Commission-story 4: Vali's Vampire (part 1)
This commission was done for the same person that asked the two first stories I shared on this blog, and... it is halway between story 1 (the cute love story of two big guys) and story 2 (a harsh kinky medieval soft-torture story). As we are entering the spooky season of autumn, I invite you to read this vampire story, this vampire romance. With all it implies. A vampire romance must only be a tragic, painful, beautiful by morbid romance. A vampire story will always be something disturbing and creepy - though sad and sexy.
Romania, 1894
The people of the village felt sorry for Vali.
“Poor lad. Doesn’t deserve all that.”
Even though, it was hard to tell if they felt sorry for Vali because of the storms, or because of his wife.
The storms destroyed Vali’s crops. Stefania blamed Vali for it.
The storms made a hole in Vali’s roof. Stefania blamed Vali for it.
A bolt of lightning had burned down the old tree of Vali’s garden. Stefania blamed Vali for it.
Everyone around here knew Vali. He was born and grew up in the village. All the elders could tell you how he was as a child: smiling, polite, faithful, hard-working.
In a similar fashion everyone around here also knew Stefania, for she too was born and grew up in the village. The elders also remembered her as a child. Capricious, spiteful, ever-complaining and greedy. Just like today.
Of course, her parent’s beatings and teachings had managed to calm her down for some time, grooming her into a quiet, pretty and pleasant young girl. But as soon as she was wed, and far away from her parents’ grasp (who died soon after), she returned to her true self, the one of a nasty little thing.
Nobody knew why Vali chose her out of all the girls of the village. He was himself quite a good-looking man - fair eyes, strong brows, brown hair, without any kind of scar or deformity - despite the roughness and crudeness his farmer life gave to its appearance. Field work had given him strong muscles - bulging arms, wide shoulders, thick trunk - while generous meals and abundant drinks at the inn had rounded his face, curved his belly and widened his thighs. He was certainly one of the village’s strongest men, and could have easily beaten Stefania into submission. Yet, he supported her cries, and screams, and insults, without ever raising his voice or flinching. Some called him a true saint. Others called him a true fool.
And now, if this first plague wasn’t enough, came the storms… Bad storms, frightening storms. “The work of the Devil” some said. Heavy and violent rains, sometimes turning into hail. Howling winds calling forth black clouds turning the day into a pitch-black night. And of course, the lightning, great white spears hitting the ground and burning down trees. The water, the wind and the celestial fire destroyed not only the growing crops of poor Vali, but also everything he kept in his granary. The couple was left with barely anything to eat. While Vali tightened his belt and started working twice as much, Stefania could only weep about their misery and berate her husband for his inability to protect their food or gain money faster. The people of the village were generous with them, yes, and offered them a loaf of bread, a ham or some potatoes from time to time - but this charity wouldn’t last forever. And Stefania never liked these people much anyway.
Stefania, despite being born to mere cobblers, living in a humble village and being the wife of a farmer, had always dreamed of another, higher, much different life. The life of an aristocrat, the life of a princess, the life of a lady, filled with wealths and luxuries. She had seen, several times, noblewomen in their horse-drawn carriages pass by the road near the village, and each time she envied their pretty dresses, their shining jewels, their loyal servants and their beautiful husbands. In this God forsaken village, dressed in ugly rags, eating raw or boiled vegetables, walking and working in the mud, she felt humiliated, smothered, slowly dying. She knew that there was better out there, she knew that she deserved better than that, and she knew she was better than all of this.
And she was ready to do anything to make her dreams come true.
“We will sell the farm.” she declared one night.
It had been a foggy day, followed by a rainy night. Far away, you could hear the faint rumblings of a heart storm thunder, the kind that merely echoes in the darkness, without any lightning to split the dark skies.
“This is the only way for us to obtain money fast.” she went on.
“We don’t need to do that now.” Vali objected. “We don’t need huge sums of money for now. Just little ones. If we are strong, hard-working and wait until next summer, we can…”
“What if there is another storm? Or a freezing spring, or if the crops burn in summer? No! It is all too risky, too dangerous! We lost too much! I can’t possibly let you gamble on some fickle land and capricious weather!”
