The avenging angel: Dhampyr!

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Prologue

Song of the Fanaani, detail
Copyright © Stephanie Pui-Mun Law 2000.
Used with permission.

In the little town of Vicsri, a woman gave birth to a baby girl. Nobody knew who was the father, but the woman was known for her dissipate life, so nobody really cared about that. The girl, whose name was Venetia, was a gentle girl, whose huge eyes were staring at everybody. Tongues set wagging for quite a moment, then the calm came back. But then, Venetia draw all the attentions to herself again: she was no more than two, or perhaps three, when she met a friend of her mother, a very fine lady of the best reputation. The first time she saw her, Venetia cried words in a strange language nobody understood, and each time she met this fine lady, the same scene happened. After a month of this curious behaviour, Venetia began to articulate a bit more her words; it seemed she was fearing something terrible and that this woman was the cause of it.
During this month, Venetia had had a baby sister, the most beautiful little girl anyone ever saw. Venetia called her Lucy; she loved her very much and so great was this love that people said it was not good, that it would unbalance her. So it seemed, for, as the fine lady came to see Lucy - everybody wanted to see her, even if her father wasn't known, as for Venetia - the elder sister threw herself into her arms, showing the greatest signs of affection for this woman she had feared so much, but, most certainly, drawing her away from her baby sister.
Despite Venetia's precautions, the evil struck nonetheless and Venetia became devastated when she saw her beloved little sister paling and becoming the shadow of herself. Then, one day, before a whole gathering of respectful ladies, Venetia, looking like a Fury coming straight from Hell, pointed the fine lady out and shouted:
"You, the strigoaïca,
You, the moroaïca,
You, the lioness,
You, the deochetoare,
Go
Where no maiden braids her hair,
Where no axe makes noise when falling,
Where no priest reads the Book,
In the does' hoofs,
In the depths of the seas.
Go over yonder,
Rest over yonder,
Let Lucy in peace,
Pure,
Shining,
Like the purest silver,
Like fallen from Heaven
Like God lets her on Earth."
She said it three times and by the third time, the fine lady was shrieking with pain. As Venetia said the last words, the lady fled running and nobody saw her again. Lucy recovered her health almost instantly and everybody was staring strangely at Venetia, for all understood the fine lady was a strigoaïca and that she had tried to kill baby Lucy.
The mother of the two little girls didn't seem very proud of her elder daughter able to drive away a strigoaïca at three, but some said that she didn't know her friend was a strigoaïca. They even pitied her for having lost a close friend; those ones only earned Venetia's contempt and it was strange how the reprobation of such a little girl could put them ill at ease. As the years passed, Venetia's gaze gained in depth and everybody coming near Lucy could feel this heavy, almost suspicious gaze on him. The mother loved Lucy, but couldn't stand Venetia, who brought up herself on her own. Nonetheless, she managed to be well-educated, serious - too stern, thought some people - but her first aim was to protect her sister.
Six years after having driven away the strigoaïca, Venetia, deeply hurt by her mother's behaviour and quite disgusted, fled with Lucy. She left her country and went in another town, Gethsen. For her, the nightmare didn't fade away, but became worse: since she had driven away her mother's friend, she had dedicated her life to be a strigoï huntress - so she could protect her sister - for she was a dhampyr. She discovered quite soon Lucy was one too. It could mean only two things: either her own mother was a strigoaïca or her father - and Lucy's - was a strigoï. She knew her mother wasn't a strigoaïca, but she was afraid of her father, this mysterious man - strigoï - no one ever saw. And she wanted - she wanted it badly - her little sister to be safe from strigoïs. Yet the town she had chosen, Gethsen, was haunted by strigoïs, but everybody seemed to find it normal.
The way to go from Vicsri to Gethsen took time for Venetia and Lucy. It was moving to see the elder sister carrying the other one on her back all the time, but the emotion generally disappeared each time Venetia, with her clear ringing voice, said she was a strigoï huntress. She hunted with Lucy asleep on her back, never complaining of the weight she was carrying. Lots of strigoïs were killed on the way, for sometimes, Venetia accepted to remain several months in the same place to empty it of all its strigoïs. Despite her youth, people trusted Venetia and didn't hesitate to send her on the tracks of a frightening strigoï.
But the things changed in the nearness of Gethsen: people seemed to find normal for strigoïs to haunt the night. In fact, Venetia and Lucy were almost killed when people discovered they could identify strigoïs at first sight - and that Venetia wanted to give them eternal rest. Not willing to see her beloved Lucy becoming a muruona, Venetia fought all the time, during the day against humans, during the night against strigoïs, and won her place. Of course, she got into trouble with some people, for some families accepted to nourish with blood those of them who were contaminated, as they said decently, and they weren't pleased at all to discover that Venetia had killed a second time their precious blood-drinking kid. Venetia only laughed when someone mentioned before her the illness that struck so many people in Gethsen. She knew the strigoïs weren't ill and she refused to close hypocritically the eyes on the fact.
Venetia's occupations at night made the strigoï society nervous and the "illness" spread around too quickly for the common taste, so, even if she was somehow responsible for this, Venetia became useful and she was viewed favourably. Venetia smiled when she realised that Lucy and she were accepted at least. While everybody was beginning to acknowledge this acceptance, Venetia and Lucy befriended a girl named Beth-Lynn, who had decided to give an eternal rest to the strigoïs who were disturbing a bit too much the quiet life of Gethsen.