Warily, I walk along the winding passage. The dank stoned walls seem to be thinning, the cold hard flagstones sinking. Steps echo towards me but when I turn my head, there’s nothing there; just the dancing shadows, flickering wall sconces and the consuming, advancing darkness.
As I step past them, these specific wall sconces either side of me die down with a short flicker, as quick as a flash.
Instinctively, I run faster, desperate to escape the gapping jaws of doom!
Wait…why am I running when I haven’t even called out to see if anybody is actually there? Why am I running when it could be a vampire? I came here for a reason and, in that case, I should be doing my duty - not running from the danger like a coward!
The second a stench pungent with the metallic smell of blood breathes down my neck, tingling the very fine, small hairs and slithering down my spine to make me shiver, I know.
I spin round to face the creature. All at once the wall sconces die down but I’m not alone in the dark…though I’d prefer to be. My hand takes the torch from my belt but the switch doesn’t work when I try.
My senses are strong and I can sense the creature still in front of me.
All of a sudden, a black candle on a brass stub appears, illuminating a face in front of me. The small orb of light the candle provides illuminates a face of true grotesque horror. It’s long pointed face, the colour of rotting flesh, is elongated, long and grim much like it’s ears with a patch of fine grey hairs at the ends. The exceptionally large nostrils flare out as it’s thin, cruel lips that seal the inside of its cavernous mouth curve slowly into a snarl, the corners stretching from ear to ear. The fine hair on the creature’s rotten-flesh coloured head sticks up quickly in motion.
Before it blows out the candle, the evil creature mouths a sentence I’ve heard many times before: “No one shall hear you scream!”
Suddenly, without giving me the chance to reach for my weapon, there’s a speeding dim flash that seals my doom…
Pitch black and a quiet low cackle slowly echo from wall to wall, floor to ceiling and corner to corner. In that moment, never have I been so afraid of the dark when a long bony, scrawny arm with intense strength locks around my neck, the odorous breath behind me once again, though in waves this time.
I try to scream, the torch slipping from my hand, as this vampire, one of the first, holds a dagger to my throat threateningly, daring me to move. All I can hear is the cries of my little sister, begging for my help. But I’ve failed her. I couldn’t win against an Elder Vampire after all. Instantly, I’m filled with disappointment in myself and dismay for my poor sister.
The last thing I remember is a long skinny tongue licking up the side of my neck, a hot spot of searing pain, then nothing as I see the ground rising up towards my head.
Darkness.
