampire hunts and killings. The case of Petre Toma (reported by The Guardian, The Sunday Times, Daily News and CNN) who was exhumed and then staked, heart removed and burned to assure his death.

…how and why did the image change.

Someone, at some point, in the vampire world, decided that enough is enough, and rather than living in secrecy, they should approach the “make them not fear us anymore”. And they succeeded. You have to think about it – someone who has been around for hundreds of years has not only has the knowledge but also the connections and power to control and do whatever she wants, including but not limited to influencing Hollywood. Vampires sit in the shadows of the world’s most important organizations and no, they shouldn’t be feared. Because they do not mean humanity harm, they were human once. They just want what we all want: privacy.

That assumption is based on what? Nothing. I don’t have any proof. I just see what’s out there and try to put two and two together. I have seen things, which cannot playback for you on video, because I’m not a VCR, and I have overheard things, which even if recorded, would make no difference for a skeptic. We’ve been arguing on which religion is right and wrong, failing to see that religion is not based on which god is greater or bigger, or the true one, and it’s just pure geography. If you’re born in a certain part of the world you’ll be more likely to have another religion than you would have otherwise [in other place]. Think Europe vs. Asia.

And more on the matter, and this is a quote whose author is escaping my mind right now, we fail to see the irony of men cutting each other’s throats for millenia because they fail to agree on what happens after they cut each other’s throats.
There have been centuries and centuries of vampire hunts and epidemics and then, all of a sudden, they weren’t monsters anymore, they were sex symbols. Interesting enough how that can change. You got to love PR. I’m wondering why the devil isn’t a sex symbol yet, he’s been around for more than a few centuries, I guess it’s about time, right? Right – but nobody has an interest in doing that. But someone had an interest in doing that for vampires.

…who is the vampire expert?

The short answer is: anyone can be a vampire expert. I do not proclaim myself a vampire expert but I try to present them as they are. A true scientist presents its sources. I’m not a true scientist.

You have to pull your head out of your ass and look around you at what’s happening. This is the 21st century, you have to forget Van Helsing. You don’t need to be dressed in Victorian clothes with a monocle and have a vampire kill kit with stakes and holy water in it to be a vampire expert. You don’t need to live in the vampire world. You don’t need old books and manuscripts. Vampire themselves use iPads (LOL – I KNOW RIGHT?!) so why would we chase old manuscripts for “confirming our suspicions” ? Regina herself often used an iPad, although I felt the paranoia in her all the time.

And can you blame her?
Anyway, I don’t know in what way was it used.
So don’t look at them as being technologically impaired, on the contrary, they need to keep up with technology, for many reasons.

All you need to be a vampire expert is first hand access in seeing and/or talking with a vampire. Because, let’s face it: the moment you have that, you have more than 99.9% of the human population, which makes you an expert above everyone else.

…vampirism and vampire characteristics.

Vampirism is not magic, it is not a disease (well at least I don’t consider it) but it does behave like a retrovirus. I don’t know what it is, but I’m pretty sure it has something to do with altering genetic code.

A dead person is a dead person and that’s it. If blood is not flowing and electricity is not generated, life does not exist. Vampires are not dead. Why is it so hard to comprehend that? Why is it so difficult when you have first hand proof that there are creatures which live solely on blood (leeches, mosquitoes and others) and there are creatures who undergo a total transformation to become from A to B (like silk worms and butterflies among others).

Why is it so hard to comprehend that the human body is the most complex in all of nature – and with that complexity other things follow, because the more complex it is – the more room for change. The only true difference right now separating you from vampires is your lack of better-to-instant healing, which could also mean rapid cell regeneration, translated easily into immortality. Of course vampires are more than that, but if you know at least the bit of evolution studies, then you know that nature does not change according to inhabitants, but inhabitants adapt according to needs, which are created in turn by nature itself. In the same way humans evolved to have speech, vampires might have evolved to have retractable fangs – which are more than present in nature.

…characteristics.

