Bloody roses

12: Bacteria

Lacrimă did not know where she was. Neither did she know she had left the castle. And, neither did she know why and where she was going. Just away. But away from what?

She saw red. The ground turned red. A woman with red hair dropped to the ground. Her blood still streaming out of her neck turned the beautiful flowers on the ground red. Red-stained hands picked the flowers. The snow turned red.

Nepoata? Wake up! Nepoata!
No. Why should she?

Blood-red eyes opened slowly, and Lacrimă woke up enveloped by the warmth of her bedsheets. Her pale hands were clean, without a stain of blood left.
“Dragă? Are you awake?”
“No.. let me sleep..”
“Wake up.”
“Bunic?”
“Yes, it’s me. What were you doing, out of the castle?”
“Don’t know.”
“Why did you go out?”
“I was out?”
“Don’t play dumb. I found you, about a kilometre away from the castle, covered in blood. You killed an innocent woman, Lacrimă.”
“Did I? I can’t remember anything. Just red.”
“Lacrimă, if that is how you will act, I cannot let you out in the garden without me anymore.”

Her eyes shot wide open. No fresh air, no ponds, no roses.. Just because she did something she couldn’t even remember? That was not fair.. But nothing was ever fair. Or maybe it was. She had killed, again. Why did it bother her? It didn’t before. For some reason, she saw Charles’ face in her mind. This expression of terror, when he saw the corpse in Faust’s lab. Terror, and something else she couldn't quite place. Like he was somehow responsible.

“Lacrimă, we vampires are there to guide human thought towards the greater good. We do not kill those good for the world. Only those who oppose the laws of nature.
“Why do you care for humans so much??”
“Well, it is a long story.. But we have time, I suppose.”
“Eternity.”
“True. So, our clan, the Draculestis, are called ‘Greater Vampires’ as we originate from the Creator. The first vampire. A long time ago, we were powerful. Our family had good relations with both humans and vampires. Everything was the way it was supposed to be.”
“Good relations meaning?”
“We all lived together in harmony. No one was killed. We took the blood we needed through harmless methods. But then, one day, it all changed. Humans got scared of our power, and they decided they needed to get rid of us. But Lacrimă, dragă, everything has a trigger. And this one was named Johann Hunyadi. With an army, he invaded our lands, and his vampire hunters slaughtered my entire family, who was unprepared, trusting the humans.”
“See? Humans are vile, disloyal creatures.”
“I was not finished. I solely survived because a human woman saved me. I had never seen her before, and I have never seen her again. But this human, I owe her my life and the discovery of my power. She is the reason I am who I am. Lacrimă, humans are not bad. It needs a bacterium to turn them sick, just like roses. We, as the gardeners, do not pick the healthy flowers. We pick the sick ones.”
“So you think we should only kill bad humans and not pick randomly?”
“That is one of my moral principles. And Lacrimă, not only humans can be that bacteria. Your killings have spread fear widely. Do you remember Timișoara?”
“Yes.”
“The people there got suspicious after finding your bite marks. They sent vampire hunters after you. This time, your killings were the spark, the bacterium.”