SOULBOUND ‡ waif
By Wes
Leigh
This is a work of fiction (or
is it?) intended solely for the entertainment of my readers. It includes
references to historical people and places, in particular, the London borough
of Whitechapel and its streets. I also wish to make a special acknowledgement
of Bram Stoker's ground-breaking novel Dracula, which spawned a new genre of
literature, the Gothic horror tale, and led to countless movies and novels that
inspired and horrified generations of fans. This story includes several (not so
subtle) references to Mr. Stoker and his novel, by which I intend no
disrespect, but rather acknowledge his inspiration of my foray into the realm
of vampires.
This story is the property of
the author and is protected by copyright laws. The author retains all rights.
No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent.
If you enjoy this story,
please support the Nifty archives today with a thoughtful donation by visiting https://donate.nifty.org/. Readers who would like to chat are encouraged to
contact me at weston.leigh@protonmail.com.
Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they
make!
-- From Dracula by Bram Stoker
Jack saw the woman's neck bared before him. He heard her
blood pulsing through her neck. Rushing. Throbbing. A wall of crimson water
lifted before him, crashing over him, and sweeping him away, leaving him on a
distant shore, gasping for breath. Somewhere too far for him to reach, he heard
the soft notes of Zavy's piccolo, beckoning him to
return, pleading with him to find his way home. But the song no longer had
power to penetrate his soul. It was dead to him. Or he was dead to it. What
difference did it make?
Jack sat up, his body drenched in sweat, and looked around
the dark room in a panic. Zavy was sleeping quietly next to him on their
pallet. Just on the other side of Zavy, Reggie was snoring softly.
Jack searched the room, then frowned when he realized he
didn't know what he was looking for. He fell back down next to Zavy and took a
deep breath. What was he going to do? The nightmares were getting worse.
͠ ͠ ͠
"Now where's he got off to?" Reggie asked.
Zavy shook his head in frustration. "I don't know. And I'm
worried, Reg."
"Does it seem he's acting strange to you?"
Zavy nodded. "He's not eating. And his sleep is restless. And
he keeps disappearing like this."
"What are we going to do, Zavy. Jack's our brother."
"I don't know, Reg. But it's getting late and we'd best be
headed back. Mum's expecting us for supper."
͠ ͠ ͠
At 5 p.m. on Friday, the seventh day of September, John Davis
opened the back door of his bungalow at number 29 Hanbury Street and hobbled
out into the back garden with his little dog Lucy. The sun was almost down, and
it was expected to be a bit chilly, so he was hoping Lucy would get about her
business so they could both return to the warm fire inside. His old bones
didn't take as well to a chill as they had years ago.
For once, Lucy seemed to agree, trotting out into the garden
and heading for the back gate, where she began sniffing around. John watched as
the dog ran back and forth, still sniffing. "Come on then, Lucy, my girl. Get
done with it."
But Lucy snuffled her way to the back gate and began digging
at the bottom, trying to get out.
John shuffled forward and bent over to pick up the dog. "What
are you on about, girl? We're not heading out for a walk tonight."
At the bottom of his gate, the soil was dark and wet. John
bent down and looked closer. Lucy struggled in his arms to get down, yipping
her frustration.
John unlatched the gate and swung it open. Lying on the steps
leading down into the alley was his neighbor, Annie Chapman, her body
horrifically mutilated. Her eyes stared at John, pleading. Her mouth gaped in a
rictus of death, silently screaming.
John stumbled backwards, dropping Lucy to the ground as he
vomited on the grass.
Lucy trotted over and sniffed the body of the woman, then
backed away, snarling and growling, the hair on Lucy's back standing on end.
͠ ͠ ͠
"Where were you yesterday, Jacko?"
Jack turned to Reggie and shrugged. "Walking about."
"But Mum wanted us home by five. You were late for supper."
"Sorry. I needed some time to think."