• A vampire has the strength of 20 men, be it woman or child. A vampire’s strength depends on a number of factors. The most important factor is the way in which she was made, which will be the next point I will make. The second most important factor is the bloodline. Another important factor comes after that, which is age. A vampire’s strength also depends on muscles, yes, they do have muscles and a big muscular vampire is stronger than a child, however that becomes unimportant if the child is of a superior bloodline and older. Other smaller factors include but are not limited to: how often a vampire feeds, how much sunlight she received in the short-term past and the type of blood she drinks (some humans have more nutritious blood than others).
• A vampire’s main diet is human blood. She can survive on animal blood, but because many animals are rather different from humans and have totally different diets, their blood does not contain all the nutrition that a human (or vampire) body requires. A human couldn’t survive just on animal blood also, but she could survive on human one – if we could digest it.
• A vampire’s strength also translates into increased speed. They run very fast and very far without stopping. They can sprint even faster and then have to slow down. In other words: exhaustion exists. A vampire is not a blur when she runs and she does not have the speed of sound. She’s just that much faster than a human. She can get tremendous speeds, but nothing close to the limits of physically impossible. The stronger she is the faster she runs. When a vampire really wants speed, she will combine running with small jumps, or hops if you wish. Watch a cheetah running and you will know exactly what I’m talking about. It’s that split second when none of the four limbs touch the ground, they don’t run on four limbs, but hop just high enough for that extra push. A vampire can jump high, much higher than a human being, but only because her muscles allows that and because she is leaner, easier and has more training. It’s not flying.
• A vampire’s circulatory system is not similar to a human one. Her veins and arteries do not carry the main blood supply, instead they have double or triple the number of small capillary veins which flow through the muscles. Human muscles have little to no blood flow, compared to other parts of the body, but a vampire’s main blood supply flows through the muscles. This is also why wounding a vampire is not that serious, because the contraction of the area instantly closes the bleeding – and healing does the rest in no-time.
• A vampire can see better in the dark, much better, but only when she is in attack/defense or feed stance. The pupils dilate considerably, gaining a reddish tint. The extreme dilation causes more light to pass through and make them literally night stalkers. This is why also their eyes, in that stance, can glow much like the ones of large predators.
• A vampires sense of smell and hearing are somewhat improved, but only as much as the body allows it to. They do not grow extra ears or extra eardrums, they do not grow extra olfactory cells. They just use the existing ones to the max, be it because of their healing capacities or general alternation of the genetic code. Humans don’t use them at maximum, like we don’t use anything at maximum. A vampire can push pretty much any part of her body at maximum, but not for infinity. You can catch a vampire with her guard down, with hearing and smelling tuned down. In the sunlight, many vampires are just like humans. Preferring to conserve all their strength into healing power, rather than hearing or smelling.
• A vampire is not afraid or repelled by crosses, holy water, garlic or silver. These are myths and inventions. Just like you are not being harmed by them, vampires aren’t also. There’s also no flower and no vervain that kills, weakens or makes them more visible.
• A vampire cannot get drunk and drugs or poisons have no effect on them. It’s related to their ability to instant heal. They aren’t strong enough, no matter the quantity. Along the same lines, a vampire’s blood is that much different and contains that much different minerals, plus the healing ability, that diseases do not affect them. Be it because of their difference or because of their ability to heal. Think of inter-species diseases – they are less frequently passed on, and when they are – it’s a big problem. For a vampire, even if she contracts something by ingesting the blood, the virus passing into the bloodstream is highly unlikely, and if that happens, it will be dead because of the healing ability long before the vampire realizes she even had a disease to begin with.
• Vampires can be killed by decapitation, prolonged exposure to intense fire and by piercing their heart for an amount of time that will allow decomposition. Because the heart cannot heal while a sword is still inserted, it starts decomposing and by the time you pull out the sword, it will not start again. However this takes several days. A short-term staking does not work. Also shooting a vampire just wounds her, even if the shot is in the head. The wound heals and the bullet is often (but not always) expelled out as a foreign body. Vampires shot in the head lose consciousness for several minutes to an hour, depending on the vampire. You have to understand that this apparent indestructibility is not that great, it is only because of their ability to actively dodge hits and then, if they don’t, because of their ability to heal. The only thing you need to do is figure out how to overcome their ability to heal fast. Be creative. Also, they really hate guns. I bet if someone could make a true statistic, it will reveal that vampires are much less prevalent in countries pro-guns, like the U.S. Sorry teenage girls waiting for Edward.
• A vampire does not shape-shift, at least not physically. I have observed that many, but not all, prefer a certain animal or have a certain attachment to a type of animal. Regina enjoyed cats and snakes (figures). Also, the animals apparently behave funny (curios – angry – confused) when near a vampire taking the stance of the respective animal. Trust me, you wouldn’t like to meet a vampire who likes wolves, because wolves really love biting stuff and are really edgy (paranoid?). Clue: Viktoria. Physically, they don’t shape-shift, ever. Not into a bat and not into anything else. She doesn’t turn into mist or dust. A vampire is inside the same body for eternity and nothing can bend the laws of physics so much that will allow a vampire to rearrange every single atom in her body in a matter of seconds. No.
• A vampire can and will grow new limbs and organs. This takes a considerable amount of time and blood, months in some cases. Vital organs, if damaged or removed, can kill a vampire unless she has a steady supply of blood while regenerating fully. Which is often impossible if she cannot hunt. Friends are a no-go. Given the example of a missing kidney, that would be nothing. Other organs have their functions reduced or stopped, but others are more important. A vampire needs to breathe but can overcome this by drinking fresh blood (straight from another breathing body) and can also hold her breath for a considerable amount of time (order of hours) – but in the end she will die – lack of food will slow and then stop cell regeneration.
• A vampire cannot mind control you, but has the training and the charisma necessary of steering your intentions and impressions on certain subject, as much as you could call it “influencing”. It highly depends on the circumstances and the human involved. Cross-sex influencing obviously, is preferred. You can control this and resist it. A vampire is only as strong in your mind as you let it to be. Even fear works for a vampire, the more afraid you are the higher her chances of making you do something you don’t want to. However, no vampire can mind control you to enjoy being bit, if you don’t accept the bite.
• Vampires do not associate with one another, do not form secret societies and prefer to keep from themselves. Ever heard the saying “don’t go into business with friends and family” ? They are ahead of times, technological wise, and are not old style as you would think. They need to blend in and act as normal as possible. There are few cases in which a vampire creates a mate for him – as in – turns a human into a vampire – but this is just a relationship which is often a love/hate one. The last part doesn’t really belong here, but it connects to the fact that: you can, although rarely, encounter vampire families, usually just two members, which goes against the “no association” idea. As you can see, human or vampire, “it’s complicated”.
• Vampires can and do make love. They can have children, although they can control whether to have one or not (it is a conscious choice). Most prefer not to, because the child born is a moroi – a half-breed, but only until he gets older. As time passes, all moroi become rang one vampires. The differences are obvious only in young vampires.
• Young vampires are very much like humans. Fifty percent of a vampires strength come from her mind, from her knowledge, from what she learned and what she knows. From her age. Most have training in vast fields from mathematics to music, fighting and preaching, public speaking (yes, you read that right), and any other field you might think off. They get bored I presume, with all the time they have an everything. Instead, you would be, tomorrow, the same person you are today, if you would be turned in this second. Except the small biological changes. You will not be able to easily kill anyone or be that strong for that matter. Time makes you a vampire, biology just helps.
• There are two types of vampires, genetically the same, and in the long run they assimilate, however they differentiate at younger ages ( up to 100 years). The two types are strigoi (rang one, superior vampire) and moroi (inferior, rang two vampire).
  
