A Short Nap

VAULIC HAD NOT slept for a time, and although the villagers brought their livestock as offerings, it was not enough in frequency or amount. He decided that the child would be safest in the mausoleum–with his coffin–while he rested, so Vaulic took the boy by the hand and led him there.

He passed the baker woman, who was carrying Francis’s washed clothing. She watched him go, then seemed to have finally gathered the courage to speak to him.

“Where are you going?” She asked.

“I must slumber. I grow weary.”

“Slumber? Who will watch the boy?” The baker woman scolded Vaulic. “The girls and I are leaving for the village tonight!”

Vaulic looked down at the child, who had his fist in his mouth and a deep red scratch upon his nose. He didn’t seem bothered by the injury, so neither was Vaulic.

“I grow weary, and the boy doth not rest. How am I to gather strength if I mustn't slumber?” Vaulic asked the baker woman.

“That’s just part of being a parent, my lord.”

“Hear me clear, woman. If I doth not slumber, I must feed. Tell me, should thou and thy husband and thy children die by my fangs because I must “parent”?”

Vaulic’s words made the woman’s face pale. She swallowed, probably imagining herself without a head.

“Why don’t I take care of him for a minute, while you take a nap?”

“Take him? Where'st thou planning to take him?” Vaulic said, immediately distrustful of the woman’s intent. It seems the village still planned on possessing his son for themselves.

“Only for a moment! He can be thoroughly entertained at the village, my lord.” The baker woman said. “Stella had many friends there, and they’d love to meet the boy.”

Vaulic thought carefully about the woman’s advice. He did require his rest and couldn’t leave Francis alone in the castle without watchful eyes. If the villagers refused to return Francis, he would simply devour them all.

“Yes…alright.” Vaulic agreed.

Vaulic watched the baker woman take away the child until her wagon disappeared into the forest. Francis cried heavily, and could still be heard even in the distance.

“I shall wake, child, in time.” Vaulic whispered. He was still unsure if the toddler inherited his hearing, but in that moment assumptions must suffice.

Vaulic walked somberly to his coffinstone; a large granite encasement that served as his resting place. He climbed inside and lay, closing his eyes for only a moment in order to keep the humans Stella adored so deeply safe from his hunger.

***

Vaulic woke promptly, as he had promised. He felt no relief, but supposed that whatever small slumber he could take would have to suffice. The vampire rose from his coffin and searched the castle for his son.

“Where have you been?!” The baker woman scolded. She was dressing Francis in his chambers. The boy erupted into screams, wiggling his chubby hands at the vampire lord and kicking his legs, desperate to be held by him once again.

“Slumbering. As I hast informed.” Vaulic responded. He nodded in his son’s direction to acknowledge him.

“I said a short nap! Six months is not a short nap!” The woman cried. Her pitch was high and ached Vaulic’s head.

Vaulic frowned at the woman. Her nature seemed to be difficult to please.

“What are the moons dost thou say?”

“A nap is two hours, my lord, at most!”

Vaulic was stunned by the woman. No wonder she was so short-tempered; sleep deprivation must have caused her deluded state.

“Who sleep and wake satiated with but two hours?” The vampire lord huffed. Vaulic had no intention of leaving Francis in the hands of her any longer, as she was proven to be completely mad.

“Give me the child. Thou may depart, woman.”

The baker woman let Francis run into his father’s embrace. Vaulic carried the boy softly, as his blonde curls tickled his chin. The child cried into his hair and gripped him tightly.

“If you’re going to sleep, tell the village, and we’ll watch over him. It is not safe for a child to be left alone in a place like this for so long.”

Vaulic gingerly touches his son’s head, and Francis curls deeper into his embrace. Vaulic does not dream when he slumbers. Some days he wished he did, to see Stella again. But perhaps he can still catch a glimpse of her when he is awake and with Francis.