Alexi: Love and War Through Time

By Charles Walker

Alexi meets Carl in the Czech Republic to investigate rumors of vampire activity in the Carpathian Mountains. Carl hires Lexi as an interpreter although Lexi is a homophobe. They fall in love with the valley, the people, and each other. They get rid of the vampires but discover the vampires were in cahoots with the mafia, allowing them to ply th

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stratton Press
• Release date: Nov 30, 2021
• ISBN: 9781648956744

Book preview

Chapter 1

Not even six weeks ago, Lexi and I found these wonderful, loving people that the rest of the Czech Republic considered superstitious, backward peasants still living in the fourteenth century. We saw for ourselves the terror they lived with for five hundred years. The motion-activated cameras we placed in the cavern behind the falls captured an image I would rather forget. As horrified and terrorized as the demons affected us, the need to help these people became our top priority.

Jumping into the river to save a little girl made us heroes to them. We were part of them now, both of us felt like we belonged. Just one day in Olomouc then coming home to the valley seemed as natural as if we have lived here for years.

Vlad the Impaler was still on the loose. We killed his two demons but hadn’t seen hide nor hair of the master. His malevolence was felt wherever he hunted for victims or sought to hide during the day; we hoped this would prove to be his weakness and ultimately his undoing.

The cavern at the falls was cleared of the filth left by the two demons, and the feeling of malignant evil throughout the cavern was gone—Vlad was not here. The village too felt like it had for the May Day celebrations, not even a hint of evil lurking in the shadows.

Pondering the reason why he wouldn’t take advantage of many people together, we decided that he couldn’t control so many people at the same time and knew he was vulnerable to capture—another weakness.

In the barroom, Tomas was preparing dinner. Without the large crowds he had for the past couple of weeks, his work was completed quickly. He asked whether there were any new developments. Lexi told him of the events in Olomouc and meeting with the prime minister. Learning the second demon was dead, relief spread across his face. He was eager to tell us some news. We listened to Tomas with Lexi translating.

Six other villages are in the valley. River Town is in the middle. My wife’s brother lives in the second village west of here. I asked whether the feeling of evil had been present lately. He told me that when the helicopters came to River Town, the evil came to their village. The people think the helicopters chased it out of River Town and into their village.

Lexi looked at me with a smile on his beautiful face. You were right, lover, the evil surrounds him like a cloak, a very large cloak when a whole village can feel it. Has anyone been attacked, Tomas?

Only one incident has been reported since. A sheep was mutilated, but not like before, it only had its throat ripped open, no slime was on it. I asked him whether it could have been another animal. He said it was killed the same way as the others.

Are there places where Vlad could hide during the day in the west? Lexi asked him.

My brother-in-law reminded me the forest on the side of the mountain is riddled with caves, but only a few are big enough for someone to live in. He drew me a map to show where a few of them are. I asked him whether any of his villagers were bullies like the five you arrested, he shut up instantly. He’s afraid they would know he had pointed a finger at them. I let it go. I knew he wouldn’t tell me. Fear is a great silencer. I haven’t heard from the other two I asked to investigate the villages to the east. I’ll hear from them today most likely.

Lexi was beside himself. Carl, you were right on. Vlad’s using these villages as his personal string of delicatessens. Let’s get the chief and the guards and go check out these caves.

Don’t be so quick to jump, I cautioned, Vlad has goons here, he’s not going to be unprotected.

Dad spoke up, Lexi, I just warned you. I’m going to put a leash on you. Rein in your enthusiasm and plan the next move.

We were spared more lectures from Dad or Tomas with the arrival of the geologist’s car. He was grinning as if he knew a secret; we shook hands as he introduced us to his companion, a chemist, and shook his hand too. Tomas served us beer and honey cakes while we heard the geologist out.

The caverns behind the falls are as strong and stable as the mountain itself. The lower chambers show no stress of weight from above. The lower-level is on bedrock. We don’t have a problem putting in machinery weighing a hundred tons. The weight would be distributed over thousands of square feet of floor space, less weight than the floor in your house bears. Getting the machinery in is another matter, the top of the stairs in the laurel thicket will have to be removed. It would be anyway, I imagine. The gallery ramp can handle the size and weight of the machinery, but the stairs are going to present a problem. I came here today rather than sending the report to you, so I could see whether my idea for lowering the machines from the top will work. Also, I want our chemist to check out a peculiarity in the lower-level.

I interrupted him with a question, When the blowers reduced the stench, I noticed a sweet smell on the first level, could it be gas?

I was coming to that, he said. The samples I took back showed various levels of gas and components in several locations. That’s why he came with me to check out what the anomaly is. The gas we identified is ethylene, common in caves usually in small amounts. Prolonged exposure causes mild hallucinations and euphoria, not a deadly gas.

