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    The Vampire and The Wandering Jew
    The Vampire and The Wandering Jew
    The Vampire and The Wandering Jew
    Ebook120 pages2 hours

    The Vampire and The Wandering Jew

    By Barak Bassman

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    Brother Nicholas, a monk in medieval Germany, found himself rejected and isolated: scorned by the Jewish community who raised him because of his conversion to Christianity, and distrusted by his fellow churchmen as a former Jew, whose faith is always subject to doubt and suspicion. He finally flees to a remote castle, in a distant, impoverished land, to serve as the new confessor to the mysterious Lady Catherine, who has ruled the fortress as a recluse ever since her husband was mysteriously murdered in his bed.

    There he will discover the unholy and occult practices that have kept the Lady Catherine eternally young and beautiful, and which will test his own faith. And even more wondrous is the castle’s prisoner, whose blood is drawn for her Ladyship’s dark rites: Cartaphilus, the legendary Wandering Jew cursed by Jesus Christ on the Via Dolorosa to roam the Earth forever with no rest for his tormented soul.

    A meditation on faith and betrayal, The Vampire and The Wandering Jew explores one man’s agonizing attempt to follow his spiritual calling and the divine will in the face of petty human resentments and deeper, more insidious evil.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBarak Bassman
    Release dateJun 5, 2020
    ISBN9781951744267
    The Vampire and The Wandering Jew
    Author

    Barak Bassman

    Barak A. Bassman received a B.A. in Classics from Grinnell College and a law degree from the New York University School of Law. He practices law in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and lives in the Philadelphia suburbs with his wife and two children. He is the author of Elegy of the Minotaur and Repentance: A Tale of Demons in Old Jewish Poland.

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      Book preview

      The Vampire and The Wandering Jew - Barak Bassman

      The Vampire and the Wandering Jew

      by

      Barak A. Bassman

      This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.

      THE VAMPIRE AND THE WANDERING JEW

      This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you’re reading this eBook and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the author.

      Copyright © 2020 Barak A. Bassman. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical without the express written permission of the author. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the author and publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials.

      The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

      Cover designed by Telemachus Press, LLC

      Cover art:

      Copyright © canstockphoto49934207_JohnNorth

      Published by Telemachus Press, LLC at Smashwords

      7652 Sawmill Road

      Suite 304

      Dublin, Ohio 43016

      http://www.telemachuspress.com

      ISBN: 978-1-951744-26-7 (eBook)

      ISBN: 978-1-951744-27-4 (Paperback)

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2020910602

      FICTION/Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, Legends & Mythology

      Version 2020.06.08

      Table of Contents

      I. The Monk’s Arrival

      II. Black Mass

      III. The Devil’s Acolytes

      IV. The Vampire’s Confession

      V. How the Vampire Made a Pact with the Devil

      VI. The Plight of the Wandering Jew

      VII. The Jewish Monk

      VIII. The Master of Repentance

      IX. Idol Worship

      X. The Passion of the Jewish Monk

      Other Books by Barak Bassman

      About the Author

      The Vampire and the Wandering Jew

      I. The Monk’s Arrival

      Brother Nicholas was surprised when he reached the castle gates: everything here was splendid and rich from the perfectly cut square stone blocks of the high outer walls, with not a hint of wear or decay, to the vaulting towers inside made entirely from blindingly bright marble, to the carefully wrought silver statues of lions and boars that adorned the gates.

      Such wealth was a stark contrast to the surrounding countryside. Traveling unpaved roads littered with larvae-infested animal carcasses and hard brown weeds, he had seen hardly any livestock, and the fields had only a few meager crops struggling to stay alive in the dusty winds. The peasants had seemed barely alive—stooped, emaciated specters limping about with big saucer eyes who mumbled angry monosyllabic responses to any question.

      But then he had come upon this castle, his final destination, with riches beyond compare. At least here would be a decent meal and a warm bed.

      After he had stated his business and introduced himself, the gates were opened and a handsome, well-dressed man in the prime of his youth bounded out to greet him. He led Brother Nicholas to Lady Catherine’s private chapel, where he would lead Mass and other prayers for the household. This chapel was likewise marvelous to behold—vaulted stone archways, exquisite white marble statues of the Virgin and Child, and carefully etched, brightly colored stained glass panels depicting the story of the Book of Judith (although Brother Nicholas was taken slightly aback by the much too voluptuous images of Judith’s figure as she tempted and then beheaded the wicked pagan general, Holofernes).

