Chapter 67: Dracula's Birthplace
The rest of our flight to Transylvania had been pretty uneventful after my "psychic drawings" episode. Zak and Aaron had started fooling around and teasing each other again, doing their best to make Cheryl and I laugh, although it was more difficult for me to be carefree for the rest of the flight. I kept worrying about what these attacks were.
Did they mean there was something physically wrong with me? Or was it just some sort of "gift" I had. It certainly didn't feel like a gift, especially since I had experienced periods of time without any recollection at all. What if I had an attack during a time that could endanger my life? Like while I was driving?
I had tried my best not to think about it, but I was pretty sure Zak knew I was worrying, because he kept taking a hold of my hand from time to time. And at one point, when I decided to try to sleep for a few hours, Zak had stopped me from trying to get comfortable in my seat, and had wrapped an arm around me and pulled me close, letting me rest my head on his shoulder.
Once we had landed and arrived at our hotel, we had spent the rest of that day, and the next, just hanging out at the hotel, recovering from the long flight, and preparing for the lockdowns to come.
~*~*~*~*~
Two days later...
Zak, Aaron and I were standing outside a restaurant, named "Casa Vlad – Dracul", in Sighisoara, Transylvania – the birthplace of Vlad Tepes.
Zak was wearing a black, short sleeved, buttoned down shirt and a pair of black jeans. Aaron was wearing a t-shirt with red and black blended together over the entire shirt, and a pair of dark blue jeans.
I had decided to dress simple for the day, since I knew we would be visiting several locations, so I had chosen a pair of black, form fitting, jeans, with a black tank top. My makeup was done up in it's usual way, but I had put my hair up in a braided ponytail for a change.
Because the building we were filming at was said to be the actual location of Vlad Tepes birth - and had a room dedicated to him on the second floor - we had decided to start our investigation here.
Outside, there was a sign shaped and painted in the form of a vampire for advertising. There were also some tables and chairs for outdoor dining, but everyone seemed to have decided to eat inside today.
While we were filming here, Jay, Billy, Ashley and Cheryl were sightseeing nearby.
~*~*~*~*~
After filming outside for a bit, the three of us had moved inside.
Aaron and I were standing a few feet apart, filming Zak as he talked about vampires.
"In my books, a vampire, is a mortal, that...dies his first death, and then his soul lives on, undead, as a vampire. So, you never really know if Dracula – Vlad Tepes – is living on the other side as a 'vampire'," Zak explained, making quotation marks with his fingers, then motioned for us to follow him.
I followed Zak with my camera trained on him as we made our way through the restaurant to a set of narrow stairs. Aaron followed along behind me, filming different décor of the restaurant as we walked.
As we reached the stairs leading to the room Vlad Tepes was supposedly born in, I could see and sense Zak's excitement increasing ten fold. This was the first time any of us were seeing this room, as we hadn't checked it out beforehand. Zak wanted our first reactions of seeing the room to be caught on camera.
I smiled to myself as I filmed him talking as we started up the stairs.
"This is it, this is where it all comes down too," Zak said, looking briefly into the camera as he started climbing the stairs, holding onto the railing with one hand.
I followed close behind him, while Aaron followed behind me.
Zak turned so that his other side was facing me as he reached the small landing at the top of the stairs.
"We are walking to the room, where it's said Dracula – Vlad Tepes – was born," Zak said excitedly. "In Sighisoara, Translyvania," Zak added, before turning to face the doorway leading into the room.
Instead of a normal wooden door, a black, wire like gate was left open against the wall, and as I reached the top of the stairs, I saw a black curtain was hanging in the doorway.
I filmed Zak as he reached up with one hand and moved the curtain aside, enough that he could look into the room.
"Oh wow," I heard Zak exclaim, as he pushed the curtain open further, briefly holding it aside until I used my own hand to hold it open, as I followed Zak into the room.
I was briefly reminded of Zak's Dungeon, as the small room was dark, with very little lighting, but seemed to glow because of curtains of red and black silk hanging over each wall, and draped over the ceiling.
"What..." I heard Aaron ask from behind me, chuckling slightly as he followed me inside.
It was then I noticed the open coffin, the head of it slightly propped upward, with a body laying inside.
Don't be silly! It's just a mannequin...I thought.
There were two, black armchairs placed on either side of the coffin, and at the end of the coffin, was a single candle holder containing three lit candles, resting on a small table. On the left wall, was a large wooden and glass display case, containing various items.
The mannequin in the coffin was of an older man, dressed in an old style, black suit; with a white, button up shirt; a small, black bow tie; and a black top hat.
Jeez...it looks so real...
I moved to one side of the small room to film Zak and Aaron, while Zak investigated the coffin, as Aaron stood in front of the doorway, filming Zak.
I watched as Zak slowly reached up, and very lightly, touched one of the mannequins hands, and then jump back in shock.
"He's real bro!" Zak exclaimed.
"You're not serious?" Aaron questioned, laughing quietly.
"He's warm, touch him," Zak said.
I managed not to laugh at the slight silliness of Zak's reply, but Aaron full on laughed.
"I'm not touching him bro!" Aaron said, still laughing.
Zak, thankfully, knew better than to ask me. There was no way in hell I was touching the man in the coffin, real or not.
