The sun’s light sparkled on the wet grass. The air was warm and fresh. Orsalya had brought her couch outside and lay bathing in the sunlight while nearby Gustav dozed beneath the fruit trees. In contrast, Verka was pacing up and down restlessly, her face clouded with anxiety.

As Johanna emerged from the woods and approached her fellow immortals, Verka turned to her and snapped, “well, have all the villages been alerted?”

“Yep,” replied Johanna blankly.

“You seem awfully calm,” Verka said crossly. She sighed nervously and began pacing again. “I hope all the children are safe.”

“I assume you haven’t seen the vampire by any chance,” Orsalya asked, looking up at Johanna.

The Gravedigger took a few moments to reply. “No.”

“We’ll just have to keep an eye out,” Orsalya sighed.

“What should I do if I, you know, encounter the vampire?” asked Johanna.

“Ask Verka,” Orsalya replied, “she’s the local vampire killer.”

Verka turned to Johanna and smiled proudly.

“You’ve actually killed a vampire before?” asked Johanna, almost impressed.

“It was about a hundred years before you were born,” Verka explained.

“And you were sorely missed,” Orsalya added wryly. “Without you the dead were unprotected from the vampire’s dark magic. He raised an army of walking dead; skeletons and monsters with rotting flesh hanging off them… ugh.” She grimaced at the recollection. “Me and Verka went out to fight them. I cut down a few dozen of the foul creatures with my staff.”

“But it was I who slew the vampire,” Verka put in. “At first, I was certain of an easy victory, but the vampire came at me with this dagger, all black like obsidian. You won’t believe it, but when he struck me with it I actually bled. Thankfully I didn’t let him get another blow in; I pressed my necklace to his forehead and that did the trick, burned a hole right through his head.”

“You bled?” Johanna asked in shock.

Verka pulled down the neck of her dress to reveal a large dark scar across her clavicle.

“I suppose it must have been some kind of daemonic artifact,” Orsalya said soberly, “that can kill us just like we can kill vampires.”

“What did you do with it?” Johanna asked curiously.

“Verka destroyed it. Can’t have something like that lying around.”

“Do you think this vampire has a weapon like that?”

Orsalya shrugged. “I hope not.”

*   *   *

The soft trickling of the stream at her feet and the occasional rustle from the forest behind her were the only sounds disturbing the silent night. Johanna sat and stared at the broken reflection in the water, of the bright moon surrounded by dark clouds. Hours of brooding on the riverbank had provided no answers to her many questions.

“Hey.”

Johanna looked over her shoulder to see a tall figure standing in the shadow of the forest. The moon’s light fell on the lower half of his body up to his waist, leaving his face in complete darkness.

“How long have you been there?” Johanna asked flatly.

“Only a few minutes.”

“Why are you back? Do you want me to kill you?” Johanna remained still, not making any move to get up.

“I get the feeling you’ve been waiting for me.”

“Why would you think that?” Johanna snapped angrily.

“Yesterday you took me by surprise, you had me cornered. You could have killed me.” Eldrik paused and waited for a response. When none was forthcoming, he added, “I am incredibly swift though. Probably just a lucky escape, nothing more.”

A long silence followed.

Johanna sighed, turning her gaze back to the reflection in the water. “I want to hear your story.”

“What?”

“I need to know how the man I knew became the monster that’s standing behind me.”

Eldrik chuckled dryly. “My story’s really quite simple. I’d been in the Capital three months. I’d befriended this eccentric young woman who lived alone in her manor. I visited her often as she was exceptionally well-read and a fascinating person to talk to. I stopped in one night after my theology lessons and we talked for a few hours as usual. Then to my surprise she confessed her love to me.” Eldrik paused and chuckled again. “Then she told me she was a vampire. I tried to run but she seized me by the throat and held me against the wall with one hand. With her other hand she picked up a glass filled with her own blood and forced it down my throat. That done, she let go and I fled.” He paused. “Does that answer your question?”

“What happened next?” asked Johanna.