“Farming is not gambling, and these lands are not fickle. These lands are my family’s and farming is hard work.”
“I am telling you, Vali, that we need to sell the farm! We can’t wait anymore! I’m starving! With the money we’ll get, we’ll be able to move out of this dreadful village, into a bigger, safer city. There we could… we could become servants for a wealthy family! Gardeners, nurses, gate-keepers, floor-scrubbers, the jobs aren’t lacking! It will provide us with a roof, with food, and with money for a time until…”
“I don’t want to move out of this village, Stefania. I love this village. It is my home and family. I am telling you, I won’t sell this farm.”
“You are acting stupid! Stubborn and stupid like a child! We need to sell it! Once you’ve gained some decent and honest money, you will…”
“With this farm, I earned decent and honest money, Stefania, just like my parents did. Remember? This was my father’s farm, and my grandfather’s farm, and this is now my farm. I won’t sell it. It is my duty to keep it.”
“Duty? You don’t have any duty, you big oaf! To who will you transmit this piece of swampy land? To your son maybe? Ha! Don’t make me laugh! As for your father, he is dead, and your grandfather, he is rotting away! Corpses don’t care what one does with their farm! Their eyes were probably already devoured by the maggots!”
Vali hit the table with his fit. For the first time in her life, Stefania saw harshness, coldness and darkness on her husband’s face, and for the first time, she heard angriness in his voice.
“Stefania, don’t insult my family, and don’t treat the dead lightly. You seem to forget that I am your husband, and thus you are bound to obey me. I let your vile tongue run free to spit all the poison you want on honest and decent people, but remember that it is still my right to close your mouth so that you’ll choke on your own venom. Are we clear?”
Stefania was boiling with rage.
“Don’t you dare say such things to me, Vali! Don’t you dare threaten me! Never, ever have you dared such… such an infamy! You are a prideful, stubborn and wicked man, Vali! Threatening your own wife! You want us to starve and die rather than selling this rotting wooden box! A coffin, this is what this farm is! A coffin with a cursed land, haunted by your rotten ancestors! You want us to die, Vali, but I want to live! So go play with the corpses and ghosts if you like, die this instant if that pleases you, but you won’t…”
They were interrupted by loud, booming noise, so deafening it seemed almost as if the thunder was right outside of their house - but it was just someone hitting violently on the door.
“Who could it be at such an hour? And why are they knocking so loudly?” Stefania complained. “What rudeness. Well come on, don’t stand there, go!”
Vali, still vibrant with rage, got up and opened the door.
Outside of it stood a massive black silhouette.
“Excuse me, is this Vali’s home?”
“I am Vali. What do you want of me?”
“Merely to salute you, old friend.”
“Who are you?”
“Don’t you remember me, Vali?”
“Your voice sounds familiar.”
“It is because we have been friends, Vali. Brothers of milk, brothers of tears. May I enter? The rain is cold.”
Vali nodded and gestured for the man to enter. The stranger squeezed himself through the small door. Vali was flabbergasted to find someone taller and wider than him. In fact, this mysterious guest was so big, his flesh seemed to sink into the frame of the door, and he had to push himself to pass the threshold. Vali feared that he would get stuck, but the man managed somehow to compress his bulk to pass the door, and when inside immediately expanded back into a huge, gargantuan fat man.
Vali only knew of one person, one friend, who was taller than him. But it couldn’t possibly be him… And yet, when Vali raised his head to look at the stranger’s face, he recognized those small and narrow eyes on top of a rounded nose.
“Dragomir? Is that you?”
The stranger smiled, his pointy teeth shining in the dark.
“Yes, Vali. Long time no see.”