The gas we couldn’t identify was sulfur oxide combined with natural gas. There’s no category for that combination. Sulfur oxide is common in caves also, but natural gas is not. Depleted oil fields are the largest reservoirs of it. We want to discover why the natural gas we sampled was only in one location. There may be a vent we can locate. Is it safe to go up there?

Yes, the chief and his men are up there now doing detective work. We’ll go with you.

The cavern smelled good; the blowers had been working nonstop for days blowing in warm, sweet June air and expelling the foul. The upper cavern was lit with large sodium vapor lights strung on sturdy wire rope forty feet up. What a space this was, the geologist commented too; he hadn’t seen it this brightly lit.

I told him about the caves we found under the castle and the fantastic formations. We agreed to show him before he left. This cavern, he informed us, was created by erosion over millennia; the present location of the cataract is only a few hundred thousand years old. I love science nerds. You pick up so much arcane and utterly useless information from them.

The chemist went to work in the locations pointed out by the geologist and the geologist headed up the gallery ramp to check out his theory for lowering the machinery from the entry in the laurels.

Lexi and I wandered to the area directly behind the waterfall. Looking down, there was a drop of ten feet or more, then an area of rock extending fifteen feet before the roiling water obscured the view.

Is this enough space for the turbines? I asked him. How do they get the water to turn the turbines, just stick them into the falling water?

Lexi laughed. The pressure of that water would make short work of the turbine. They use a sluiceway to control the amount of water fed to the turbine fins, so they rotate at a constant speed summer and winter. They, in turn, feed the generators in the main cavern. The professor thinks this cataract can provide enough electricity for the entire population of the Czech Carpathian Mountains with enough left to supply Hodonin and half of Olomouc. We’re going to make these people independent again so they can have a life.

An expletive from the chemist brought us running to see what had happened; he had tried to put the sensor of his chromatograph into a small crack in the rock next to the staircase going up to the gallery. It would only go in a few millimeters, so he tried to enlarge the hole. When he pushed the sensor down again, pressure pushed it out of the hole and out of his hand. His readings indicated pure natural gas.

The chemist was very agitated. He was searching for something to plug the hole. The chief came up behind us and jabbed his ballpoint pen into the opening. The chemist slumped in relief,

That could have killed us all, he said. What are the chances of a natural gas vent occurring underground here in a cave?

Is that an unusual occurrence? I asked. What does it mean?

It means there’s a reservoir of natural gas below us, under extremely high pressure. Usually when a pocket of gas is located, the higher the pressure, the larger the reservoir. I’m sure it’s a big one. This is like striking gold.

We must have looked like six stooges our jaws hanging open; Vlad had no idea what was beneath him.

Dad broke the silence. Boys, you’ve found the proverbial ‘goose that lays golden eggs.’ Your hydroelectric station is paid for, new roads paid for, a new bridge, modern services, cable TV, and Internet because of this discovery. Where’s the geologist? Someone find him.

The geologist appeared in the doorway, What’s all the excitement? Did someone find a hidden treasure?

We laughed, and he looked embarrassed. I felt sorry for him, so I told him what the chemist had discovered. He may be a nerd, but he knew his stuff. He pulled the pen from the hole, put his finger over it for a moment, and then put it in his mouth.

Oh my god. He plugged the hole again. Natural gas or methane should not be here. It’s not the right geological location.

I couldn’t make sense of what he was saying. What the hell are you talking about? It’s here. Why, is that a problem?

It’s not a problem. It’s unheard of…Impossible…Natural gas is a by-product of petroleum, biological degradation of plant, and animal remains over millions of years. This mountain range is a part of the earth’s crust, thrust up by tectonic plates passing over, and under each other. A lush tropical jungle never existed in this location. It’s bedrock down to the tectonic plates.

What does it mean then? I asked. The pressure out of this tiny fissure doesn’t seem all that great.

He removed the pen again. Look at the size of the hole below the one made for the sensor. It’s a pinhole. Put your finger on it.

It’s strong. Is that significant? I asked.

The hole is only a tiny fraction of an inch in diameter if we opened it to, let’s say a half-inch diameter, we would all be dead in minutes. Tremendous pressure is pushing up, it must be contained, or there will never be a power station here.

Contained or controlled? I asked. Isn’t there a way the pressure can be bled off or regulated somehow?

To be bled off, you have to use it. The gas is deadly. You can’t release it into the atmosphere. It could be ignited. We’d be in a pile of trouble then.

Hundreds of these natural gas reservoirs are around. Are they all so volatile? We use gas constantly. How do they control it? I was becoming very frustrated.

