Dawn Berkoski

“Someplace deep and dark. That’s where you’ll find vampires.” The words of the mysterious fortune teller in Cluj-Napoca followed me as I drove. In Transylvania, one place fit that description perfectly: The Salt Mines of Turda.

“So it begins,” I murmured, thinking of Tolkien and Lord of the Rings.

As if entering the Dwarven city of Moira, I slowly descended into ever greater darkness. Deep in the center of the earth, the air was saturated in salt and brine. Remnants of old mining equipment remained; some wooden contraptions cut from the Carpathian Mountain range. And, as often the case when I explored old mines, a heaviness filled me. I thought of the poor souls who worked here, how the horses labored, walking in circles to turn the winch as they eventually turned blind and met an early grave.

More passages, more turns of the maze. I thought I might join them. And then the cave opened. Old neon lights disappeared, replaced with modern pendants. I peered over the viewing deck at a cavernous space so tall and deep that my heart raced in excitement and fear.

I explored every inch, every dark crevice, even the lowest parts that held a pitch-black lake. But no vampires. None. And if one happened to slumber here, their coffin would be permanently sealed in salt.

“And round and round we go again,” I mumbled, as I stared at the underground Ferris wheel. “This is what you get for listening to a tarot card reader in the Steampunk and Fantasy Museum.” I was still smarting over his predictions for my love life. Something about a reversed Hierophant and a “non-traditional” romance.

I trudged back upstairs, my calves burned, and I was ready to call it quits. Then, in the parking lot, I saw him. The Raven. A lone bird. A silent call. As if he didn’t want me to give up. Not the bird. It felt like someone, or something, else. A shudder went through me. A ripple in that still black lake. Somehow, I knew where to go next. I had visited the castle and birthplace of Corvinus, a popular name in vampire lore, but what about the birthplace of Dracula?

Follow the Ravens.

Yes, that is what I would do. Back to the start of it all, back to Vlad. My next destination was circled on the map. I was off to Sighisoara.

Dawn B~