The Castle Karstadt – Excerpt 2

The Castle Karstadt – Excerpt 2

  The local peasants having something of a superstitious background, believed that there was a vampire in their midst. They sent a spokesmen to the town to express their concerns to the Mayor and Council. The Mayor who being an educated man was sceptical until a girl who was known to him was abducted from the town.

He at once called out the local militia, and a thorough search was made. The girl’s remains were found on land belonging to the Karlstadt family.

The Karlstadt’s eldest son, Anders was known to be a bit of a libertine with the local peasant girls. The superstitious  peasants  immediately placed the blame on the Karstadts. They of course denied any knowledge of it, which inflamed the peasants even more.

A meeting was held, but by diplomacy and threats, The Mayor and Council managed to keep them in check. Then the following day, the Mayor’s only daughter went missing. The hue and cry was raised and once again her corpse was found on Karlstadt land.

The Mayor confused by feelings of grief and a hunger for revenge, raised a mob of like-minded peasants and townsfolk with the express purpose of wiping out the Karlstadt’s and ridding themselves of the curse of the vampire. Once and for all.

What began as a show of force, soon turned in to a mob. screaming for blood and vengeance. They would burn down the castle, and destroy the curse of the Karlstadt’s  for eternity.

The town priest, pushed to the front of the mob, exhorting them in the name of the Holy Father to cease this madness. But he was soon pushed aside by sheer weight of numbers as they advanced on the castle and its inhabitants. Be they human or vampire, the word had spread, More and more people were joining the revolt against the Karlstadt’s.

(C) Damian Grange 2018