"You seem to be doing that quite a bit lately. Disappearing
for hours on end. And all you're doing is thinking?"
Jack turned to Reggie and snapped, "Keep your nose out of my
affairs, Reggie. I don't answer to you or anyone else!"
"Well maybe you should!" Reggie shouted, puffing out his
chest.
"BUGGER OFF, REGGIE!" Jack screamed, his eyes glowing red.
Zavy stepped between the two and put his hands up. "Hold on
now, fellows. That's no call for all that."
Jack took a few deep breaths, then clamped his mouth shut and
stomped off, leaving Zavy and Reggie behind.
Turning to Reggie, Zavy said, "Maybe we'd best not push him
so hard right now. Until we figure out what's bothering him."
Reggie sighed. "I'm just worried about him, Zavy."
"I am too, Reg. I'll try to talk to him later. Find out
what's wrong. Come one, let's catch up to him, but don't say anything for now. Right?"
Reggie nodded, and the two of them broke into a trot,
catching up to Jack and slowing down to walk next to him.
As they rounded the next corner, they found five Wentworth
lads sitting on the steps in front of a house. Five more Worthies were across
the street, standing near a lamppost, watching.
Flanders stood up, grimacing in pain, and hobbled forward to
stand in front of Zavy, Reggie, and Jack. He squinted at Jack, then nodded his head.
"Ya. You's the one who did it."
Jack stared back, unafraid.
"It was you who beat up me and Jake and Ira," Flanders
continued. "And it was the lot of you who broke Archie's neck."
Zavy moved in front of Jack. "We never started anything with
you lads."
Flanders snarled, "Wrong! You started it all when you came on
our street, taking our jobs away."
Reggie took a step forward. "It's not your street, Flanders. We
told you once before, and if more of ya' wanna get hurt, just start some more trouble with us."
Flanders took a step back, motioning for the Hanbury boys to
pass with a mocking sweep of his arm. "You're right lads. It's not my street. You
can come and go all you please."
Zavy studied Flanders carefully. What was he up to?
Then Zavy saw the constables just down the street, watching
them all. He motioned for Reggie and Jack to follow him and walked past Flanders.
Flanders laughed. "We don't need the work, at any rate. We
got all we need, here on Wentworth Street. It's the poor bastards from Hanbury
who need a few pence for shoveling horse shit."
"Leave it be, lads," Zavy whispered, silently hoping his
brothers would ignore Flanders and keep walking.
Flanders turned to his mates and said, "They need it more
than us, lads. They don't eat so well, what with their daddies drinking all day
and their mums whoring all night!" The other Worthies began laughing hard.
Jack clinched his teeth. His eyes flashed red and he turned
around suddenly, but Zavy wrapped his arms around the smaller lad and held him
in a tight hug from behind. "No, Jack," Zavy hissed into Jack's ear. "Let it
go, me love. Let it go." Jack struggled to get away, but Zavy was too strong
for him.
Flanders smirked. "Now they's
buggering each other right here in front of us, just like their whore mums." His
mates roared with laughter.
"Let me go, Zavy," Jack pleaded. "Please let me go."
Reggie moved in front of Jack and took Jack's face into his
hands. Leaning in, Reggie whispered, "Listen to Zavy, Jacko. Don't do this
anymore. We beat them down the last time they messed with us, and we'll do it
again every time. They know they've been beat, and now all they have left are
words. Just words."
Jack began weeping. "I'm not a bastard."
"No, you're not," Reggie agreed. "You're our brother, and we
love you."
Jack's eyes dimmed and he finally seemed to relax in Zavy's arms.
Zavy squeezed Jack one more time and said, "Reggie's right,
Jack. You're our brother. You have a new family now. Ignore those stupid oafs."
Jack wiped his nose with his sleeve. "I'm not a bastard,
Zavy."
Zavy put his arm around Jack's neck and urged the boy to
start walking again.
Reggie turned to glare at Flanders, holding his hand up with
his middle finger extended.
