Miss Blaine's Prefect and the Vampire Menace by Olga Wojtas

Author:Olga Wojtas
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Saraband
Published: 2020-09-01T16:00:00+00:00

Seven

“A miracle!”

The cry came from my landlady, who was pushing her way through the crowd.

A collective male sigh: “Ah, Madeleine!”

She threw herself on top of me, and I felt something other than the pitchfork scratching my neck.

“Look!” She scrambled to her feet. “I only just saw it in the torchlight. We nearly committed a terrible sin, murdering this saintly woman.”

She had certainly changed her tune.

The villagers peered down at me, muttering.

“What?” asked one.

“She’s wearing a crucifix,” said another.

Cart Woman gasped. “She can’t be a vampire, then. They can’t abide crucifixes. She’d be hissing and all sorts.”

I tried to look like someone who never hissed, let alone all sorts.

“We weren’t to know. She had a wolf with her,” said one sullenly.

“Of course, she did!” said Madeleine. “That proves how holy she is. Don’t you remember the story of Saint François and the wolf of Goubillot?”

She was telling it all wrong. She had misappropriated the story of Saint Francis and the wolf of Gubbio.

“That’s not–” I began.

She surreptitiously kicked me in the ribs, which was pretty sore as she was wearing her wooden sabots. Perhaps I should have been more sympathetic when the mayor claimed his ribs were broken.

Madeleine was now in full flight. “The wolf terrorised our neighbouring village of Goubillot, devouring the villagers if they strayed outside, and people faced starvation in their homes. It was then that the good Saint François…”

I really had to bite my tongue at that point.

“…Saint François went out to the wolf and commanded it to stop attacking people.”

“Wolves are just big dogs,” I said. “You have to let them know who’s boss.”

She gave me another surreptitious kick with her sabot and went on, “It placed its forepaw in his hand in agreement and followed him into Goubillot where the villagers agreed to feed it in return for its promise of peace. This saintly woman–”

“That’s me,” I said.

Madeleine smiled, but it looked a little sickly. “This saintly woman had made such a pact with the wolf–”

“Brother Wolf,” I said. “That’s what I call him.”

“–with the wolf and was bringing him here to accept our forgiveness and goodwill.”

“Is this the wolf that’s been tearing people to death?” demanded a villager.

“Forgiveness and goodwill,” I said. “Whatever it’s done in the past should be forgotten. I’ve had a word, and you’re all safe now.”

Madeleine lifted the pitchfork off my neck, and nobody stopped her. Then other villagers lifted the pitchforks off my arms and legs. I sat up, rubbing the sore bit on my neck, and my fingers touched the chain with the crucifix. Glancing at Madeleine, I saw that she was no longer wearing hers.

People were helping me to my feet, with words of apology. I tried to look saintly.

“Bless you,” I murmured. “Bless you.”

“She’s very religious,” whispered an elderly man. “She doesn’t approve of can-can dancers. Tore strips off us when she heard us talking about them.”

“Did she indeed?” snorted his equally elderly wife. “Good for her. I’m not having a husband of mine talking about can-can dancers.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.