62 - Return to the mermaid's lair...

 

62 - Return to the mermaid's lair...

It was about ten o'clock at night. Juvêncio and Zacarias were in ambush near the banks of the river. Zacarias wanted to see the apparition mentioned by Juvêncio. It wasn't that he didn't believe what his partner reported…in fact, he had a theory, and he needed to confirm it. He had two certainties that, for any sane person, would be contradictory, as he had no way they could coexist... the first, which with each passing day became stronger, was that the teacher was a vampire. Everything he could glean from information about her led him to that conclusion. But ... the second certainty was that the girl had no idea of her condition. And that's what kept the account closed. After all, a vampire is an undead who is fully aware of his non-existence, which is what drives him to consume the life around him... his fear that he will literally cease to exist. If this being does not know that he is living a non-life, he runs the risk of dying for not being aware of his situation... but the vision that Juvêncio had described might explain this... strange phenomenon.

It was a full moon night, so it was a propitious moment for the entity to manifest itself. Let's make one thing very clear... the full moon is not a condition for this being to appear, but since tradition says so, let's not contradict it, shall we? Well, the two men were already tired, as they kept to a single position in their hiding place, so that nothing could detect them. This was important, since Alice knew that Juvêncio had witnessed a paranormal manifestation in that place. If she really was who they suspected her to be, she'd be sure to redouble her attention... so the less attention-grabbing the better.

It was only after midnight that the water in the river began to bubble, as if it were boiling. Juvêncio nudged his partner, and both witnessed the emergence of that strange being out of the water... Like the other time, the being that emerged from the bottom of the river had a strange appearance. She had a feminine appearance, but her features were animalistic. Forked tongue, like a serpent... moreover, its hair was serpents, which hissed incessantly... the fingers of the hands were connected by a membrane, more or less like the feet of waterfowl... their skin had a half greenish coloration, which could either be the color of its complexion or the reflection of light on the water... anyway, as it moved away from the waters from which it emerged, its appearance was changing. The snakes on his head gave way to hair as yellow as the sun's rays. And a white robe took over his body. Yes, the strange being became a beautiful woman. No, she didn't look like the teacher. Like the other time, the strange apparition walked along the edge of the river, until it stopped at a certain place... the two men followed it with all possible care, as they didn't want the creature to discover them. As before, a ball of fire crossed the sky and landed at the girl's feet. The strange ball began to glow, until it became a perfect twin of the mermaid and then the two merged. And they returned to the form of a fireball, gained space and disappeared into the night...

- And then, Mr. Zacarias, what do you think?

- Well... sure, it's a supernatural manifestation....

- Yes, but... what I'm asking is... do you still think you're the teacher?

- It doesn't look like her... but that doesn't mean anything...

- Why?

- Simple... if the creature is walking among us and doesn't disguise its appearance, it would be easily recognized... and, consequently, destroyed...

- It makes sense...

-Well ... we already know that the creature split in two .... that would explain why the teacher is not aware of her condition ...

- Like this?

- The humanized part of the creature lives among the... shall we say... the herd. She has to treat him well...be liked by the group.

- I know... so what?

-If she is "just" a normal human being, it becomes much easier for her to live together... she even ends up creating emotional bonds with her cattle... it becomes easier to take care of.

- Kind of gloomy, isn't it?

- We do more or less that with the animals we raise... in a way, we vampirize them, don't you think?

-Well... leaving certain comparisons aside... if it's really the teacher, shouldn't she know that she transforms into another being?

- Not exactly... it's very likely that, when her human part is required, she's in a state of dormancy... so she ends up not having a notion of what happens to her spirit...

- Which is divided...

- Yes, that's right... it's divided. And it will stay that way indefinitely...

- I read somewhere that vampires don't age...

- This is one of the few truths about these beings... they will always conserve the appearance they had when they died... but for that, they need constant blood...

- Like a person with blood disease...

- Yes... the doctor talked about it the other day... I think it was... leuk... leuk... leuk something....

- Yeah, I heard it too...

- So... these people, to survive, need constant blood transfusion... and these beings need to consume life, otherwise they simply wither...

- Okay... we already know that this being could be the teacher... or not... and how are we going to confirm that?

- Well, we're definitely going to find a corpse first thing in the morning... unfortunately we can't stop that. Now, to confirm if she is our dear Alice or not... we just have to stay in ambush near her house...

- And if we confirm... what will we do?

- Immediately? Anything...

- Like this?

- Mr. Vicente, think about it... the girl doesn't have the slightest idea who she really is...

- Yes I know...

- The problem is that, if we destroy it, we will not be destroying the vampire....

  - No?! Why?

-Because, as I already said... she doesn't have the slightest idea who she is, actually...

- AND...?

-And, if we destroy her body without her being aware of who she really is, her spirit will simply reincorporate into another... container, if we can say so....

  - This is getting a little complicated...

- If it were simple, we would have already solved the problem, wouldn't we?

- Well, that's...

"Besides, there's one more little thing to complicate everything...

- What would it be?....

- The other entities that are loose in the region. They obey the mermaid's orders... and if we simply kill them, we won't solve the problem of the oriole, the werewolf, the headless mule... the victims will continue to appear...

- And why, Mr. Zacarias?

- Because they are all connected... she is the queen of all these beings... and for that, obedience... and they will defend her until the last breath...

- But if we destroy it before they gather...

- I think you misunderstood... if we do that, the... monsters that surround us will continue to act... and without anyone imposing an order on them...

- You are suggesting...

- I'm not suggesting anything. What I am saying is that they must all be subdued at the same time... and that, my friend, will not be easy...