Midian Prologue - Fullmoon
There are darknesses in life and there are lights, and you are one of the lights, the light of all lights. - Van Helsing
Blood.
The smell of blood.
Something was wrong. Even if the smell had not hit her after opening the front door, she could feel it. Just as quietly as she had opened it, she closed the door behind herself, as she stepped inside, looking around cautiously. Her heart stopped when she had pushed the door to the corridor open, her eyes falling on the bloody, misshapen lump of flesh laying on the ground.
Mako.
Her knees buckled. The girl did not even notice the dark fluid staining her trousers, when her knees hit the ground. Her trembling hand reached out, not yet daring to touch the bloodied fur of her canine friend, fearing it would make her realize that this was not just a dream.
Finally, her fingers carefully touched the wet hair, her heart pounding painfully in her chest, both in grief for her friend, and in fear, dread clutching her chest. Her father was at home, which was quite the rare occasion, being on leave, and he should be inside. He might be able to defend himself against whom - or whatever had done this to Mako, but what about her mother and sister? What had happened to them?
She took a deep breath and looked back down at the dog again. She had no time to mourn her dearest friend, who had been there since she had been a child. She had to keep going. One last time she brushed his fur gently, before rising to a hunched posture to proceed, stepping over the body.
Into the deadly silent, suddenly cut voices, jeering laughter and bright, familiar shrieks.
Instinctively, she reached for something she might use as a weapon on the nearby cabinet, finding only a recklessly abandoned butter knife. It would have do.
She grabbed it, fingers wrapping tightly around the weapon, her knuckles turning white as she heard her little sister cry for help.
Her teeth gritted, pressed against the wall, she carefully peeked around the corner to see an image that seemed like a manifestation of nightmares come to life.
The door had been ripped off its hinges. Glass shards were shattered on the ground, furniture had been knocked over, blood had been sprayed over the whole interior and amidst the chaos laid two vaguely human shaped bodies, mangled and blood-stained - her parents, dead, their empty eyes staring at the ceiling, their mouths hanging half open standing testament of their gruesome deaths.
Six uniformed men, still sneering, held her sister down, who fought and begged for mercy, tears streaming down her cheeks, them too splattered with blood.
Hot, blinding fury cut through her, a red haze coming over her vision, as she tried to keep her tremor of anger in check. In one quick movement, she jumped out of her hiding spot and ran towards one of the man, slamming the knife into his neck, when he turned in surprise.
She felt the knife cutting through the man's skin, taking satisfaction in the sensation; consequences be damned.
But the man merely smirked maliciously, reaching out to grab her by her throat, throttling the girl as he yanked her off the ground with ease. His grip tightened, cutting off her oxygen supply, his laughter filling the room.
With gritted teeth, she reached for his wrists, crawling at them with his nail. His grip remained vice-like, while he hit hard her with his remaining hand, but she would not let go off him. He snarled angrily, revealing a set of sharp fangs, his eyes glowing crimson.
No humans had caused these monstrosities, destroyed their home and killed her parents and tormented her sister – it had been vampires.
The lack of oxygen made her skull throb and her vision dim. With her remaining strength, she attempted to kick the monster, only to be rewarded by a boot to the stomach in return, sending her flying through the room. A hard, painful impact, the back of her head hitting the wall. Then everything went black.
The first thing she noticed, was the deafening silence. Her sister had stopped screaming.
When she tried to moved, the second thing that reached her ears were the jingling of metal – handcuffs, she realised, straining against the cuffs binding her wrists to something cold and metal. Her whole body ached and she had to blink to adjust her gaze, until it fell on her little sister. Or what was left of her.
Now her exposed body lay on top of the dead bodies of their parents. It was pale, covered in bite marks and bruises.
„Look.”
The jeering voice attracted the restrained girl attention, drawing her gaze back, belonged to one of the vampires, kneeling down to study her more closely, like cattle he intended on buying.
His rasping voice was dripping with arrogance. „The kitten is finally awake.”
She gritted her teeth, attempting to launch at him to wipe this grin out of his stupid face, but was pulled short by the handcuffs.
He laughed at her futile attempt, his gaze following hers, his red eyes flickering across the lifeless body. Then he smirked.
„The little poppet wasn't half bad, but too scrawny. Empty in a manner of seconds.”, he sneered.
Again she seethed with fury and if it had not been for the cuffs, she would have slapped that smirk off his face. Instead she aimed to smash his ugly nose in with her forehead. Unfortunately he quickly sat up straight to avoid her attack.
„Feisty one, aren't you?” He laughed again with his comrades, roughly gripping her jaw. „Well I hope you'll last longer, sweetheart.”