  1.)A rang one vampire is a vampire who has been made the proper way. A way which presumes both her and the maker being vulnerable and unconscious for an amount of time, in this case, the maker risks and cannot do it often from biological reasons also. The maker is drained almost entirely of blood. The older the maker and the better the bloodline, the stronger the turned human will be, even from her first day. The main advantage of first rang vampires is that, given the possibility, they can match their makers strength and bloodline, which is risky. As such, few makers take the chance of creating first rang vampires. It is a privilege given only to the few.2.) An inferior rang vampire, a moroi, is either a vampire born (a child vampire), either a made one. In both cases, it is the same. An inferior rang vampire’s disadvantage is that she is looked down upon and she is much weaker than a superior one, but only in the short-term. An inferior rang vampire is made easily, by the same procedure but with much less blood exchange and without a direct bite from the human, with no consequences, after effects or losses of consciousness. In her first years, an inferior vampire is vulnerable, needs to feed much more often, has a much higher degree of weakness in the sunlight and does not posses the ability to heal to such extent as a superior. She will also get older, for 5 up to 10 years, after which the transformation is complete, aging stops and ability to heal matches the superior rang vampires. In the long run, on the course of 100 years, a superior rang vampire and an inferior rang vampire will match in everything, except status and strength – because in many cases, superior ones are of a better bloodline and made by a stronger and older maker. However, inferiors or ‘critters’ have often managed to successfully defeat and kill a superior. It’s not something unseen before and it is common.
• There is a Codex Strigis from which vampires learn all of the above, plus much more. It is a well-kept book, accessible at will only to the few influential ones and the queen herself. It is written in Latin and it is a guide-book and law-book for vampires. Codex Strigis translates into “The vampire book” or “Book of vampire” or “Vampire bible”. Among the most important rules in the book are the laws which state that no vampire will ever enter a home without permission (this is not magic, it is a rule by which they live, they obey purely out of – something – the degree of obedience and respect for the Codex and the elders is astonishing) and no vampire, under any circumstance, will make himself willingly and fully known to a human unless:
  a) she plans on killing the human or
  b) she plans on turning the human in the very near future
  Same book also explicitly says that any turning must be done with the spoken accord of the human. No human will be turned without accepting by his own consent, unhindered and not forced. The book is, as most things, rare, unheard of and kept under heavy guard. A truck of diamonds doesn’t hold the value of that book. It was written eons ago and since then, unlike our christian bible, it suffered alterations and additions, times change – the book changes. It needs to. IT is something meant to be helpful, not hindering. Nothing in it resembles the kind of circular logic we find in the bible, such as “it’s good because I say it’s good”.
• A vampire does grow hair an nails like a human being but apparently, it adapts, and by repeated, dense and often trimming of the aforementioned, they grow slower and slower in time. As such, many vampires have a hard time changing appearance over the course of a month, but they can do it over the course of a year.
• A vampire cannot have piercings or tattoos, they are both absorbed or repelled. The healing power overcomes them. Hair dye works, yes.
• A vampire has a soul, a beating heart and a brain. She has a physical body and as such has a normal reflection in any mirror and also has no problems in taking photos, although you wouldn’t want to do that. You have to understand that a photo places a vampire at a certain place in a certain time, which can be detrimental to their needs. Very.
• A vampire drinks water – yes. More rarely than a human being because blood has a high percentage of water, but she does. Be it for physical need or mental need, a vampire does drink water. She does not die apparently from the lack of water over the course of months, however, there are no accounts of a vampire not drinking water for more than that.
• Please don’t ask me about ‘biological needs’.
• No, you can’t poison a vampire with cyanide.
• There is a constant search of magic power in the world of vampires, although this is as much of a secret for them as the vampire world is for us. There have been no proven accounts of a vampire using magic, but apparently they still search for it such as our search for immortality or cure to all diseases. Ironic.
• Vampires have no central authority except the queen, which is not actively present in their life. No throne and no ruling place, it is a nomadic life for her, chosen not imposed, in which troubled places are set to order one by one. News does not travel fast in vampire world, the need for secrecy makes it prone to sluggishness. Instead, authority and order is kept by self-discipline, obedience to the Codex Strigis, respect for the elders and the queen, and enforcing laws through the power of the elders present in the area, who often do more than necessary and even so – if overwhelmed – the queen and an elite few always manage to keep them straight. I have seen the madness of which Regina is capable, and I have seen her close companions in such a state also, like Viktoria, and it would take an army to stop them when they are angry.