XXX
Vali and Dragomir sat near the chimney and talked there for a long time. Now that his old friend was here, Vali had forgotten all about his anger and the unpleasantness of his wife. He was all smiles, laughs and joy, for he hadn’t seen Dragomir since he was a fourteen-year-old lad. Dragomir and him used to be best friends, well more like brothers, raised by the same nurse, partners in games and partners in crime. They cherished each other dearly and cared one for another, through protection, gifts and other lovely things. Their adventures together had however been brutally interrupted when Dragomir’s parents passed away. Now an orphan, he was soon bought by a nobleman from a far away city who wished to make him his personal assistant. It was a very good situation for Dragomir, but the two boys still cried heavily upon saying goodbye.
And, after thirteen years, they were reunited. A lot of things had changed in thirteen years. Beginning with Dragomir’s body.
Back when he was still a child, Dragomir was a tall and thin boy, almost skeletal. He was nicknamed the “branch”, the “twig”, the “bone”. His skinniness was due to some sickness, that also prevented him from doing any hard work at home or in the field, and made him vomit food that was either too hot or too cold.
Yet, here he was, as fat as a winter hog! A true mountain of flesh dwarfing Vali, who was reputed for being one of the biggest men of the village.
“He must eat so much, in his fancy city manor.” Vali thought. “He must have feasts every day and every night. He was really lucky to be chosen by this nobleman.”
Vali couldn’t take his eyes off Dragomir’s body - a body so different from the one he used to know, the one he regularly hugged or hit. It was now a body of wealth, of abundance, of domination. A beautiful body of riches. Dragomir’s face was now as round as the full moon, with a double-chin that spilled over his tight collar and his white bow-tie. His shirt and vest, immaculate, were stretched to the point of almost popping by his belly the size of a haystack, a belly so big Dragomir, in fact, couldn’t have closed his jacket even if he wanted to. And his pants! As black as his jacket, as beautiful as his red-lined cape, and as big as a ship’s sail! It was simple: Dragomir’s pants were so big Vali could easily fit whole into just one of the legs! And up there… Between the tight vest and the small bow-tie… His shirt was so white it blinded Vali, but the cloth couldn’t hide it… Dragomir’s chest. Bigger. Plumper. Fatter. Two firm mounds of flesh, which reminded our farmer of the generous chest of some of the most charming girls of the village, and this thought made him blush. Hopefully for him, Dragomir hadn’t noticed anything - he was too busy speaking.
A long, complex, flowery monologue, detailed to Vali everything that happened to Dragomir after he left, said all there was to say about his new houses and brought him the latest gossip concerning the members of the government. Many things Vali didn’t really pay attention to, for, to be honest, Dragomir was dreadfully boring. Now that he had learned the language of the cities, he spoke long and twisted sentences filled with delicate, eccentric words Vali ignored the meaning of. He spoke of names and places Vali had no idea about, and he talked so easily of money, expenses and spendings - without any shame, restraint or care - that it shocked deeply Vali. It shocked him and it made him quite sad, for now he was realizing that Dragomir and him were part of two different worlds.
He was a wealthy and cultured man, belonging to cities, politics and banks. Vali was an humble, dirty, nearly illiterate peasant. They made a strange duo, Vali thought bitterly. He was there, a big, stinky, raggedy man with a skin turned red by the sun, and Dragomir was in front of him, an even bigger man, dressed finely with an expensive suit, impeccable, without any stain on his delicate clothes or noble pale skin. The hunched servant in front of the caped master.
Quickly, Dragomir began asking questions about Vali’s situation. He wanted to know every single detail of the farmer’s life, just like he had shared his own little (and often boring) details. Vali, torn, between a desire to share everything with his truest friend and the shame of his own life compared to this extraordinary existence of Dragomir - who was now nearly a stranger - decided to merely mumble vague answers, even though each time Dragomir pressed him for more details and more information.
“I have never forgotten you, Vali.” he insisted. “Every day, every night, when I lied down or when I woke up, I kept asking myself, what could possibly have happened to him? Where is he right now? Is he happy? Is he sick? Is he…”
Dragomir stopped for a time, before turning his eyes towards Stefania.
“And I see you are married!”