      The handsome youth then brought him to his spacious apartments right above the chapel, which had been thoughtfully fitted out with an ample wooden desk and a lavishly illustrated Latin Vulgate Bible. Tired from his travels, he collapsed into the soft sheets of his new bed and slept until it was time for the evening meal.

      Dinner was served in the great hall in a vermillion marble tower. Brother Nicholas was amazed at how young and beautiful everyone was—every courtier and lady in waiting seemed to be no older than twenty-five (at the most) yet possessed of an easy, instinctive grace. He felt painfully aware of the pockmarks and creeping wrinkles on his face. But he was soon distracted by the evening’s greatest marvel: Lady Catherine herself, mistress of the castle and ruler of these lands.

      Brother Nicholas had learned from the Bishop in the capital of the Duchy of W that she had been widowed more than forty years earlier, shortly after her marriage to the lord of this castle. There were rumors of murder, but nothing was ever proven. After her husband’s death, Catherine had refused all offers to remarry, shunned her family and neighbors, and lived in seclusion. The post of her confessor had been vacant for many years before Brother Nicholas had accepted this assignment, in an attempt to flee from his own troubled past. He had braced himself to serve a decrepit, embittered old woman, sad, lonely, and beaten down by years wasted in grim solitude in this bleak country. Perhaps a woman concerned now for her eternal soul as death loomed nearer and in need of spiritual guidance.

      Yet Lady Catherine did not look old in the slightest—not a single wrinkle or strand of grey hair—but instead she was tall and erect, with a head of thick, luxurious black hair pinned up in the back and shimmering smooth skin; she glowed with beauty. But while not old, she did not seem young either. There was something heavy about her manner; she had none of the lightness or fresh excitement of youth.

      She commenced eating and drinking without any acknowledgement of her new confessor sitting to her left. There was silence for several minutes, until a dashing young man walked up to Catherine, kneeled, and said softly, My Lady, may I present Brother Nicholas, of the Holy Order of ____, who has traveled here, pursuant to his appointment by His Holiness the Bishop, to be the castle’s new confessor.

      Lady Catherine turned her head to Brother Nicholas and gave him a gracious welcome, asked polite and superficial questions about the journey, and nodded vacantly in response to his bland comments about the bumpiness of the road and the chance to meditate privately in his carriage upon the beauty and goodness of the Lord’s creation.

      She commented how fine it would be to have regular Mass at the castle’s chapel again. It had been many years, she noted, since a priest had set foot within these walls.

      Brother Nicholas now felt emboldened to ask whether Her Ladyship would be seeking confession soon, as the long absence of a priest must have delayed her in seeking absolution for her sins.

      She smiled and laughed. My dear Brother Nicholas, how very eager you are—how very, very forward. Alas, I have too much to confess. It will take me some time to arrange my sins in proper order. You will have to be patient and start with the porters and the washerwomen.

      Then she clapped her hands and demanded a musical accompaniment to her meal. Four handsome young men stood up, held hands, and launched into a song. Brother Nicholas at first thought it sounded lovely. But when he noticed Lady Catherine and her youthful court smirk and stifle their giggles, he concentrated harder on the words. It was a peasant song of some kind, about a girl, young, a floozy—she was drunk. She was apparently going to fornicate in a … he could not make out clearly in a what.

      The laughter grew louder, and he noticed guilty, gleeful eyes stealing quick glances at him. Feeling embarrassed, although he could not say why, Brother Nicholas focused harder on the lyrics. It soon became clear to him what was so funny: the drunken floozy was fornicating with a monk in his cell in an abbey.

      Furious, he bolted up from his seat, and said, loud enough to rise above the singing, that he was quite tired from his journey and wished to go early to bed. Another elegant, handsome youth—he could not tell them apart, they were all so blonde and fresh and pretty—escorted him out and back to his rooms.

      Unable to sleep, he lit a candle and sought the comfort of the divine word of the Old Testament, which he had dearly loved ever since

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