  You have to understand – it is unlike anything you’ve ever seen. There is total devotion and obedience to the elders and especially the queen. Few know who the queen actually is, not because it is a secret, but because there is no need for telling, and from those few none dared threaten her after they had found out who are they up against. There is no need for an army or a police like in our society, they are few in numbers. I have overheard things and formed a clear picture of actual area numbers, I been going over those numbers, but by what I know about how each keeps from himself and needs that much space, if you would be to calculate for the whole human population, you would end with less than 150 vampires to each million humans. Do the math, that’s roughly a bit more than a million individuals. Such numbers are easy to control, their total number doesn’t even reach a medium-sized European capital city. So when you ask who is the authority then my answer is: they are their own authority, but when someone steps over the line, the elders and – if needed – the queen intervene.
• Vampires use the internet, yes, although they are mainly active on the deep web if you really must know.
• Vampires consider internet a weapon both against them and usable by them. They learned how to steer it in the right direction, just look over the stories, and you’ll see the “disinformation by over-information” method. This present guide is meant to set records straight.
• There is a free pass (no, not multi-pass, no Korben) in the vampire world. A free pass is a piece of paper, any paper, with a drop of blood on it. The free pass can only be given by a few known vampires, the oldest ones, and the queen, which rarely does. A free pass allows a vampire or a human (which rarely happens, but it does) to disobey any rule in the Codex Strigis for as long as she has the free-pass. As you can see, this is a powerful weapon and is rarely used. It is hushed and spoken under the breath, in the vampire world, that Vlad Tepes himself had a free pass, although most have no clue from whom. Nobody knows if there even was such a thing back then, or if there are vampires that old. One thing is sure, someone DID turn the oldest vampires that there are today, and that or those someone, haven’t been seen since. This free pass or  “libel” how is it called, is against the concept of organization vampires currently have. They prefer no means of authority being enforced upon them, but the free pass has been created out of a need. The free pass guarantees a vampire will not be held responsible for his actions and allows him the right to let the giver of the free pass to explain in his name, and also the free pass guarantees a human to live and speak freely in front of any vampire, inferior to the giver of the free pass, but not limited to. The free pass is often used only and only in the interest of the whole kinship, and not for personal reasons. It is strictly forbidden to ‘hire’ someone and give him a free pass. In such cases, the elder is held responsible by the next higher authority available, which is usually Viktoria, or Regina – and when that happens, you’re literally, royally fucked.
  The drop of blood on the free pass is identifiable by any vampire, by taste or smell, they can discern who the giver of the free pass is, if they previously met him.
• I keep saying ‘elder’ but not really say what is that. It is any vampire of superior rang that has more than a hundred years over the other vampire. As such, each vampire can have an leder, and be an elder in the same time. Much like your grandmother being your elder but the great-grandmother being both yours and your parents elder.
•  There have been vampire actors, writers, painters, singers, politicians, leaders and role-models, in the human world. Lately, there has been a change, surveillance today plays a big role and apparently going back in the shadows is a necessity. I agree.
• Vampires don’t sleep in coffins. No. Those are reserved for the dead. Vampires don’t sleep in the ground either. They sleep like you and me, and yes, they need sleep, although much less and by my observation, they are true batteries. Being able to put sleep off for several days and then recuperate by over-sleeping in the following days. I would bet that’s trained.
• Vampires have often been known to wake up exactly before sundown or be able to tell sunrise moment, even without looking outside. That is not biological, it is trained. Years and years of training have taught them exactly when the sun goes down and when it comes up, according to seasons, and they can often approximate pretty well what time it is, without a watch. However, a traveling vampire will have problems with this. Relocate a vampire from Greece to Norway and watch her get confused. It takes months to get accustomed, call it “jet-lag extreme” if you wish.
• Yes, vampires can cross running waters and don’t need to sleep ‘on the soil of their homeland’ – I don’t even have words to begin and understand where this crap came from.
• Vampires wash their teeth – I think it’s rather more of a habit or a hygienic, clean like feeling, rather than a necessity. Their teeth don’t get damaged. And no, not all vampires have perfect white teeth. The color of one’s teeth is more or less genetic. Yes, they also shower and everything else. I don’t know how many times should I point this out: they are by all means, or at least look like, more alike humans, rather than different. THEY NEED TO.
• It is true, yes, that many, older vampires, have a certain ‘stand-by mode’ in which they don’t move, not even flinch, they don’t move eyes, sometimes they even hold breath involuntarily. I call it ‘time out’ and I guess it’s their way of really relaxing. And trust me, it only happens in very, very safe conditions when there is very, very little chance of anything happening. They are more than aware that ‘bad things happen when you least expect them’ because they know this is logical, of course they ‘happen when you least expect them, because when you least expect them – it is then when you have your guards down – and that’s why they happen’ – and that’s a quote.

