Elixir of Flesh by Joseph Kranak
* * *
The sun was just above the horizon as Vasile walked across Josif’s small allotment of land in the direction of Anton, whom he saw in the distance, submerged shoulder-deep in the sea of wheat. Anton was bent down with crescent blade in hand reaping the grain with long, flowing swings. He gathered the stalks into his hands and tossed these grains into a basket.
As Vasile approached, they greeted each other, and Vasile asked, “Where’s your dad?”
“He’s been having to work Gabor’s crops,” Anton responded bitterly, “It’s that time of year when we have to fulfill our serf’s duty.”
“Is he happy to have you back?”
“I don’t think that’s the word I’d use. I don’t think anything makes him happy. Though he’s resisting the urge to gloat, I feel like he’s pleased that he turned out to be right about me trying to be a vampire hunter. To him things are better off staying the same as they’ve always been, I suppose.”
Vasile grabbed the scythe out of Anton’s hands and took over his job while Anton rested.
“I’ve decided to stop taking the vampire wares,” Vasile said. He squinted under the light of the sun. Ever since he’d started taking the vampire medicine so many years ago, the sun had gained an overbearing quality, and now it was, gradually, beginning to lose that overbearingness. “I guess it’s time to start growing old,” Vasile continued, “I’ve been trying to reschedule my sleep so that I’m actually awake through the daylight. It’s impossible for you to understand how long I’ve been a vampire hunter and how many nights I’ve been out in the forest waiting alone in the trees for a vampire to cross my line of sight. Almost every day, for decades, alone at night: in summer when nights are warm and in winter when over half the day is left to the vampires. I’ve seen a great many sunsets and sunrises, but not so much of the day in between. Now it’s finally completely over. No more vampire hunting. No more dragging my kills to Andrei’s. No more waiting up all night in the trees. Just living a normal life again.”
He took a deep breath and followed it with some extra long swipes at the wheat as he thought about his life. There was a silence as he continued reaping the wheat, and Anton sat looking up into the sky. Anton looked tired from a day’s work, but there was also something else to his harried appearance—he looked sad.
Vasile asked him, “Do you miss your sister?”
The question brought some quiet tears to Anton’s eyes, which he wiped away with the sleeve of his shirt, before he replied, “Every day.” He asked Vasile, “Would it sound foolish if I said I think she’s still alive? Is it false hope? Is there something to this feeling I have?”
Vasile shrugged his shoulders and said, “I wish I could tell you you’re right. To be honest, I don’t know what goes on in those vampire caves. I do know they need food, and no one’s ever come back. So, it seems to follow that.…”
“I know,” Anton said. Then there was a long silence as Anton stared off into the distance.