His hand wandered down, grabbing and ripped through her shirt.
Frustrated by her own powerlessness and angered by the greed in his eyes and the lust in his smirk, she spat right into his face.
Annoyed, he wiped the salvia from his cheek with the back of his hand, before he drew his arm back to hit her hard.
Blood ran down the corner of her lips, as its distinctive taste spread in her mouth.
She glared at the monster, that had taken her family from her.
He seemed amused by her defiance.
„Oh. The kitten has got quite a bite.”, he mocked, turning to his comrades, casting an approval seeking glance at them, earning roars of derisively laughter.
Then he turned his attention back to the girl, his fingers brushing over her breast, causing her to flinch, as she shuddered with disgust.
„Oh.”, he, he made in a honeyed tone, smirking. „Look like there is virgin on the menu.”
He leaned close again, inhaling her scent through his nose audibly. „Yes, definitely virgin.”
His comrades just laughed louder at that.
The girl's stomach threatened to turn, when she noticed the hungry expression on the vampires' faces, but she did not wanted to give up, not allowing her fear to render herself paralysed.
Instead she once again tried to headbutt the bastard, but again he avoided her attack easily with another amused bark.
„Come on, sweetheart.”, he cooed, rubbing with the end of her brown hair between his fingers. „I will be very gentle. Don't force me to hurt you.”
He grabbed her jaw again, tilting it up, forcing her to look him in the eyes. His skin was cold, his grip vice-like. And there was something in his gaze, that made her stomach turn anew.
She tried to avoid his gaze, closing her eyes. His chuckle would still reach her ears, and she felt his finger brushing across her eyelid and cheek. Then his thumb traced her lips. He seemed to take pleasure in repeating the motion, circling them again and again.
On pure instinct, she sunk her teeth into his hand, biting down, hard.
The vampire roared in pain, stumbling back, as the girl spit out the phalanx, disgusted at the thought to swallow any bit of him, may it be flesh or blood.
Still she could not help but smirk at her small triumph, no matter how trivial, as the monster kept cursing, holding his injured hand.
„You.... fucking... bitch!”, he bellowed, seething.
Without thinking, he whipped out his pistol, aiming for her. „Now you've done it!”, he snapped, cocking his gun.
But instead of giving her the quick death she had hoped for for a brief moment, aiming for her head or heart, the vampire sent two bullets into her stomach.
The girl gasped, doubling over in pain, biting her lower lip to suppress a whimper, refusing to give him the satisfaction of her screaming or crying. Abdominal gunshot wounds were known to lead to an especially painful and slow death.
She watched the blood seeping into the remains of the fabric of her clothes, blinking as it seemed to happen in slow motion. That must be the shock, she concluded, her emotions and even her thoughts feeling muted.
„Don't think your death will come easily.”, the vampire hissed at her. „Blood bitch.”
The girl tiredly watched the blood collecting in front of her on the floor, barely noticing the monsters' reactions. They closed their eyes, sniffing the air and licking their lips.
It seemed like they wanted to lunge at the girl, but the man with the gun, held them back.
„You had your fun!”, he scolded, briefly looking at the dead bodies. „Now it's my turn.”
The others seemed disappointed, but held back and stayed put.
The vampire seemed satisfied and looked back at the girl.
„Alright....”, he drawled lazily, licking his own lips provocatively as he leaned closer, making her skin crawl. „Let's get to the fun part.”
He seemed to have forgotten, that her legs had not been bound and the girl decided to try and use it to her advantage, but she was barely able to lift her leg, groaning exhaustedly, making the vampire grin, grabbing her knees, forcing them apart.
„Not this time, bitch.” His nails dug into her legs, as he leaned down to draw his tongue across her stomach, licking the blood that poured from her wound.
He groaned with pleasure as he tasted it. „Not bad at all.”, he commented. His eyes glistened, obviously eager for more.
The girl felt her body grow heavier and heavier, as her mind was seemingly wrapped in thick mist.
Again the tongue darted out of the monsters mouth and back again to taste the red lifeblood. Multiple times it flickered across the wounds, before it seemed like it was not enough for him anymore.
He put his mouth on one of the injuries, greedily sucking the desirable fluid – and nothing seemed to be able to satisfy his hunger.
The girl already felt her consciousness slipping, her limbs feeling heavy and cold, though she kept holding on, although she wondered why. It would be easy to just allow herself to fall and be dragged down into the darkness and blissful silence.
The other vampires became restless. Apparently they couldn't wait for it to be their turn.