…vampire society.

They have very few principles by which they live on. They realize principles limit ones abilities. However, there have been hints of really strong moral values in the vampire world. Who would expect that?

They have no faith and no religion. They do not worship their elders or makers, instead they base everything on mutual respect. You have to understand, vampires live a very, very long life and they need respect and manners, because you meet the same people over different centuries and on the course of countless years. It would be very hard and very stressful to be enemy with someone over centuries. Not to mention deadly.

Vampires don’t know and don’t care who Bram’s Stoker Dracula was, but they do base apparently a lot of things on Vlad being the first vampire and most agree that the first vampires emerged in the Balkans and like the tales, some point to Transylvania and some to neighboring territories (read countries). The elders and the queen alike, agree on the existence of the old ones, the ones who made the queen herself, because she actually remembers him, but also older ones, the ones that basically ‘made the makers’ but are only fairly certain of one, yes, Vlad the Impaler.  Vlad’s grave has been opened (by the Romanian government, curiosity, yes) but it was empty.  Quite a shocker, right? This is verifiable by anyone. Nobody in history knows if and when, and where he died.

Many vampires, old and young, pay respects to Vlad’s birthplace and his burial place. That is why I met Regina. That is why she was in my home town, lucky me to have been born there (I guess). That is why the monastery where Vlad is was supposedly buried is in the middle of nowhere, on an island in the middle of a lake, off-limits for everyone, including high-ranking priests. Only a very obscure cult of monks stay there. It is called “Snagov island”. A very, very good article about it – from a visitor from Texas – is here. Vlad Tepes is seen as the savior of the west by the Romanians, and not as Dracula. He managed to keep the Turks at bay, for Romania was a buffer zone between muslim world and christian world for centuries. If you do read the article, do take note of ‘the caretaker forgot to tie the boat’ and the monk was so happy and friendly (unlikely for a monk), and when he heard about the boat, he plainly suggested to ‘spend the night there’. I have only once been there, and never again going back. The place is creepy as it is – but the monks – well those are something else. No idea what’s up with them and what are they guarding, but they are up to something. I would bet my everything that those people have seen more vampires than the queen herself.

…vampire culture.

Attempts at creating a culture inside the vampire world have increasingly been encouraged inside their ranks and as a result, as you can see, paintings, drawings, movies, books, general culture and rumors about vampires are increasingly appearing, we don’t know why but the proof is in front of everyone to see. This is the result of the queen ordering everyone to stop hunting those who try to make vampires known, as long as they don’t posses any real danger. “Let them be – see where it leads, for secrecy never did us any good except hunting parties and mobs.” – I dearly hope she is not wrong, I’m fairly certain of it, she has centuries of my knowledge, but seeing the latest “Underworld” movie made me shiver to my core, when I pictured that such a scenario is upon us – more than we know it.

Vampires don’t have weird customs and traditions or an inclination to organize festivals and big ceremonies for celebrating grim occasions. They don’t drink human blood out of golden goblets and they don’t offer their ring for you to kiss. They don’t make observations like ‘I don’t talk with my food’ or ‘puny human’. They really try to be as human like as possible, although there are the few who feel that it is against their nature, that they do not want to be human anymore. Which is allowed as long as it doesn’t jeopardize the kinship. Do take this with a grain of salt, and don’t greet a vampire, if you ever come across one, with “Hey dude, ‘sup?” – for the love of god don’t.

Vampires have been known to rescue humans from disasters, including but not limited to fires, explosions and floods. I felt this belongs here, with vampire culture.

Vampire traditions are limited to visiting the homeland of Vlad, paying respects and moving on. It is done as often as they want and feel like needing to renew their allegiance. The town is off-limits only 3 days per year, which change every year.

Those three days are the days in which the town of Sighisoara has an annual medieval festival. Thousands of tourists flock the streets and it smells like risk for any vampire to be there.

I have never heard of a vampire wedding although there have been funerals. Viking style.
No birthdays, I guess it would be rather amusing celebrating your birthday for centuries, yes. I could see some of my friends who over enjoy planning and celebrating a birthday doing just that. However, not in vampire ville.

…the treaty of Vienna.

The treaty of Vienna from 1760 establishes that all vampire kind will unite under a common cause, disregarding duties or allegiance, if the cause is deemed to be of a real threat to the queen or the vampire world. And that is why she is a dictator but a philanthropist in the same time. Power to do anything, yet very mild – when not… in frenzy. If you have seen the movie “Bruce Almighty” then Morgan Freeman as god could be a good analogy to her. Powerful as fuck, deadly, yet calm on the surface. Like the ocean. Or the eye of a storm.  The examples could continue until sunrise, but you got the point.

The same treaty speaks of “no vampire will make himself or his kinship known, freely, willingly and to a full extent, to the human population at large, nor to any singular specimen, “because they are many and we are few”. And we desire to remain that few. A war between vampires and humans is out of the question, for eternity. Anyone who puts the human species in danger puts himself in danger, for we are one and you should never forget that”. Seriously. I’m not joking. You can’t make this stuff up.

That bit makes me feel a bit less concerned about aliens really. Not that I believe aliens visited us, but if they ever do and mean us harm, well, at least we’ll have the vampires on our side. – This is meant to be a joke and should be treated as such.

…how do I know all this?

Why would you believe Dracula (the novel), Vampire diaries, True Blood and Twilight – but not me?
At least I’m not trying to sell you anything. This is for free and for your own good. Read and ponder about it.

Meeting me is not an option, stop asking for that. I will gladly answer any questions online, but I will not meet with anyone that has nothing to offer except more questions.

…who am I?

Read the “who am I?” page from the blog. That’s all you need to know. Also, if you can read between the lines, then aren’t you a lucky bastard?

…vampire weak points?

As far as weak points for vampires go, I couldn’t really find any that can be named just that. All myths about them turned out to be false, and in the end, what turned out to be false also, is the fact that they aren’t human.