Vali’s wife took this as an invitation to share the discussion. She took a chair, sat next to Dragomir - in fact, very close to Dragomir - and began describing him her wedding to Vali by the detail. Usually, it was a tale of woe where she listed all the accidents and incidents, all of the bad omens she receives, all of the mistakes and failures of her husband. But today, she had to adapt to her audience, so she rather told a glorious tale of a beautiful and perfect Vali swearing his undying love for her in a beautiful pastoral, almost arcadian, setting, under a blue sky filled with singing birds and a shining, golden sun.
Dragomir listened carefully, nodding to everything Stefania said, even though his piercing eyes never left even once Vali. Stefania went on speaking about her own family, about the death of her parents, about the kindness of Vali and her proudness to be his wife. She finally ended up talking about the dreadful storms.
“Storms? Really?” said Dragomir.
Vali noted something strange in his voice. He was obviously trying to fake surprise, and failed to do so. In fact he sounded… almost amused.
Stefania painted him an apocalyptic picture, a true Wild Hunt trampling down their farm, a fight between demons and angels cracking the sky open in a swirl of wind, water and fire. She concluded by how now Vali and her were doomed to misery, poverty and hunger.
“It was the Devil’s doing, good Sir! God couldn’t possibly punish people as good as ourselves! The Devil wanted Vali’s ruin because he was too good, and he succeeded! We don’t have nothing anymore! We are forced to sell the farm! We will go away, become homeless beggars on the road!”
“No.”
Dragomir had said this word softly, and yet it seemed that it spread in strong, piercing echoes throughout the entire room, stunning both Vali and Stefania.
“No, I won’t let it be. Vali, my friend, I can’t possibly leave you in such misery. I’ll help you. I’ll give you enough money to repair your farm and survive this year.”
“Dragomir…”
Stefania, overjoyed, interrupted her husband:
“Good Sir, we thank you kindly for your kind help! You are our salvation and savior, and we are redeemable to you, in body and soul! Your feelings are the most noble! We will pray for you at the next mass.”
Dragomir laughed.
“Oh good Sir, we can’t possibly thank you enough! You are saving our lives! To last for this year, we would need at least…”
Dragomir whispered a “shush” and, quite surprisingly, Stefania immediately stopped babbling.
“No need to give me an amount. I’ll give you what I want.”
Dragomir slipped his dark-gloved hand into an inside pocket of his jacket, and took out a purse the size of wolf’s heart. He threw it on the nearby table, and it opened, spilling glittering golden coins.
Stefania had a shriek of surprise, followed by a moan of pleasure, her hands tightly clutched on her heart. Vali opened wide eyes, flabbergasted and pale.
“Oh, thank you! Thank…”
“No.”
This time, it was Vali who interrupted Stefania.
“No, Dragomir, this is too much. I can’t possibly accept…”
“I insist, my dear friend. I want you to receive this money. If it can also help you for the years to come, then I’ll be more than pleased.”
“No, Dragomir, I can’t possibly… It… It is not right! I don’t like it!”
“What are you saying, you stu…” started to shout Stefania before calming down. “Darling, we need this money. Without it, we will starve.”
“I don’t want to steal from you, Dragomir.” Vali insisted. “And this feels like stealing. In the worst way. Exploiting your kindness and generosity… A freud. That’s it, it feels like a fraud. And I can’t possibly accept so much. We barely found back each other and…”
Vali stopped for a time, looking into the fire.
“We are not beggars yet.” he finally went on. “We still have hope. If we work hard and honestly, we can survive on our own. I appreciate your gesture, and I know you mean well, but I possibly can’t… It is not right.”
Dragomir had… an expression on his face. The weirdest expression Vali ever saw on a human face. He couldn’t put a name on it. Was he disdainful, or admirative? Surprised or curious? Or maybe all at once, or maybe none, maybe it was something more complex, something only a city man with a big vocabulary could name…
Dragomir slowly leaned forward, took off one of his gloves, and took Vali’s callused hand into his own. Wide, fat and plump. Pale and smooth. Very strong. But very cold.