These ‘wells’ you refer to are underground conduits to the surface. Drilled from there, it’s part of the procedure to have controls on the drilling equipment, so this situation doesn’t exist. If we enlarge this fissure, it will blow at a couple of thousand pounds per square inch if it ignites. Goodbye, falls.

You’re the geologist, what can be done to make it safe? I asked.

This fissure is only one of hundreds, down, who knows how far. If the gas had a straight line to the top, we wouldn’t be here. For a million years or so, the gas has been migrating up and didn’t find an outlet until this pinhole opened. That may have happened a year ago or ten thousand years ago. The point is, the gas wasn’t escaping forever. Otherwise, the pressure wouldn’t be so great. I don’t see an immediate problem, but it’s like having a time bomb in your living room. A gas exploration company can give us a better idea. I’d say they would drill from near the road, and if necessary, go at an angle to reach the reservoir. The excess pressure has to be bled off. It could be used to heat this cavern.

Do you know any companies that specialize in natural gas? I asked.

Sure, I do. It’s an affiliated industry. Geologists are key to finding gas and oil fields. I’ll call one now if you want. Same arrangement for payment as I have?

Yes. Do you have a cell phone?

I do, but it won’t get a signal in here. I’ll be back in a few minutes. You want this ASAP I presume?

The geologist came back with an appointment for Thursday morning. We had to call with instructions where to set their helicopter down. They would do a preliminary geological field scan as they flew over the area. With his assurances that everything else was working out fine, we left to visit the caves under the castle.

As a geologist, he had seen many caves around the EU, but none as extensive and colorful as these.

You have a winner on your hands, he remarked. These caves will be a front-page tourist attraction for this area. There’s a problem with lodgings, though, hotels and restaurants are a scarce commodity up here.

Everybody knows that. The government will help stimulate that area of the economy. By the time the caverns open to the public, there will be accommodations for tourists. First, we have to get the hydroelectric plant running.

He left us copies of his reports and recommendations for sealing the cavern against ethylene gas seepage then headed back to Prague. The natural gas vent, optimistically, would be taken care of on Thursday.

Chapter 2

Dad thought we should let the villagers in on what was happening as a ploy to find Vlad. He reasoned that if the villagers knew what we were doing, and what we planned on doing, it would get back to Vlad quickly. We might not be able to direct him where we wanted him to go, but we could put him on the defensive if we went on the offensive.

Tomas sent men to the other villages with a message to come to River Town for a meeting or at least send someone to represent the village. It seems they already knew something was up. I asked whether anyone in the village had a projection device so we could show them the caverns. Tomas laughed at the absurdity of the idea; no one had a camera. An old overhead projector was in the constable’s office; he asked whether that would help. I didn’t think it would, but Lexi didn’t give up.

Lexi retrieved the projector and put his cell phone where a picture would go. He brought up one of the pictures taken with his phone then turned on the projector. It worked reasonably well. The pictures weren’t as clear as on the phone, but we could pass the phone around too.

Hundreds of people showed up. Fortunately, the weather was balmy, the barroom doors and windows were open, and a crowd ten-deep was outside each door and window. Tomas introduced us to the crowd; they muttered that they already knew who we were.

He had their attention. I have the best news we have ever heard in our lifetimes. The crowd grew silent. The two demons from behind the falls are dead, staked and destroyed.

They went berserk, yelling, cheering, whistling, and dancing, a mini riot of people wanting to shake our hands. The noise wouldn’t stop, so Tomas whacked the counter with a truncheon he kept behind the bar to take care of troublesome customers. The sharp report sounded like a gunshot; they quieted down.

Lexi Duburk has something to say to us. Lexi sat on the bar and began to woo the villagers as only Lexi can.

I know you don’t have any faith in the government, but the government made it possible to take out the monsters.

Boos and catcalls for that statement. Lexi knew what he was doing, so he continued, Without the Federal Police SWAT teams, we could not have cleared out the cavern. They knew how to do the job and stayed until it got done. You know that you saw them here for a week.

No heckling or catcalls, he was winning them over already.

You know who Carl is. Cheering again erupted, and Tomas did his truncheon thing; when it quieted down, he went on, Carl and I, don’t ask me how, but we got in to see the prime minister of the Czech Republic.

He’s doing this deliberately, I thought, part of his repertoire.

When the cheering died down again, he said, I told the PM that you are my fellow citizens of this Republic, and you deserve the same rights and respect the rest of the country has had for generations.

He paused. They waited for the punch line. He said you are his fellow citizens too and promised to help us however he could. He permitted us to build the hydroelectric plant. It’s not just talk, they’re starting already to fix the roads, and we’re getting a new kind of police force up here, no longer a village constable.

This time it took several minutes for the noise to die down.

How many of you are for economic progress in the mountain villages? By the shouting and raised hands, I’d say almost everyone.

