Romanian Horror Folktale

„Moroi". It is an old Romanian word, but what does it mean? Well, how about instead a short, dictionary-like explanation, I tell you a story.

Long ago, in a small village in what is now known as Southern Romania, lived a very young woman that we will call Maria. She had become a servant in a rich family's house, after her parents had passed while she was still a child. Her beauty and sweet demeanor attracted a very long line of suitors outside the estate's gates, but their intentions were never pure and Maria turned them all down. One evening, as she was cleaning the house, she saw a beautiful young man standing by the main gate, as if looking for someone. Her heart started fluttering and her cheeks blossomed like roses in summer; unable to contain her curiosity, she went to greet him and show him inside the house. He introduced himself as Dumitru, an honest merchant who wanted to sell oats to the owner of the house, so she showed him to the master's office where they struck a deal and he became the official supplier of the house.

From that point on, Maria and Dumitru started seeing each other every week; from the way they talked to the way they looked at each other, everyone could tell that they were completely enamored. Half a year later, while Dumitru was away with business, Maria discovered that she had become pregnant, news which brought her great joy. She was looking forward to telling Dumitru that he was going to be a father and decide together when they should get married. But after a couple of weeks passed and there was no word from him, she became impatient and went down to the farmers' market to ask around, maybe somebody had heard something about his whereabouts. She spent the entire day talking to people, simple customers, merchants and about anyone who was willing to listen to her, but couldn't find anything about the man. When the sun started to set and the market was about to close, two carriages stopped at the front entrance: three men, looking like they barely made it out from a fight, with thick, black moustaches grey with dust and their previously white cotton shirts in tatters. "This could be my last chance", Maria thought, so she approached the men:

"Excuse me, my name is Maria and I am looking for a man, a grain merchant named Dumitru. I can tell by looking at you that you have traveled far and wide and that you know the roads and those who follow them, so I hold hope that maybe you have heard or seen something that could bring me closer to finding him." she said, barely holding back her tears.

One of the men looked at her and sighed. He pulled out a small bottle from the bag at his hip, gulped down half of it and offered the rest to Maria. 

"Drink," he said, "'cause this kinda' story ain't for one that's sober."

Her forest green eyes shifted from him to the bottle of transparent liquid, and as tempted as she felt to follow the man's advice, she firmly declined. 

"'Aight' kid. I've seen your man on the roads plenty of times, always on business, always riding with someone, 'cause the roads are dangerous places to be on all alone. Well, there was this one evening last week,  when the forest was quiet and the skies above dark,  so we decided to stop at a nearby inn for the night. On our way, we passed this grain merchant who was travelling alone and who seemed to be in a hurry. We stopped him and invited him to come with us, we really did, but he was dead set on going back to the village that night, even though his hair sat straight on his arms and his brow was wet with cold sweat. So we bid him farewell and watched as he went towards the dark clouds that were nearing in.  That night, the dogs barked till morning and the wind banged against our windows, desperate to get in."

At this point, Maria's eyes were filled with tears and her heart the size of a fly. "And have you heard anything about him after that night?"

He took a long pause, and after a while he whispered, staring out into nothing: "We found his carriage on the road, in the middle of a crossroads, close to the village. It was all wrecked, and the ground beneath it stained with blood... your merchant nowhere to be seen. I am sorry."