They are, more human than you would think, but in the same time, they are something out of this world. I call it schizophrenia, for they can be me and you now and be a black panther in the next second, unrecognizable and menacing.

In the end, I propose that their greatest weakness is their humanity. I also agree that, their downfall would 100% be, without any doubt, making themselves known to the world…

We fear them, we would continue to fear them even if we have lived with one under the same roof. We hunt them and we want to destroy them just because they aren’t like us and just because we consider them monsters. We wage wars against other nations just because they have a different religion, how is anyone supposed to trust the human race in handling a different specie?

In this respect, I consider vampires to have more and better moral values and be better in general, more GOOD, not evil, than the majority of human beings. For they have known we exist (obviously) for centuries, and they have lived with us, without trying to exterminate us. Well, we don’t really exterminate all the cows also (Big Mac anyone) but my point still stands. Given, humans get killed more often than necessary, but I wonder – would they still meet their death if it wouldn’t be that fear of vampires? That sometimes irrational fear – and we all know what we do with what we cannot understand or what we fear: we destroy. History has taught us many times that we react with violence every time we encounter “the unknown, which can be dangerous”. Let’s destroy it, just in case, and if later is proven we were wrong, who cares, we didn’t miss it before we encountered it anyway, right? Also, let’s forbid everything that might pose a threat, just in case. Let’s forget about the positive aspects that we could gain, we can’t deal with the negative, even if they are shadowed by the positive.

Would you donate blood to keep a human being alive? I will assume the answer is yes. Then, why wouldn’t you donate the same blood to keep another human being, which although different, is still the same as you? A vampire.

Consider it an illness if it makes you have peace with your conscience, but answer this: would you rather eradicate all vampires or donate blood monthly – you and the whole human kind – to keep them alive?

And your answer is why they live in secrecy.

Any more questions that you might have, please leave them as a comment and when enough, I will compile another guide like the one above, which will address them.

You can argue with me and tell me that I’m wrong if you wish, you are allowed and encouraged, but do not expect me to retaliate. I have nothing to change and have no opinion on what “might be different”. These are as they are, and I can’t change that, no matter what you might think.

respect the elders [story part 9]

December 28th, just after nightfall.

You are not a child, you are not a man and you are not a woman. You are not human. You are a blight of nature and you should die. Make no mistake, that is the only impression you will ever make upon a human being. They will not accept you for who you are now. They will not offer you shelter and comfort. They will hunt you down, they will be relentless and they will succeed.

For what you are indeed, the world has never seen, either fact or choice it doesn’t change for what it is. It is unsuspecting and fearful. Leeches and mosquitoes, you are no more than that. You are now free to make your own destiny and claim your life as it should be for you are alive now more than any human being will ever be. You will feed on them such as a leech does on its prey, but make haste and make yourself unseen because you will be feared and hunted where leeches will be not.

You walk slowly under the sun and run with all your might under the moon. Nothing will end your life against your will and nothing will ever make you obey in front of the unworthy. Your masters are now no more – for you are your sole master and your own executioner.

Walk with your head high for you are now both king and queen among humans, make your choice now and never look back. Feed on their life. Walk as an angel, hunt as a demon. Master that art and you shall never be in any danger from humans and others alike.

Cherish and respect your elders, for they have the absolute power over your life – and you – as an elder yourself will never subdue your kinship to bid your will against their own. You will respect your elders and do their pleasing out of respect and not fear. Do this and live freely, disobey and disrespect them and die young at the hands of your own fate.

Go now and take all that you wish but remember: your greatest weapons are not your bite and strength, your greatest weapon is your mind. Use it wisely and follow one rule: never make yourself known outside your kinship. For they are many and we are few. For they are weak in strength but not thought. Fear them as they fear you.

The above excerpt is word by word written from my diary, as is a big part of this blog anyway. The writing above is everything that I could remember and translate as accurately as possible. It was spoken in Latin and it is what I consider the most important part of the events below:

As soon as I was yanked from my feet and before I could feel any regret that something spoiled that perfect evening with Regina – I had traveled well over 1km, on top of the hill, in front of the old church. The whole trip was rather intense for me and it couldn’t have taken more than a minute.

Regina and I were standing in front of the old church now, she wasn’t even breathing hard. I wondered if she needed to breathe anyway. Not that she was “undead” – no way, she was more alive than I was really, but the whole “I cannot die” thing made me wonder. I was once again scared and amazed by her. What else was she capable of? What else didn’t I know or I knew wrong about vampires? Why didn’t she turn into a bat like Dracula did – now that would have been a sight to remember.

“Stay here.” Regina said with a tone that only my mother once had. She should have known better I’m the kind that comes when you say stay and stays when you say come.

Then she was gone, a gush of wind around me let me know about that because my eyes were failing me. Wasn’t it enough that she moved as fast as that but it had to be so dark outside and damn near impossible to see where you set your foot?

This is the church in question. Twenty steps behind me was the house where the guardian of the cemetery gates lived and 150 steps in front of me, beyond the church, was the high school. Right now, like always at this hour, the top of the hill was deserted. Not even birds seem to be around here during the night.

Nevertheless, as soon as Regina slammed through the doors I heard voices from inside. How the hell did she know someone will be here now, at this hour. Inside the church!

I went in a run after her without even thinking at what I might get myself into.

As soon as I went inside, I slowed down and hid behind a pillar before someone noticing me. Too late, they had noticed me and in an instant someone grabbed me and threw me over 10 meters where I landed in front of the big ass altar. Regina was looking down at me.