Zak stepped back a bit to be closer to Aaron, and out of his way of filming the coffin.
"I wasn't expecting this," Zak said, before turning to face my camera and spoke again.
"Uh..I thought we would, walk up here and it'd be like a museum and you read some things behind plexiglass...and you see Vlad's baby spoon...or something," Zak started.
I had to bite my lower lip to keep from laughing.
Zak looked at the man in the coffin again.
"But we walk up here and there's un...an older gentleman...will not talk – we think he's alive – and he's just laying there..." Zak finished.
I nearly had a heart attack when I suddenly heard a loud creak come from the coffin.
The man in the coffin had reached up and pulled the lid of the coffin closed. I yelped in shock and I admit – fear - and bolted past Aaron and out of the room, jogging down the stairs.
Even though Zak and Aaron had also jumped, they were both now laughing at my fleeing from the room.
"Where ya going Shorty?" Aaron asked, as I saw him appear at the top of the stairs, aiming the camera down at me.
I knew I had a slightly annoyed, mostly embarrassed look on my face.
"Shut up!" I grumbled, pausing my camera for the time being.
My heart was still racing.
Aaron laughed harder as Zak slipped past him and started down the stairs toward me, with a grin on his face.
"You set that up! Didn't you?!" I exclaimed.
Zak and Aaron laughed.
"No, I swear we didn't," Zak said.
"Yeah right," I muttered, causing Aaron to laugh.
"You were with us the whole time Shorty, how could we have set it up?" Aaron asked.
Oh...right. Damn.
Zak was suddenly in front of me, with a small smile on his face.
"Are you alright?" He asked, clearly trying not to laugh.
"I'm fine," I muttered, turning to walk out into the restaurant area, but stopped when I felt Zak gently grab my arm.
"Good, and don't do that again," Zak said, all serious now.
I looked at him shock.
Was he mad at me for my reaction?
"I-I'm sorry...I didn't think he was-" I started, but stopped when I felt the tip of Zak's index finger rest lightly over my lips.
What the...
"Not that...you bit your lip to keep from laughing..." Zak started, lowering his voice. "It was sexy...made me want to kiss you..." Zak added quietly, looking at my lips as he gently pulled his finger down over them, then pulled his hand away.
I gulped as I felt my face flush.
I just looked at him as he looked at me.
"Why don't you two get a room up there with that old guy?" Aaron suddenly teased, coming down the stairs, his camera was still recording.
"Aaron!" I exclaimed, embarrassed he had kept recording.
Zak looked back at Aaron and jokingly elbowed him in the gut, causing Aaron to groan and grab his stomach, but he still laughed.
"Shut up bro," Zak said, laughing a bit himself now, then turned to look back at me.
"Let's go," he said, causing me to momentarily think he was referring to Aaron's suggestion, before he walked past me and out into the restaurant.
God...he's never done anything like that during an investigation...I thought, as I followed Zak toward the exit, Aaron trailing along behind me.
My heart was still racing, but for an entirely different reason now.
~*~*~*~*~
Roughly an hour later...
Zak, Aaron and I we were on the outskirts of Sighisoara, waiting for Billy and Jay to pick us up to travel to our next location – Targoviste - to investigate a castle that Vlad Tepes lived in during his rule. But Zak had been talking to one of our Romania location scouts, Ionut Ionescu, about the Hoia-Baicu Forest, and his interest in the location became more peaked than it originally had been.
I wondered at the time if part of it had to do with my drawings, or if it was just the crazy amount of activity we were hearing from locals about this forest.
I had set up my camera on a tripod a few feet from us, while Aaron was filming Zak and I up close.
Zak called Ionut over.
"What is this forest that you were just telling me about?" Zak asked, once Ionut reached us.
"Oh, the Baicu Forest?" Ionut asked.
"Yeah," Zak replied.
"Yeah, well...un...there are lots of fans going there in order to have-" Ionut started.
"Fans? What do you mean by that? People?" Zak asked.
"People, wanting to have like, spiritual experiences, ghost encounters, UFO experience..." Ionut replied.
"So everything? It's just all supernatural?" Zak asked.
"It seems to be everything there," Ionut replied.
"If I go there, am I going to get fucking vaporized?" Zak asked.
I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing.
Thankfully, Zak was facing Ionut and didn't see me, but I could see Aaron making kissy faces at me from behind his camera. I ignored him to the best of my ability.
Stupid, idiotic men, I thought.
"I don't know, I hope not," Ionut replied.
Zak turned and looked at me, thinking briefly before speaking.
"How about three of us-" Zak started, then looked at Aaron. "Maybe you, Billy and Jay go to the castle. I'll take Ali. I'll take Andrei - Andrei is another one of our fixers - who's Romanian. He'll help us with the language barrier if we get into any trouble, and that's it. And other than that, we'll have to meet you guys at Hunedoara, in three days," Zak finished.
"Sounds good bro," Aaron replied.
"Let's do it. We have to spilt up," Zak said.
"Alright bro. I'll see you in a few days," Aaron replied, chuckling somewhat nervously.
"I'll see you in three days," Zak replied, putting emphasis on the fact everything would be fine. But I knew what was on both of their minds, as it was on my mind as well. I had drawn Aaron having some sort of physical reaction and pain.
Would we all really see each other again in three days?