The Candle

Tess is very upset tonight. She tries to put herself together but there is no use. The only thing that matters to her right now is vengeance. Mark must pay for what he did. He is engaged to three women, one of them is Tess. She knows that nobody have used the forbidden book for almost a century. If she does then Nafpaktos will be a cursed town once again. She must believe in what the old people say: “Whatever might happen, you should never even think of using the book. Don’t you even read the damn thing”!

She is not aware of the danger right now. She has to punish her lover and ease the pain inside her betrayed soul. The book of myths cannot be found in the town’s bookstore. She must break in the family grave of the Rogers and find the tombstone of Alison Rogers, upon which lies the book sealed with a silver cross.

It is Saturday night, another cold breezy October's night. Tess walks inside the Rogers Mansion’s garden. The old house looks dead and haunted, ruined by cold winters and earthquakes. She is frightened. She turns to get away from the damned place but right behind her stands a tall woman dressed in black with long black hair, white skin and burning crimson eyes holding a green candle in her left hand.

“Welcome Tess! You don’t have to steal the book from my grave to make your wish come true! Don’t be afraid and don’t try to run away it is useless! You are dreaming right now, I’m inside your dream and I wish I could give you the kiss of death to satisfy my eternal hunger, but I’m dead! I’ll give you a choice and you must be very grateful because nobody had the privilege to choose when I was walking in Nafpaktos. Light the candle Tess and you will obtain all of my powers, my knowledge, my eternal beauty and most of all my dark gift of immortality. If someone, or you, throws this candle to the sea you will die and I will walk the streets again! If you want to go away from me just say it and I’ll vanish!”

Tess tried to say something but when she looked at the candle it was already lightened! “That will do my dear! You will punish your beloved one now by doing what I did many years ago as it is written in the forbidden book of myths”, said Alison.

The harbor of Nafpaktos looks magical tonight. All traditional taverns, bars and pubs are full of happy people entertaining and having a good time. It is Friday night, the sea is calm and peaceful painted in silver tones from the full moon’s rays of light. Beautiful young and older men and women are celebrating St. Dimitrios eve drinking, dancing, dinning and flirting. This is the last holiday before Christmas and Mark Ross enjoys his bachelor’s night out with his friends. Not much of a bachelor party indeed. They are just drinking and having a good time in the same old Irish bar nearby the beach, just a few meters away from the harbor’s celebrating crowd.

“This woman is a good reason why you should reconsider getting married tomorrow Mark! Look at this body”, said Mark’s friend Adam with a big smile on his face.
“Well, Martha is beautiful too you know, not to mention that I was nearly revealed Adam! Don’t you remember that I was engaged to Martha, Tess and Anna? The last one saw me kissing Martha and just walked away, it was too easy. Tess disappeared two weeks before. It was easier”.
“Look mate she is smiling at you”.
“She’s got no chance Adam! This is it. Tomorrow I’m getting married and I must keep my ass away from trouble… at least for a while”!

At about three o’clock in the morning Martha’s friends left her house, the Red Vila. It was the home of her parents Antonis and Maria Apostolou. Antonis Apostolou was a famous lawyer and the mayor of Nafpaktos for twenty years. He started building this house in the early 60’s. A tremendous earthquake in 1962 was the cause of death of 30 workers who have been buried under the debris forming a big lake of blood and shattered bodies. Apostolou has compensated all the deceased’s families and named the house “Red Vila” in remembrance of the tragic incident.

Antonis and Maria Apostolou died in an airplane crash ten years after the earthquake and their daughters Martha and Daphne were raised along with Angus Rogers, good friend of the Apostolou family, former Scotland Yard inspector and father of Tess. All three girls fell in love in their early teens with Mark Ross, the tall handsome black eyed boy with the athletic body, son of Jonathan and Elisabeth Ross, the richest family in Nafpaktos. Jonathan Ross has served for fifteen years as England’s ambassador in Greece. Mark was raised inside richness and luxury, studied business administration in Athens University but never got a job! He had enough money to live as a king.

Mark proposed to Martha, Tess and Anna, a girl he met when he went to Corfu on a holiday three years ago. Tess found out what was going on when Martha showed her the expensive diamond ring Mark gave her. Her anger and disappointment made her talk to Daphne about it. Daphne, Martha’s sister, left Nafpaktos one day after and never came back. Nobody knows where she is but Mark knows that he had a secret affair with her as well.

Martha was very happy that night. She was feeling a little dizzy from the drinks and tired. She went upstairs to her bedroom walking really slow and tried very hard to take her red dress off. She opened her bedroom window and saw the lights of the celebrating harbor in the far. She turned and saw a white dressed woman sitting upon the bed looking at Martha with her evil crimson eyes and smiling while she was licking the blood from her fangs. The dead body of Mark Ross was lying between the vampire’s legs just like they were making love. The creature’s skirt was up and a rivulet of blood was draining from her cunt.