Next to me, was a girl, a woman maybe in her late 20’s. She seemed she had been crying, but now she didn’t seem so scared anymore. She seemed dazed.
I wanted to ask her what’s going on, who is she and all that – I really did – but standing in front of Regina were three people who were by now hissing at me and eyeballing me like I was a big McFlurry.

In that second Regina propped her hand on one of them, on his neck, twisted it and with a loud crack he was on his knees with eyes wide open looking at her. Not dead, just… dazed.

“Nobody touches.” – Regina said. I felt good hearing that and she knew it.

Then one of them standing right next to me grabbed me by my hair, pulled me up and sank his teeth in my neck. In under a second. The pain I felt was horrible. I can’t explain how much pain that is, it’s like he intended for the bite to be as painful as possible. I felt it in my whole body not just the neck, all the way down to my toes. It was excruciating. Burning your hand doesn’t even begin to explain it – and we all know what reaction we have when we touch something hot.

I didn’t feel the pain for long – maybe a fraction – it was just the bite really – because quicker than he bit me – and that only by the fact that we was right next to me before doing it – it was over.

He fell down next to me. His body did. His head stayed around for what seemed half a second longer and then fell on the other side. Like a basketball. I was frozen in place. To give you and idea what this meant for me: I had never been to a funeral or seen a dead man in my life before, and now “I lost my virginity” to that by seeing this. I felt like puking and shitting myself in the same time. This was no romance novel – I was truly scared for my life.

I looked at Regina and she was wielding a big, long, golden knife – looked like a sword but wasn’t really long enough to be called a sword. It was about the size of your arm from the top of your index finger to your elbow. That’s the best description I can give you. It was golden – not silver. It had no elaborate handle except another golden bar, the size of one’s fist, that went perpendicularly over the handle. It was even bloodier than the actual body for what I can recall.

Silence. My face: priceless. The girl was still not screaming or yelling or doing anything really. She was just staying there looking at the whole scene unfold.

“I said – NOBODY TOUCHES.” Regina said again.
The only one of them that said nothing and did nothing was a middle-aged man, in his thirties maybe, very muscular, blond hair and tall as a statue. His gaze was one of total obedience.

“My queen – I’m sorry for this. Please spare me, nobody meant you no harm. These critters did not have the pleasure to meet you yet.” – The blond guy said.

As he said that, the one that was previously almost strangled by Regina started backing up, still on the floor, he was pushing the floor with his feet to get as far as possible. His eyes read pure fear. I wondered if that’s the look I had when I first saw Regina’s fangs shining elegantly in my face.

Regina turned to him and before I even saw it – because I never really did, except a blur – I heard a “familiar” sound and his head also started rolling on the floor. I puked this time. Violently.

“My queen – please.” The blond said.

“Silence. Enough know already who I am. I don’t need other critters on my tail. You are responsible for his death.” – She was referring at her most recent “hunt”.

“You – ” She was talking with the blonde girl now “Did you make your choice yet?”

The blond guy interrupted – “She did, but not officially, I haven’t had the chance to speak.”

“Do it fast.” Regina said.

I remember that as Regina said that, she helped me up and I wasn’t really sure I wanted to take her hand at that moment. She was venomous. Her eyes deep black and piercing through my whole body, her fangs fully extended and her eyebrows arched like that of  an eagle who had just spotted his prey. She was menacing and her movements were that of a black panther – elegant, provocative yet deceitful – a panther turns from elegant to deadly in an instant. Just like Regina.

“Who are you?” – I said. I didn’t really know what I expected for an answer. I already knew who she was, but now I wasn’t sure anymore so I guess I needed reassurance.

“You know who I am, but you’ll need centuries to know all that I am, because I needed centuries to build who I am.” Regina said, and with that put me into more confusion, like there wasn’t enough already.

Meanwhile, the blond guy had finished picking up the blonde girl from the floor and was talking with her. Then he started in Latin and said the text as it is at the beginning of this post.

The girl didn’t seem to be able to stay on her feet but as soon as he finished he repeated the whole text in French and with that the girl said: “Oui, j’accepte le sang” the blond guy picked her up and she bit – hard – on his neck, right after he managed to cut himself – severely I would say – with a nail. And she drank apparently. She drank a lot.

Make no mistake, she was human – but she kept on drinking for what went on for more than two minutes, after that they both passed out. Unconscious.

It was now midnight and me and Regina were in total silence, in an almost impossible to see inside of a church and we were alone – well except the bodies and the unconscious people.

“I am not afraid of you.” I said, not in a menacing tone, but in a calming, reminding myself kind of tone.
“No, you’re not. I know that.” Regina said.

“Of course you do, I told you. And it’s true. However…” and I looked around.

“Yes… They consider me their queen. I am the strongest of our kind, and the oldest.” She said and set her knife back in her jacket. I didn’t know she carried one. Of course I didn’t.

“The oldest???” I exclaimed – desperate, confused and amazed. I was not only in the company of a girl, but this girl was centuries old, a vampire and she called me her mate. I was either the luckiest man – to be alive, and others – or the most scared man alive. I had to pick. In that moment, I picked the first one because it seemed to be better for my short-term well-being.