The girl allowed her eyes to fall shut, trying to shut out the monsters as well. She did not want her death to be about them and this was not the last thing she wanted to see, as she tried to block out the gross noises as well, trying to think of more pleasing times.
Spring, summer, fall, spent with Mako, alone in the woods....
Involuntarily she flinched at the sound of another gunshot. It was quickly followed by more.
Her eyes snapped open, just to see the monsters body going down in a spray of blood – finally truly dead, leaving only the vampire, who had feasted on the girl alive.
A tall man calmly stepped into the room, lowering his gun to reload it, while the vampire bolted upwards, swirling around to face the newcomer.
„Who are you?”, he snarled, barely able to contain his own fear, as he fumbled to reload his own weapon. „What are you doing here?”
„My name is of no concern for scum like you.”, the raven haired man replied calmly. „But there is one question, I will answer: I dispose of garbage like you.”
Before the vampire finished reloading his weapon, the man's gun was directed at his heart.
„No!”, he roared, frantically working his own gun, but it was too late.
„Your kind disgusts me.”, the man sneered, finger already on the trigger. „Your kind is truly pathetic. Killing, not because you are hungry, but because you enjoy tormenting the ones you consider weaker.
With that he squeezed the trigger and the bullet shattered the monster's ribs and destroyed his heart.
And just like that, it was over. The man, who had destroyed an entire family, had been killed in a fraction of a moment.
The girl's eyes tiredly studied the corpses of the vampires, then of her parents and sister.
Soon she would be dead too, she could feel the coldness already reaching for her.
She blinked slowly as the man knelt down next to her.
„I am sorry.”, he said, looking over her wounds. „You won't have much longer.” Not long enough to get help and survive.
With a disdained snarl he reached for the handcuffs and crushed the chain between his fingers easily. It was only then, that the girl noticed his teeth – his fangs.
That man was a vampire too!
Despite the realisation, the girl felt no fear. It might be the man's calm demeanour, as he knelt next to her, or his dark eyes that took her fear away, or simply the fact that she was dying.
Her eyes flickered back to her family, as she used her hand to pull herself upright with gritted teeth.
„You shouldn't...”, the vampire started, but he did not stop her, as she moved closer to the bodies, her feet dragging across the ground, that now was covered in her own blood, that streamed down her body.
An inhumane snarl brought the vampire to his own feet too, turning around to see the corpses of her family coming back to life.
No. They were dead. Animated corpses. Dead bodies moving, only driven by their desire to eat and the will of their master.
The raven haired vampire frowned. That should not be possible. He had killed the vampires responsible.
The girl's gaze remained on the creatures that had once been her father, mother and sister, slowly getting to their feet.
Instantly the man in the coat whipped out his gun again, to finish the job he had come here for, but a voice held him back: „Don't....”
He looked at the girl, who barely had enough strength left to stand.
„I... want to do it.”, she breathed weakly.
The vampire understood and nodded, coming to stand next to her, helping her aim, as he held the weapon and her hands wrapped around the handle, her trembling finger finding the trigger.
„Oyasumi.”, the girl whispered gently and fired.
After it was done, the girl slumped against the vampire's arm, he had wrapped around her, to cushion the recoil.
She was barely aware of it, neither did she truly realise that he guided her down to the ground into a kneeling position, studying her, his eyes barely blinking.
„Are you still a virgin?”, he asked.
She frowned, trying to focus on his words to make sense of them, before she could even wonder, why on earth he would ask that.
Automatically she nodded weakly.
His eyes wandered then to the pool of blood, forming at her feet.
„You don't have much longer to live.”, he noted, his eyes flickering back to her face. „What do you want to do? Do you want to die?”
He paused meaningfully, before he asked: „Or do you want to come with me?”
Again her brain needed what felt like an eternity, before she understood the words' meaning.
She blinked again. Her lids were so incredibly heavy and it took her so much effort to keep her eyes open.
Do you want to die?
Her gaze graced her family. Dead. All help came too late for them. She would follow them soon, unless....
Her eyes flickered back to the man, who had saved her.
Dying was not as bad, as one might have thought. She was tired, exhausted, and only wanted to close her eyes and sleep.
No!
With all might, she tried to shake off her immense weariness.
She knew the answer. This was not what she wanted. This was not how she wanted to die! Not here, not now, and not like this.
She opened her mouth, but no words would escape her dry throat, so she tried to reach for his hand instead, that rested close to hers on the ground.
Apparently he understood nonetheless, for he carefully gathered her in his arms and brought her neck closer to his face, his lips parting to a grin that revealed his fangs.
The last thing that the girl saw, before losing consciousness, were his deep red eyes, that filled her vision, before the crimson colour seemed to swallow her.
