Page 77 of The Sinner and the Gunslinger
I’m leaning in by this stage, enthralled. “What was the pastor’s name?”
“This man is called Georg Andreas Helwing.”
I sit back, confused.
Zeke squints at Orlov. His cheeks are ruddy with the effects of the pálinka. “You wouldn’t happen to be talking about Dracula and Van Helsing, would you?”
My eyes widen.Helsing and Helwing.So similar.
I stare at Zeke with wonder. I’m the one who made him watch that damned movie, but he remembered the details.
“Story goes,” Orlov says, “he came here, to this very tiny village, and my ancestors helped him.”
“Ourancestors,” Matei corrects.
“Yes, yes, you too.”
“So he took the helmet? How did that kill Dracula?” I ask hopefully.
“The many tales of the demon Dracula say many different weapons were used to kill him.”
“Mmm,” Claudia adds, still as dramatic with her tone as her husband. “A knife. A stake. Potions. A pistol with silver bullets.”
“What do you think was the real weapon?” I ask.
“I think our ancestor was a gun maker. To this day, we use the same forge as him in our workshop.”
“A gun.”
They nod.
“And where do you think this gun might be today?”
“Not here.” They laugh again. But my humor is coiled tight like a piece of barbed wire. I feel like we’re so close to finding the answers. Maybe the helmet was turned into a gun. Or maybe the prophecy was intended to point us here so we found this story. Orlov called Dracula a demon. Little details like this in local lore can mean everything.
“Any idea?” I press.
Orlov scratches his peppered chin. “We talk about this many nights, and it is Matei who I think has the best answer, yes?”
He looks at his son, who blushes at the attention. “It’s just a theory.”
“I’d love to hear it,” I say.
“Well,” he replies. “I think there is not much we know about Helwing when we search online, but our village speaks of the church he was the Pastor for... It is not a well-known church, but not far from where Vlad Tepes was a prince. It is in ruins now and is also said to be haunted, and amaranth grows around the grounds. People say they hear gunfire, but no one is there when they go to look. I think Helwing was there when he died. Or he left his special gun close by in case Dracula rose again from the dead.”
“Do you think this might be the place Ludovic spoke about?” I ask Zeke.
“We won’t know unless we look, but it’s possible.”
A church haunted by a ghost who fires a gun. I tap my chin. And there was something else he said. “You mentioned amaranth.”
Claudia answers. “It is a special flower that protects against evil spirits.”
A Pastor who used a holy relic to kill a demon... and maybe magical flowers. Our lead is getting stronger.
“I think we would like to visit this church,” I tell our host family. “How far away is it?”
Matei is pleased he helped us out and pulls out his cell phone to show me the map. It’s about half a day’s drive south... not far from the ruins of Vlad’s real castle. A tingling in my blood remains. I can’t help the feeling we’re on the right track.