“Over the following week I started to change; my hair turned white, my skin turned grey, food disgusted me, and I couldn’t eat yet I felt a growing hunger gnawing at my body. I told the authorities about the woman and accompanied a band of soldiers to her house. They were no match for her, she slaughtered them to the last man. It fell to me, with my newfound strength and speed, to cut her down. As she begged me to join her in undeath I ran a sword through her heart. After that I tried to return to my normal life, explaining away my hair and skin as the result of trauma from the experience. But the gnawing hunger became stronger every day. I tried drinking animal blood, but it didn’t help. Every day I felt the urge to attack one of my fellow students. I managed to control myself, but I felt as if I was slowly dying. The pain became so great that some days I could barely leave my house. Eventually I confided to one of my friends that I had a hunger for blood and asked for a donation. He was… not so understanding and reported me. I went into hiding and that was when I took my first victim, a drunkard stumbling along an abandoned alley. I knocked him down and drained his blood. Imagine another two centuries of that life and there you have it.”

“I know this sounds harsh, but… why didn’t you just let them kill you?” Johanna asked, “and find peace in the afterlife?”

Eldrik chuckled bitterly. “Because once you become a vampire, you can never go to Heaven. If I die, that’ll be it. No happy ending.”

“I… I’m starting to understand, Eldrik,” Johanna said after a while.

“Yes, you are,” Eldrik pressed enthusiastically. “We live in a cruel world, a world devoid of-”

“Of all people, a man as good as you doesn’t deserve this,” Johanna continued. She looked back at Eldrik. “But what you are doesn’t determine who you are,” she insisted passionately. “Even as a vampire, you can still be good!”

“Have you even been listening?!” Eldrik shrieked in agitation. “I tried so hard to be a hero. I left the Capital and travelled the country, preaching and offering my limited medicinal knowledge where I could, determined to do good despite my nature. But the hunger always set in. Now it wouldn’t have been such a problem if just one damn person had been willing to give me blood, but I confided in so many different people, tried to make them understand, but not one would give me a chance. I was forced to run from place to place, always hunted, always rejected. Eventually, I gave up trying to be what I wasn’t. I accepted that I was a blood-thirsty monster and I cursed the whole damn race of humanity!”

Silence followed his furious rant.

“Eldrik,” Johanna said softly, “I’ll be that person.”

“I’m sorry?” Eldrik asked quizzically.

“I’ll forgive you.” She turned and held out her arm towards Eldrik. “You can drink my blood.”

“You’re an immortal, you don’t bleed,” retorted Eldrik flatly, “and even if you did it would probably kill me.”

“Don’t worry,” Johanna insisted fervently, “I’m sure I can get voluntary donations from the villagers; I’m the Gravedigger, they trust me.”

“Do you know how many people I’ve killed?” demanded Eldrik angrily. “Dozens! Hundreds! How can you forgive me?”

“No-one’s beyond redemption,” Johanna said firmly. “You can be a hero if only someone gives you the chance.”

“It’s too late!” Eldrik spat furiously. “Don’t you understand, I can’t be a hero! And I don’t want to be a hero! Humanity has rejected me and disappointed me so many times that… what do you want me to do, spare these people? Care for these people? These people who have done nothing but shun and hunt and fear and reject me? You want me to forgive them so that you can forgive me?” His voice rose to a fever pitch. “Yes, that’s the ‘good’ thing to do, you go right ahead and forgive me, you incorruptible little angel. I’m evil and I’ll die evil because it’s what this world deserves.”

He turned away and paused for a few moments. When he spoke again his voice was calm and quiet. “You think these people deserve heroes like you, but when it comes down to it they aren’t any less monstrous than I am.”

“Maybe they don’t deserve it,” Johanna replied softly, looking back at the water, “but… virtue is its own reward.”

“That’s what I told myself as I writhed in pain from the hunger pangs. Maybe you should stop and really ask yourself: do you believe it? Or is it just an excuse to continue being ‘good’?”

After a few moments of silence, Johanna glanced over her shoulder to see that Eldrik had disappeared into the forest.