The Family of Vampire Hunters

In 2004, in the village of Marotinu de Sus, in the outskirts of Eastern Europe, a family of vampire hunters were arrested by the police of Craiova for ‘disturbing the peace of the dead.’

They were imprisoned and sentenced to pay liability damages to the household of a 76 year old Romanian peasant named Petre Toma; a punishment that lacked the necessary contrition that the law required, primarily because the hunters, who were prosecuted, were said family. 

Their old grandfather had died the previous year, before Christmas, and had since been spotted, walking about the once peaceful town.

His brother in law became the leader of a posse that dug up the body, made an incision in Petre’s chest, and tore out the heart. They later burned the corpse and mixed in the leftover ashes with holy water. They, as was customary, drank this concoction with the all decease’s clan members; a folk remedy and practice, fabricated by ancient witches, that would allow the soul of the afflicted undead to finally ascend to Heaven.

From that day on, there has been a law in effect to contradict, and battle, such barbaric procedures. Nonetheless, in the nearby village of Amarastii de Sus, its people have fallen into the ritual of driving fire-hardened stake through the heart of the dead, in the middle of the funereal rites, as a preventive measure.

Excerpt: The Wraith of The Obelisk- L.J. Gomez.