The Break of Silence

As much as I’d have liked to sit back and watch this stranger wander into the castle from a relatively safe distance, it became all so apparent how bad the situation was. It’d be nice if they went in, found nothing and left immediately but the chances of that weren’t great. That idiot was still in there, should they find her, there’d be a town’s worth of people ready to play “kill the vampires part 2”. Which would be fine, if I wasn’t also one.

Slowly and steadily, I made my way back to the estate. I couldn’t see their light anymore so I’d assumed they had moved further in, where exactly, I was kind of hoping to not find out. Worst of all, I couldn’t exactly tell how many of them there were, all I saw was a glow in the distance, hell there could be an entire army in here.

Luckily, I had a little bit of insight about the place, it let me move from the entrance to the stairs without a sound. The next step however was to find the girl and get out without anyone noticing.

She wasn’t in any of the guest rooms, and the “storage” room was locked tightly so I could rule that out as well. Hopefully she had noticed them before they got in, and managed to either escape or hide at the very least.

The only other place I could think of her being in was her father’s old room, but when I glanced in, there was no one to be seen. “Oi” I whispered, hoping that she had found a good place to stow away. “Where the hell are you?!” I once again whispered.

I could hear it, very faintly but it was there, a heartbeat. It was coming from behind the wardrobe. No way she could fit in that small a spot, how wrong I was. The wooden back was thin, it was a false back. The latch was small and hard to spot, but when pushed, it opened up, revealing the hidden vampire.

“If you’re here, say so!” I whispered, this time with more aggravation in my voice.

She didn’t respond, in fact, she didn’t even look at me. She looked like the rabbit I caught earlier, dead eyed and shaking violently. “Oi…” still nothing. It was the first time I could say I’d seen something like it, a monster having a panic attack.

*-*-*

Aiyana was stuck in place, she wasn’t going anywhere on her own so it was up to me to drag her out.

So far so good, the intruders weren’t in the hallways and I couldn’t hear anything coming from the connecting rooms. We approached the stairs cautiously, peering down but again seeing the coast was clear.

All that was left was the front door, all that stood between us and an escape. We were so close I could reach the handle, so close my fingers could wrap around the metal and unlock our freedom. I hadn’t paid enough attention, thinking we were safe, yet just as my wrist started turning to unlock the latch a hand pushed the door shut and we were greeted by unfamiliar faces.

*-*-*

We had been spotted, and our new guest didn’t seem the type to welcome strangers without a knife in hand. But, we were trying to leave, why had they stopped us? It was a question that was soon to be answered. His crazed eyes peered into my soul, without a word he glared at Aiyana.

They were drowned in a dark shadow when he saw Aiyana’s current form, pale as stone, and still baring her fangs like a cornered cat. He knew then, their new sanctuary was not as safe as they’d hoped. His intimidating glare was no more, and the nightmare I had dreamt of… was realised.

“V- VAMPIRE!” He screamed.

His friends didn’t really register it until they came into view and saw for themselves. Once more I saw horror form in a person. The first to notice us shifted his weight, ready to run back whilst stumbling. All three bolted out into the courtyard and through the gap in the wall to the outside world. We gave chase, panicking about what we should do. We soon realised why they had suddenly appeared in the dead of night and stopped us from opening the door earlier.

They had been chased down all the way up here, finally, it had them caught.

*-*-*

Jet black fur, so dark it was difficult to see without the torchlight. It was the size of a bear, but had the features of a dog. This was no mere wolf.

Eyes of pure moonlight that delighted in the taste of blood. This was an alpha, born to rule and kill violently. It’s minions followed suit, pouncing on the other two that were still reeling from the discovery of us.

Just the sound alone was enough to churn the stomach, bones cracking and skin being ripped apart as the beast gnashed and gnawed away, pulling meat from man. And the screams, harrowing screams that still echo in my mind now.

Three people came up this mountain and encountered a danger not seen in these parts for years. If they died before they could get back down then we would be safe for now… I knew all of this, it was logical to leave them there to die. In fact, it made even more sense in my head as others would come to look for them. They’d realise the wolves killed them and leave us alone. The correct decision was to let them die.

And yet I moved all the same. Striking the two smaller targets away from their dinners. All I could think of was the argument from before, how the Nightshade’s could’ve, no, should’ve “helped” those they killed. “I refuse to become a monster like you.” The words echoed through my mind.

The beasts recoiled back and growled at me. I’d need to take out the alpha to scare them off, and so my fist twisted in the air and connected hard on its skull. It didn’t even budge. But it took my attack as a challenge, changing its target from the now mangled corpse beneath it to me.

Before I had time to ready another hit it was on top of me, digging it’s claws into my stomach and plunging fangs across my neck. As kids we were told that vampires were near immortal, only killed by garlic, sunlight or stakes through the heart.

So why was this so painful? It started to feel like my senses were dulling, and even though I should have been able to throw it off of me it was useless. I was feeling weak. For the past two days I’d avoided my first taste of blood, little did I know how much the hunger had affected me.

Without the strength to move, all I could do was watch.

Fang approached flesh, and steel split skin. Instead of the sound of teeth ripping through me, I was greeted with a blood curdling screech. My attacker had become the attacked, impaled through the spine with a winged broadsword with a rose at its hilt. Aiyana stood beside me, splashed with canine blood and breathing heavily, facing the beast.

It died quick, whining whilst hopelessly licking its wound. The other two ran off, terrified of the sword wielding monster. They’d had their fill, with two dead and one survivor with a deep wound.

After resetting her breathing and checking that I was still alive, Aiyana turned her attention to the intruders, pointing the heavy blade towards them as the thick blood dripped off the edge. I could see she was struggling just to lift the steel, her eyes were still wet and filled with fear.

“10 years ago people came up the mountain and murdered my family. I’ve spent every moment since fearing that they would come back one day to take me as well.” Aiyana explained drying her eyes. I didn’t have a rebuttal. She continued, “Right now, I’m so scared I can barely breathe. They’ve seen us. And they will go back down the mountain and bring more people to kill us if we let them go.”

I was back on my feet, struggling to find an argument against her, but, she was right. “We can’t just kill her! For gods sake she’s a human being! Besides, there’s no guarantee she would tell anyone!”

Aiyana was quick to reply, “I lost everything to human beings, all because they feared us. You and I know they will come here if they find out, the only way we survive, is to kill her now.”

“Wait!” I shouted, but my legs gave out, I couldn’t reach her. Aiyana lifted the sword high as the survivor pleaded with her.

Yet her words did not stop the vampire. “I’m sorry. But I can’t let you live.”