“Yes, they have never seen someone older than me. I have, yet only once. When I was made. And only one, my maker. I haven’t seen him since.” She said that and bowed her head down in sorrow. Was there love from her for the one that made her into this? I really thought so at the moment. But why? How could someone love that, I wondered. Now I know. I felt jealousy – of course – but I also felt gratitude, because without him I wouldn’t be with her, I wouldn’t had known of her beauty and the feeling I have when I’m with her. I wouldn’t have had the pleasures which seemed out of this world with her. I wouldn’t even had known she was ever born. I would be searching for a soul-mate and I would be caught in the same boring life I had until she found me.

“I imagine there are others, older, but not many I reckon. Maybe a few. Other than that, they are either dead, sleeping, or lived in the shadows for the past few hundred years. I think the latter is the most probable and news does not travel fast in our world anyway.”

“So that makes you… the president of vampire nation?” – I don’t know where I came up with that but I felt numb and silly. Just like someone who just had an accident and was feeling for the first time that he might just live, and now felt really giddy and in the mood for jokes. I remember that particular phrase and her smile and then her laugh. She laughed really hard for maybe what was the first time I heard her. It was full of what I would call the thirst of life. That laughter you hear from some really beautiful girls who seem to just suck life (pun intended) up and enjoy it to the fullest. Those kinds of girls who just smile and laugh at everything and for you, at a distance, it seems that nothing bothers them, nothing can touch them and everything is perfect in their life. That kind of laugh.

“Yes.” She said.
“I’m doomed.” I said

“Yes my love, yes you are.” Regina said, and with that, still smiling, she took my hand, we looked at each other and walked out of the church down the long corridor, just like a bride and a groom about to get married. Except the fact that we were going in the wrong direction from the altar.

“What about the…?” and I looked back.

“He knows what to do, there’s a crypt beneath this church and I imagine nobody will open it very soon after that.” – She giggled, referring to my recent meeting with another crypt – “Besides, it won’t be long before they will rise.”

“What just happened there anyway?” I asked.
She looked at me and we stopped walking, just at the side of the church. She examined me from head to toe and I have no idea what she was thinking. Maybe if I was worthy of knowing, maybe if she should actually tell me. Maybe she was just hungry.

“Anyone who is turned into a vampire is offered a choice whether to turn or not. It is written in the Codex and it must be obeyed. As you have just seen, she accepted. I imagine she was his mate or someone of importance. We don’t turn too many people regardless of what you might think. It’s severely weakening for both, and as you have seen, it renders us vulnerable for a considerable amount of time.”

“What do you need to do to become a vampire? Do you need to die? Are they dead?” I asked.
She didn’t answer. All she said was “…hmmm… another time.” Think of it she never really did tell me how, I found out but not from her.

“What’s the Codex then?” I asked.

“The Codex Strigis.” She said. Seeing as I’m not entirely pleased, not that she cared. She was still in her “I’m a vampire, don’t mess with me, see my fangs” stance and not yet into the “I love you and I’m as gentle as a kitty, here, feel my puffy fur” stance.

“It’s our most sacred text – not as in religious – as in respected. It is a book, written in Latin, which contains the most important rules and guides by which to go both as a young vampire and as an elder. You usually have the chance to read it all when you’re young [a young vampire she meant], you will have your chance.” – I didn’t want to know what ‘my chance’ meant, but I hoped it wasn’t what I thought it was.

“Guide as in a general information or as in a law book?” I asked, getting more curious by the second. This was big! It was like that Book of Shadows we keep hearing about in the movies, the one which each and every witch seem to have.

“Well, disrespecting them [the rules] in front of the old or the influential – like human politicians for an example you can understand – doesn’t go so well, but in front of others, they are often overlooked.”

I wanted to know whats the punishment but good enough, she provided.

“Disrespecting them in front of me means death.” She said, mischievously smiling, without even flinching or looking at me.
I gasped for a second there, maybe even shivered a bit, inside my stomach there was World War III going on, but soon enough I gathered my strength – after all why should I fear, I wasn’t a vampire so it didn’t apply – and fired away.

“Why?” I asked.
“Because I wrote it.”

After a moment of silence and a good three or four waves of goose bumps over my skin I relaxed. I began to understand who she was, but little did I know about what else the book contained, and what else she herself broke by just talking with me. I was just realizing what I just heard, and understanding with horror that even though she wrote the book, she was also the one to break her own rules.

Remember: “… follow one rule: never make yourself known outside your kinship. For they are many and we are few…”
She made herself known to me. Why? What was so important about me? And why so easy? All this seems like a fairy tale even for me, it came too easy, too relaxed, too… casual and normal.

That was a question I wasn’t really prepared to hear an answer for.

codex – Latin equivalent of the word ‘book’ or, in other words, the best translation of the English word ‘book’ you can find in the Latin language. Other candidates might be ‘dictatum’; ‘liber’ or ‘enchiridion’ but none expresses ‘book’ as well as ‘codex’ does.

strigis – the genitive singular form of strix – old Latin and Greek with a meaning of evil spirit and/or vampire. The Romanian old term for a vampire is ‘strigoi’ which is derived from the Latin term ‘strigae’ which means the same thing.

Together, these words, ‘Codex Strigis’ form in what we could interpret in English as ‘The vampire book’ or ‘The book of evil spirits’ or plain ‘Vampire book’.

The bible itself is also often referred to as being a ‘codex’ – as such we could assume that ‘Codex Strigis’ could safely be interpreted also as ‘Vampire bible’.