“Mark had a wild bachelor party tonight sister”, said the vampire in a horrible roar of laughter.
“Daphne…”, was Martha’s last word and then she fell down in a faint.

Angus Rogers could not understand what happened. Mark and Martha are missing on their wedding day. He is sitting on Martha’s bed looking at an old leather covered book titled: “Book of Myths”. Suddenly the book opened in page 69.

There is a green candle upon the tombstone of Alison Rogers, your grandmother. You should go to the old Rogers’ Mansion tonight my son. You have to be there by midnight. Light the candle and go away from there as fast as you can. You must keep the candle lightened until you get to the harbor. When you get there throw the candle at the sea. This is the only way to end your grandmother’s madness. All started when Alison found me and her sister Diana making love in the garden. She was not supposed to be there that night. I thought she was sleeping deeply when I left her in our bedroom. When Diana saw her threw the green candle at your grandmother’s face. It was the most horrible scene I’ve ever seen in my life. The flames covered Alison’s head instantly and she began running and screaming. I followed her, I tried to save her but it was too late. She was lying dead under the big pine tree outside the house’s main door. I can still smell her burning flesh. What we could do then? We should make it seem like a suicide in order to avoid the scandal.

The priest said that she was cursed and that we should stab her heart with a wooden stick and cut off her head. We thought it was a silly myth, but nine days after her death Alison has risen from her grave invaded my bedroom and made me see her killing Diana. She drained her sister to death. I can still remember how she was looking at me with those red vampire eyes. I could not move, I could only watch. When she made sure that Diana was dead she kissed me with her bloody lips and went away. Alison was seducing and attacking every man since then just one day before their wedding day. First she was making love to them and then she was sucking their blood. She was a very powerful vampire. She could fly to the dead men’s houses carrying their bodies! Many people have seen her flying, it was a horrible sight. She was standing outside their bedrooms’ windows calling their wives to see their husbands drained to death. All these women whose husbands have been attacked by Alison have committed suicide one night after their husbands’ death.

I had to stop this madness but I didn’t know what to do. When Alison was awake I could only watch, she was commanding my mind, my will, everything. One Saturday morning an old man came to visit me. I have never seen him before. He said he was the first writer of the Forbidden Book of Myths. He told me that I should write the story to the book and then seal it with a silver cross and place it upon Alison’s tombstone. Then I should throw the lightened candle to the sea. Alison could not stop me, the seal kept her inside her coffin. There was one more thing though. I should kill myself ten days after I sealed Alison’s grave or else the candle would return to her possession after many years and she would rise again. I could not kill myself, I could not only read the next myth, the myth you are experiencing right now, a myth that someone or something has written in the book ten days after.

I am a coward and a fool but you have a chance. Just throw the candle to the sea just like I told you to do and the curse will be broken, you don’t have to kill yourself because you are not to blame for what has happened. You have to succeed my son. Don’t let another myth to be written in this book.

Angus haven’t heard this story before, secrets were well kept in his family. Besides, he was raised in Cardiff, Wales and came to Nafpaktos at the age of 35 when he married his beloved Maria. How he wished Maria was here right now. She left him five years ago and never came back.

He realized that he didn’t have much of a choice, he should act very quickly. He informed the local authorities of Mark and Martha’s disappearance and told his cousin Linda to inform the guests that the wedding is cancelled. Then, early in the afternoon, he went to the Roger’s Mansion, found Alison’s grave and grabbed the green candle. He should wait there until midnight.


“You are out of time Angus Rogers”! Angus woke up and felt Alison’s cold hands on his chest. She was standing above him staring at him with her horrible crimson eyes. She pointed her finger in her coffin. Inside it were lying the dead bodies of Mark and Martha, drained to death with their eyes wide opened and frozen. Angus turned his head to Alison but her face was different. It was Daphne’s face!

“You said you would search all over the world to find me”!
“Daphne… it is not you…”, Angus was confused and scared to death when he saw Daphne’s face changing. She became Alison again!

With a quick move Angus punched Alison in the face and got to his feet. Alison smiled and licked her fangs, but the expression in her face changed instantly when she heard Angus lighting the candle with a match. She knew she could not attack him with the candle lightened. She turned to Daphne once again wearing the same blue dress Martha’s sister was wearing one day before she disappeared. “Stop doing this! Kill her now and save me”! Daphne pointed her finger showing Alison’s coffin. Angus saw Alison inside instead of Martha. He threw the candle inside the coffin. Before he makes another move Alison was behind him holding his head and licking his neck. Mark and Martha’s bodies were burning inside the coffin.

Nothing’s left of the old Roger’s Mansion. The local authorities could not find a clue concerning the fire at the ruined house. It is getting dark once again. Adam Taylor, Mark Ross’s friend drinks his whiskey alone at the same old Irish bar nearby the beach. Suddenly he feels the soft touch of a hand on his shoulder as a beautiful woman with long black hair, white skin and big seductive green eyes is sitting in the chair beside him.

“I think that vodka on the rocks would be perfect right now”!
“Tess! My God, where have you been all this time”?