“Vali. Look at me in the eyes.”
Vali did so. And he felt… something. Something he hadn’t felt for such a long time… something wonderful and terrifying at the same time. Fear, trust, adoration and shame rushed in his head and twirled like the storm’s mad winds.
“Vali, I don’t want to turn you into a beggar. I couldn’t stand the thought of you… I just couldn’t. I don’t want you to become a thief or a crook either. I am deeply sorry if my gift offended you, but please, accept it. I am not acting out of pity or charity here, for I am by no means a charitable man. This is a gift. A present. To my friend. My truest, dearest, oldest friend. Brother of milk and brother of tears. I left you so long ago… and we haven’t seen each other since. And we probably won’t see each other again for a very… very long time. If ever. So please, accept this gift. A friend’s gift. A symbol of my trust, of my faith, of my devotion to you. You are a good man, Vali, and awful things happened to you. I want justice in this world, and if this storm was the Devil’s work, then… think of myself as one of God’s angels. Please. I cherish you so much… I can’t possibly let you in the hands of Famine, misery and Death. They are no ladies of good company. I want to at least try to do something to help you. I can’t just abandon you like that. I just can’t.”
Vali felt tears in his eyes. His heart was beating fast and hard, so much it hurt. He quickly took his hand away from the one of his friend, smiling.
“I’ll accept your gift, Dragomir. Thank you.”
The gentleman, satisfied, raised his enormous body off the chair, which suddenly bolted up like a spring upon being released from the crushing weight of its charge.
“I must be going now. I am pleased to have seen you again, Vali. I hope we will be able to meet again.”
“Another day. I would like that too.”
“Another night.” mysteriously answered Dragomir.
Stefania tried to salute him, but he paid no mind to her, didn’t even look into her direction. He rather turned his back to the couple, his black cape twirling and dancing around him, before opening the door. He squished his mass through the frame and disappeared in the darkness of the night and the rain.
“Wait!” said Stefania.
But it was too late. Dragomir had vanished in the shadows.
XXX
Vali woke up in the middle of the night. There was a noise. A weird one, inside the house. He turned in his bed, trying not to wake up Stefania - only to realize that she wasn’t there anymore.
Another sound, louder than the first one, followed by some mumblings. Half-asleep, Vali got up and went out of the bedroom.
He found Stefania in the living room, in front of the fire, several bags by her side, putting on her coat.
“Stefania? What are you doing?”
She looked frightened upon hearing his voice, but quickly smiled.
“Nothing! Go back to sleep, it’s nothing!”
“Stefania, why are you dressed up?”
“I… I heard a noise outside. I am going to look at it.”
“Then let me come with you.”
“No! No need!” she shouted.
“And all those bags, what are they for?”
“It’s… a…”
Vali looked at the chest on which Dragomir’s money had been stored. It was now opened and empty.
“Stefania! The chest is opened! The money is gone!”
Stefania sighed and brandished a knife.
“You poor stupid fool… Couldn’t you have just go back to sleep?”
“Stefania?”
The ugliest expression Vali ever saw on a human face appeared on Stefania’s traits.
“I am leaving you, Vali. I took the money, and I am going away, and you won’t stop me or I’ll stab you.”
“Stefania… I don’t understand…” stuttered the man.
“This money! This is too much! Too much to simply mend a roof or buy food!” she screamed. “I could buy a house, a manor with all that! Move in the city! Have pretty dresses, and rare jewels, and servants, and fine diners! This is what I always wanted! This is my dream, this is my life, Vali! God sent it to me and I have to take my chance!”
“This is Dragomir’s money! You can’t do that!”
“For years I have been a slave, trapped by you in this horrific coffin! If I have an opportunity to get out, I’ll take it. You are a stupid man, so stupid you would waste this money! But I am clever! I know exactly what to do with it! And you are just a rock tied to my leg! You drag everything, you stop everything, you ruin everything! You are a dead man Vali, a walking corpse with an empty head and an empty heart! Dumb, blind, stupid! If I stay, you’ll lead me to ruin!”
