Thomas watched the pink slowly fade from the dimming, purple sky of the late afternoon from inside his home. He was lounging peacefully on the window seat with his head resting on the white wall which he was leaning on. His book lay open on his knee to save the page - he did this when he needed a break from reading but wasn't quite ready to close it and put it aside. This left many of his favourite novels with crinkled spines and curved pages, but he didn't mind. It gives the thing character, he thought to himself with a gentle smile.
The view from where he rested was a good one. He could see the fields fold and part from each other for miles ahead, but closer to he could look down on the quiet, cozy streets of the village in which he lived. Yellow lamps began to flicker on when the only light left in the sky was the clear moon, and people began to settle in their homes. Thomas sighed and his eyes shut softly, not to sleep but just to rest, since he couldn't fall asleep anyway.
Moments later, the sound of a muffled shriek stunned him upright, his book falling to the floor with a gentle thud. If his heart was beating, it would be beating fast. He listened with great attention; this scream wasn't the kind that a child made while it was being tickled, or the sound somebody with a fear of rodents would utter on encountering a mouse. There was no mistaking the urgency of this noise.
He didn't wait any longer for a second sign as he leaped from his seat and made it to the hallway with two long strides of his bare feet. No time for a coat or shoes, he told himself. He never needed them much anyway, not even on this chilly autumn evening. They were only a comfort to him, not a necessity like many other things, which is why he only wore his blue jeans and nothing else on this night. This was no time to think of comforts, other than the comfort of his mind, and he thought it best to at least go outside and investigate so his thoughts wouldn't send him wild.
Thomas unlocked the door with a click and swung it open, though he caught the handle in time to prevent it from hitting the wall, and shut the door behind himself. There was no one in sight, but the scent of an undead being hit him as soon as he inhaled. Not one, no, three. And another smell existed among the scent of vampires, and that was the scent of fear. Sharp, metallic and hot.
He knew there were others like himself, on rare occasions he would pass one when he went to London or Canterbury, simply acknowledging them with a nod of his head which they always returned politely. But the creatures near on this night were not polite, they reeked of evil and bad intentions, uncivilised. He began sniffing out a trail in the air which wasn't difficult to follow. Thomas turned right and his feet were quick and quiet as he passed the cottages and small shops. He came to the end of a road and followed the trail around the corner into an ally where he saw them. Three ravenous vampires caging a young girl against the grimy brick wall, ready to feed.