Flanders laughed even harder as the Hanbury lads continued
down the street, walking past the constables who were pacing slowly along,
watching everything.
͠ ͠ ͠
Minerva looked up from the book she was reading. "Please
have a seat, Abram. I trust you have news for me?"
Abram sat down, pulling out his small notebook. "The pieces
of the puzzle are beginning to form a picture."
"I don't need flowery prose, Abram. You're not writing
another novel for me. Just tell me what you know."
With a curt nod of his head, Abram checked his notes and
said, "It appears Abigail was visited by young men living on Wentworth and
Hanbury. As you know, those lads often fight each other, and Abigail may have
stirred the hornet's nest by inviting them all into her garden together."
Minerva frowned.
Abram cleared his throat. "I apologize. Flowery prose is my
hobby, after all."
Minerva lifted an eyebrow. "Then write another story. This
time about werewolves. But on your own time."
Nodding his head in acknowledgement, Abram continued, "None
of the Wentworth youth have showed signs of being bitten, but one or more of
the Hanbury lads may now be infected with Sanguine Vampyrus,
presumably contracted from Abigail before she was killed. Apparently one of
them was spotted over the body of ..." Abram checked his notes. "... of a Polly
Nichols, a woman of questionable morals, who had her throat ripped open on the
night of August thirty-first. Standing over her, witnesses say, was a boy with
blood on his face and eyes glowing red."
Minerva stood up slowly and leaned forward. "His name?"
Abram shook his head. "Unknown."
Minerva walked around the desk and began studying the books
on a shelf. "Go on."
"The constables made mention of how this sounded like
something out of my book."
Minerva slammed her hand against the bookshelf, crunching
the wood. She made a deliberate effort to calm down, then turned to face Abram
again. "You assured me that your novel would throw the humans off our scent."
Abram nodded slowly. "That was the intent, m'lady. By giving vampires the ability to change into a bat
and fly off into the night, it was my hope that it would establish a mythology
that would protect any of us who are inadvertently discovered translocating
from place to place."
"I regret the day I agreed to allow you to write about us. Even
using a nom de plume, it could lead back to us."
"M'lady, I assure you no one will
ever suspect that Bram Stoker is actually Abram Schreiber. I covered my own
tracks quite thoroughly."
"But apparently you didn't cover the Covenant's tracks so
well," Minerva snapped. "What possessed you to write about vampires drinking
blood?"
Abram grimaced. "Not all of us do. Some have dropped the
practice entirely in favor of dining on strong emotions instead."
Minerva sat on the desk next to Abram. "Apparently someone
forgot to mention that to our young, rogue vampire."
Recognizing the sarcasm in her voice as a most dangerous
sign, Abram continued, "I believe I'm getting closer to discovering who he is. I
will inform you as soon as I do."
Minerva nodded. "Please do. And until then, do a better job
of ... how did you phrase it? ... throwing the humans off the scent."
͠ ͠ ͠
The constable struggled to keep his lunch down. It was a
disgusting and disturbing scene: the youth, in the prime of life, with his
throat ripped open and his blood poured out upon the cobblestones in the alley.
He also showed signs of having been beaten badly before being killed. Another
Wentworth lad, pounded within an inch of his life, and then nudged over the
edge into hell.
Abram Schreiber stood just behind the constable, peering
through his dark eyeshades at the body, jotting notes in his small book. "Another
brawl that got a bit out of hand, constable?" he asked, his eyes glowing
softly.
The constable lifted a hand to his head and pressed his
temple. "I'm afraid not, Mr. Schreiber. It's murder now. Just like Polly
Nichols. And Annie Chapman. We'll find the one responsible. I can promise you
that."
Abram's eyes glowed a little brighter, and he stared more
intently at the inspector. "Murder, yes, but nothing like the women. It appears
to be lads fighting, and nothing more."