“Stefania, stop it!” Vali shouted. “Don’t you hear yourself? You’re mad! Mad with the gold… The fever of the gold! You need to…”
“Stop telling me what I need to do or not to do!” Stefania screamed. “You think you can go on giving me orders? Now I have the money! I have the power! I give orders!”
“I am your husband!”
“Oh, really? Is that what you are? Even in bed? Huh? Where are the children, Vali? Why haven’t I fallen pregnant yet? Where is the love? Where is the flesh? The other men would act like the animals that they are, but you… you don’t have any life or heat in you. A corpse without any passion or desire! Not with me, nor with any other woman for that matter! You dare tell me I’m mad? You’re the sick one, everyone knows that!”
“Stefania…”
“Else, why would you have your parents and mine arranging this wedding? They paid well to cover your derangement. But all the money went into my parent’s grave, and now it is time for me to find a new source of income.”
Vali felt all the dark emotions he had bottled up for so long come back boiling into his mind. Stefania reminded him of very dark times, and with this memory came back all of the poisonous whispers of… of the dark things. Of the wrath, of the hate, of the rancor and the grudges, of the despair, of the shame, of the injustice, of the punishment, of the vengeance and of the forbidden thing.
He had managed to forget all that. For years he had been working so hard so forget all that… And now, she dared to…
Think something else, Vali said to himself. Focus. This money. She wants to steal this money. Dragomir’s money. Your friend’s money. Your friend’s trust. Dragomir’s love. She won’t get away with it.
Groaning, Vali stomped in front of Stefania, trying to catch her arm with his big hand. They were thin as twigs, he thought. I could easily break them.
But she was fast. Hate and greed excited her so much she was now fast, agile, and deadly.
She escaped Vali’s clutches, and stabbed him - right into his stomach, his wide and bulging stomach, an easy target. She smiled and immediately stabbed him two more times - above the stomach, in the chest - before hitting him on the jaw with her elbow. Vali fell on his back. She was giggling like a child.
“Thanks for finally giving me some sort of pleasure.” she laughed. “Goodbye Vali. May you rot in your coffin-farm and this dreadful village.”
She took her bags, opened the door and fled in the night. Vali, his cramped and bloody torso hurting and burning, managed to get up. He still felt his wife’s elbow in his jaw. A coldness was starting to sip in his body, making him shiver. His flesh was tingly, his wounds were stinging.
She’s getting away, he thought.
He walked towards the opened door, but once the threshold passed, he started to stagger. The fresh, humid air of the night hit him like a wall of ice. His legs felt weird and weak. The coldness was in all of his body now, and his head was buzzing. His cranium felt tight, as if his brain was being crushed by an iron belt.
It was hard to see. The rain had been reduced to a mere fog of water. With that and the clouds before the moon, it was hard to see.
He walked a bit before falling to his knees. He was cold. Too cold.
Only then he realized what was happening.
“I am dying. I am dying. She killed me.”
He felt terrified. He feared what was going to happen to him. He thought about hell, about damnation, about sin, and he deeply regretted it. He regretted not to have been into confession. He regretted his actions. He regretted his being. He regretted his own essence, his own life. He started to cry - and, suddenly, the pain started. Violent aches making him scream, as if Stefania was stabbing him again.
He screamed her name, without any answers. He cried her name, and still no answers. He then merely called for help. He called his neighbors, his priest, everyone he knew, every name he could remember. No one answered. His limbs were getting numb, and his throat dry.
“I failed.” he thought. “I failed. I died for some gold. Worthless gold.”
A whisper in his mind answered: “Not worthless gold. Dragomir’s gold. His gift, for you. His friendship, his trust, his love.”
Vali thought to himself: “I still failed. I couldn’t keep that. I couldn’t protect it. She got away with it. I betrayed Dragomir. I failed him.”
He lied down on the ground, for it was too tiring to stand up and so easy to just lay down. He was tired. Weak, tired and cold.