It was over; he could have sold them miniature replicas of the mountains to put in their backyards.

I want whoever is brave enough to come to the cavern and see with your own eyes what is there. The evil is not there, it is clean, and it smells sweet, warm, and dry. I don’t want you to fear it. It’s going to make you prosperous people. The electric station is going to provide more electricity than seven mountain villages can use, so the power you folks don’t use will be transmitted to Olomouc and Hodonin and sold to the grid. The money made from selling excess electricity goes back to the community for schools, town halls, streetlights, and whatever civic improvements you decide on.

This time they wouldn’t stop; the excitement was a palpable thing. Lexi sat there with a benign look on his gorgeous face. All it took was patience.

They came back to Earth, and he said, Now I want to put another fear to rest. The evil one is hiding, his two demons are dead, the constable and five other servants are in prison. More are under his spell. We know that he has several hiding places, but one by one, they will be eliminated until no place is left for him to hide. His servants too will be left without his protection and will end up in prison. If they serve evil, they are evil too. They will pay. We must have courage. Things are changing, you can see they are. We mustn’t let fear eat at us until we can’t move. Like the Hunters, we must persevere to rid us of this menace.

Disquieted, the crowd became restless, murmuring among their neighbors, then he set the trap.

I have some pictures I want to show you. Please remain calm until I finish, and I’ll answer any questions. First, I think it’s time you knew we located the entrance to the caves under the castle. A collective intake of breath, then gasping. It’s a cellar entrance not filled in by the collapsing walls. He turned on the projector and showed them the stairs up from the caves, the anteroom, then Vlad’s suite. The gasps became louder; some sounded as though they were choking. He finished by showing the remaining rooms covered in dust then went back to Vlad’s suite.

If you will note, there’s a big difference between this room and the other four. Someone is cleaning it. Who? The evil one can’t use this hiding place again. We have it booby-trapped, he will die if he comes back here. Now something you are going to like, I hope.

He started with the stalactite waterfall, blue with streaks of red and green; they were mesmerized. Thirty pictures later, he paused.

Does anyone have any idea what we could do with this place? I need suggestions.

Checkmate. They were clamoring for us to open it so people could see this beauty. No argument, no persuasion, simply auto-suggestion, they didn’t even worry about the coffins.

Fifty people hiked across the footbridge to the back door of the caverns. The mood was one of apprehension. None of them had ever been in the cavern, and it was obvious they weren’t thrilled going in there now.

By the time we reached the first level, they’d relaxed; they had thought it was going to be dark and scary; when neither proved true, they let it go. Nothing to indicate you were in a cave was evident.

The blowers were turned down, but there was still a current of warm outside air circulating throughout the cavern. The chambers on the lower level were also clean, brightly lit, and sweet smelling.

I showed them the door leading to the bridge, they were amazed. We toured the tunnels; they looked into every chamber, acting like children on a treasure hunt. A couple more trips like this and they won’t fear this place ever again.

Lexi and I had decided that the workers who operated the plant would be locals, as many as possible anyway. To get them to work here, we had to show them they had nothing to fear.

Back at the inn, we cornered Tomas to see what information he had managed to wring from the people of the other villages; he had all manner of rumors and two that sounded as though they were reliable facts. Several people from the villages to the West confirmed the existence of the two caves and their location.

The terrain in the east villages was steep and rugged, but they found several spots where one or more could hide. In that area, no one had felt the evil since before the May Day celebrations.

Tomas had enlisted three fearless men to check out the caves, mark their locations, and check for traffic around them; they agreed to do it while birding and carrying shotguns. Lexi asked him whether someone from the west villages would do the same thing.

Tuesday afternoon, we were exhausted from the back and forth to Olomouc, the creature, the gas concern, and the community meetings. We decided to go home until Thursday morning when our appointment with the gas exploration company would be either a go for the electric plant or utter defeat. We gathered the chief and his men and headed home. We called Mom on the way; she was not a happy camper,

I’m going with you next time you go up there. I’ve been alone here for five days, and don’t say ‘we phoned,’ it’s different. Talk it over on your way home. I’m going with you, and that’s that.

Do you want to try talking her out of it? Lexi asked Dad. I don’t want to touch it. I say make room in the car.

That’s what I intend to do. She will be difficult enough to talk with no matter what I say, but once she sees those pictures, there’ll be no stopping her. So we might as well go in apologetic and contrite for being away so long.

As predicted, Mom was angry. From the moment we drove up, she came out ready for a fight; Dad grabbed her and kissed her so she couldn’t go on then apologized profusely for being away for so long.

When you hear the story that Lexi and Carl have to tell you, you’ll understand.

This better be good. Dinner depends on it.

I let Lexi handle the story; he makes