The constable shook his head, as if to clear it. "Perhaps
so. Just a street brawl. Warned `em to stop, I did."
"Yes, and they didn't listen. This is the result," Abram added,
his eyes losing their red glow.
The constable nodded. "Aye. I'll have to go inform the Flanders."
He waved two junior officers forward. "Take the body to hospital. Have a death
certificate sworn out."
"Is this the work of the Ripper?" one asked.
The constable glared at the other policeman. "I thought I
told ya' to stop calling it that."
The young policeman ducked his head. "It's just what
everyone else is saying. People are saying we've a madman in the streets. A
killer. They're calling him the Ripper. I'm only repeating what I heard."
"Don't," the constable ordered. "Keep your mouth shut and
your eyes open. And do what I told ya'. I have to
head over to Wentworth and ask Jacob Flanders to come identify the body of his
boy. Then I have to inform Inspector Spratling. Maybe now they'll do something
about these lads always a'fighting down here."
͠ ͠ ͠
One week later, on Saturday, the 29th of September, 1888, Elisabeth Gustafsdotter spent all afternoon cleaning two rooms at a
lodging house on Fashion Street. The deputy manager paid her sixpence for her
work, which she gratefully accepted. By 6:30 that evening, Elizabeth was
enjoying a drink in the Queen's Head pub at the junction of Fashion Street and
Commercial Street, laughing with friends and looking forward to a night on the
town.
Just after midnight, Israel Schwartz passed by the pub,
ignoring the laughter inside. He was late getting home and couldn't stop for a
drink. He hurried on his way, turning onto Berner Street. In the gate of Dutfield's Yard, he saw a woman yelling at a boy. At least,
he thought it was boy, but then the woman slapped the boy across the face and
he responded by shoving her backwards. That was when Israel decided it must be
a man, a short man, but a powerful man, for the woman had flown through the air
with that one shove. And a fast man, for he dashed forward to fall upon the
woman where she lay.
Israel pulled his coat tighter about his chest. He didn't
have time for a drink at the pub, nor time to interfere with a man and his
woman having an argument late at night.
Israel heard a voice shout, "Jack! Stop!" Israel rushed on,
not wanting any part of whatever was going on in that yard.
Zavy rushed forward, pulling Jack off the body of Elizabeth Gustafsdotter. Jack's face was bloody, his fangs extended. His
eyes glowed bright red, and he snarled at Zavy, licking the blood from his
lips.
Zavy shook Jack gently. "Jacko, my love. Look at me! What are
you doing?"
Jack yanked himself free and tried to jump onto the woman
again. When Zavy prevented him, Jack turned on Zavy, throwing him across the
yard.
Zavy rolled into a wall, then leapt up and disappeared,
reappearing next to Jack. Zavy's eyes were glowing
bright red too. He grabbed Jack's arms and pinned them to his side.
Jack struggled and snarled, "Let me go!"
"NO, JACK! STOP!"
Jack stared at Zavy, blinking slowly. Then the glow faded
from his eyes and tears began to drip down his cheeks. With quivering lips, he
whispered, "What's wrong with me, Zavy? Why can't I stop?"
Zavy pulled Jack into a hug, both of them now weeping. Rocking
the smaller lad from side to side, Zavy whispered, "I don't know, me love, but
your brother Zavy is here now, and I'll find a way to help you stop. I will. I
promise."
Zavy lifted Jack off the ground, swinging him up into his
arms. Jack clung desperately to Zavy's neck, like the
hurt little boy he was. Zavy kissed him tenderly on the cheek, and they both
disappeared, leaving the woman's body to be discovered by the constables the next
day.
The constables would also hear Israel Schwartz describe the
fight he saw and someone yelling for Jack to stop.
By noon on Sunday, every policeman in the district was on the
lookout for a short but powerful man, a bloodthirsty killer they had nicknamed
Jack the Ripper.
The end of SOULBOUND ‡ WAIF, Chapter Eleven