“Dragomir.” he whispered.
He remembered his surprise upon seeing his friend’s new appearance, and this surprise made him laugh. He tried to remember Dragomir as he was before, and the image of the sick scrawny kid appeared, the picture of the weak not-so-little-fellow he cared for and played with… Vali smiled and wept at the same time, for he was both happy and sad. But more than that, he was so tired.
“Dragomir!” he shouted boldly, and he decided that would be his last word.
“Usually I wait until my name is uttered three times, but for you I’ll make an exception.”
Dragomir. He was there. Standing over Vali.
“Dragomir! You’re… here.”
“I was always there. What happened to you? All this… blood.”
Dragomir licked his lips.
“She stabbed me. I am dying.”
Dragomir lost his composure and looked torn. Torn between pleasure and sadness.
“She? Who? Your wife?”
Vali tried to nod but he shivered so violently he decided not to move. He tried to say yes, but found himself unable to say this simple word. His tongue just wouldn’t let him pronounce this short sound.
“She went… with the money. Gold fever. Mad.”
“She stole the gold? It doesn’t surprise me. She reeked greed.” he answered with calm before kneeling down.
Vali studied Dragomir’s face. It was so beautiful. His cheeks were so round and fleshy. He wanted to touch them, to caress them. To kiss them. And his pale skin… He wanted to feel it. Feel it rubbing on his body. These thin lips… he also wanted to kiss them. To lick them. And these pointy teeth… he wanted them to bite his own lips, bite his own tongue, bite his own body.
Vali’s dizzy and blurry mind was now filled with all sorts of lustful and indecent thoughts, as if dying was breaking down the wall he had carefully built all these years. But he did not care. He felt like a dream. With before his eyes, a spectral beauty. Vali felt so light it was as if he had no body at all. Which was quite funny, for when he fell down, he was so heavy… to heavy to stand up, to heavy to move… He felt so heavy and now he felt so… ethereal. It was a word Dragomir said, a word Vali didn’t know the meaning of, but one he thought fit well in this situation.
“I am sorry, Vali.” Dragomir whispered. “I am sincerely sorry. I haven’t felt sorry for… such a long time. But I do.”
It was still a calm voice, but one with no pride, joy or confidence. It was the sad voice of a lonely man.
“I can’t even cry… I am sorry for causing all that. For I caused all that. I just wanted to play a bit and see you again and… Maybe I was foolish for thinking I could just go back. I am now a harbinger of doom and misery. I am the mad men’s king, I am plague personified. Vali… Just because I wanted to see you again, I tore apart your life, I turned the woman you loved against you. I only know how to destroy and…”
Vali laughed.
“She never loved me and I never loved her!” he said.
His breathing sounded almost like a whistle.
“I… To hell with that. T’is where I’m going anyway. I can’t love her. Can’t love… women. I’m sick. Drago… I’m sick. I… I loved you. Cause I’m sick.”
Vali felt a new pain in his chest. Not a physical one. He bit his tongue as tears rolled down his chest.
“I loved you. Ever. Since kids. I… I still. Drago…”
Vali found out he couldn’t say no more. He didn’t have the strength. His eyelids were so heavy… the ground so comfortable… and the cold was going away…
Dragomir smiled, and laughed too.
“As usual… I shouldn’t be surprised. I should know by now that everything turns out good for me. I knew I was a lucky boy, but that lucky? Blessed be the blood gods!”
Dragomir laughed, much louder this time. A laugh that echoed through the land.
“Oh… such a waste of blood. Oh, I’m going to enjoy this so much! It will be fun!”
Dragomir giggled. He had the same manic, childish glee as Stefania had earlier.
“If you love me, since I love you too, shouldn’t we kiss?”
Dragomir leaned on top of Vali’s body. Vali felt it, and it was dreadfully heavy.
“It will sting a bit, my Vali…” Dragomir whispered in his ear. “But don’t worry. You’ll live… you won’t feel pain… and you’ll be mine. Forever.”
8 notes
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