Blood Reign

Blood trickles down her tender throat, she screams but no one hears them. She struggles to break free from the creatures grip, but it's useless it will not let go until her body becomes limp as a rag doll. She begins to feel drowsy: her vision begins to dull as she slowly passes out in the creatures arms. The last thing she hears before she faints is the sound of a door opening, and footsteps, followed by a horrible ear-piercing shriek. The young woman falls to the ground and lays there unconscious.1

A few days later she awakens to find herself in a bed. "Where am I, and how did I get here" she asks no one in particular, since she is the only one in the room. The young woman sits up in bed; there is a sharp pain on her throat, she touches it and sends another wave of pain. There is a knock on the door, "Come in" she exclaims. The knob turns and the door swings open, a young woman stands in the doorway with a platter of food and a glass. She's lovely, her hair is like spun gold, eyes like the shimmering sea, a beautiful face that can drive any man crazy, and she appears to be a maid by the look of her clothing. "Good morning my lady, how are you feeling" she asks in a kind voice with a brilliant smile on her face. "Well, I am feeling much better, but my neck stings really bad. May I ask what happened" she asks the maid. "I do not know, I am but a simple servant girl, you could ask Master Collins, he may know. After all he is the one that found you" she announces. Her expression changes suddenly. "What’s wrong" asks the young woman. "Oh, I heard rumors that you were attacked by a demon that almost drained you of your blood" exclaims the maid. "You mean a vampire" asks the woman. "Don't be silly, there are no such things as vampires, if you say that around here you are surely to get thrown into jail. We are but peaceful people, most folks are afraid of the word; you must not speak it especially around the elders. They tell tales of people being attacked and dragged into the woods long ago, the recovered bodies they say had two odd punctures on their throats" as she finishes her story. "But I thought you said that vampires are just myth, that they do not exist" asks the woman. "Aye, but the elders believe in this nonsense, there are something’s in this world that should not be meddled in and this is one of them" she states as she places the platter on the small bedside table. She turns around to leave when there is a light knock on the door. The maid continues to the door and opens it to face a tall man dressed in an eloquent grey suit,long dark hair cascades down onto his shoulders, deep grey eyes stare from beneath the wandering strands. "Ah Master Collins it's good to see you again" exclaims the maid. "My little Emily, it has been a long time hasn't it. How long has it been, three, no four years" asks Collins? “Try five years sir. You haven't changed a bit, as handsome as ever" she answers as a smile comes across her face. "You are almost the same, but only older and more beautiful than ever" says Collins. "Oh stop, you are embarrassing me in front of our guest Master Collins" exclaims the maid, her face is scarlet red. "Uhem, if you two are done flirting, can you tell me what happened to me" asks the woman in bed. "Oh sorry, I forgot to properly introduce myself, my name is Thomas David Collins, I am the master of this estate" he exclaims. "My name is Holly Chalmers; it's nice to meet you. Can you tell me what happened, that is all I want to know nothing else" she asks with a growing frustration. "Well, um...Emily can you leave the room for a moment or two I need to speak to this young woman in private. You understand" he says. "I perfectly understand sir" she announces as she goes through the door. "Oh and do not try any of that funny business or you will be sorry. That means no flirting with her like you did to all the other young maids." she says to him. "That is why a lot of them left this house in search of work elsewhere" she directs the statement toward the bed-ridden woman. "That is enough out of you for now Emily" he shouts. "Yes sir" she says biting her bottom lip. She leaves the room slamming the door. "I wonder what side of the bed she woke up on this morning or even if she woke up in the bed at all" he suggests. "I heard that" she hollers from outside the door. "Anyway let's get down to business shall we" 2

He grabs a chair from the corner of the room and sets it beside her bed, then drops onto it. He continues to stare at her, "well" she exclaims, "Well what" he asks, "Are you or are you not going to tell me what happened" she says becoming quite flustered, "Forgive me, alright I’ll tell you" he says with a smile spreading across his face. Something about him she does not like, he's a weird man, nothing like the others she met traveling around the country in her coach.3

He begins by telling her about some things that have been occurring lately, about vampires attacking people after about twenty years of peace; supposedly a tract was made a few years back, the vampires agreed to feed on humans, but not to drain them of their blood completely, and to not create more of their kind. But a few weeks ago, vampires attacked villages, but these ones seemed different, they didn’t really have a human form, most look like demons, some fly, and others have legs like spiders, a vast amount of new species of vampire started storming from the mountains. The vampire lord had no clue were these beasts came from, they were not of his noble blood, and he said they are of foul blood, tainted by poison, which must cause their mutation. But he did have a clue of who may have spawned these beings, a vampire that was sent into exile about two hundred years ago, he was cast into an abyss that used to be in a large forest that bordered one of the many swamps. His name was Darrok, he was one of lord Gulden’s elite vampires, one of the first created by him, nearly two centuries before. He was banished from his land for attempting to experiment on Halflings or better known as fledglings (newly born vampires), he would experiment with their bodies, altering their appearance, he was caught doing these tests, the subjects were in pain, so they were destroyed, he was damned, and thrown into the swirl pool of black water, screaming in agony as his flesh began to burn and peel off his body, screaming in pain, trying to grab a hold of something that wasn’t there, then the waters sucked him down, that was the last time he was seen, until recently.4

One day a vampire limped through the castle doors into the main chamber, blood leaked from all over his body, he said that Darrok had returned, but he did not look like he did before, the water was to blame for that, his flesh was apparently gray like the moon on a cloudy night. The vampire died in the throne room, his body was studied; his blood had some unknown genes in it, some kind of new plague that possibly could mean the downfall of the vampire race, and the human race as well. It’s been only a week since the valley was overrun by these vile creatures, such lowling beasts that should be disposed of immediately and without hesitation. The plague has traveled over about twenty miles so far as anyone knows from the dark forests, possibly some folks on the roads were attacked, as well as caravans. There’s no way to be certain, most of the scouts do not return, and the ones that do are infected, they are disposed of before they can become a threat, information is leaked out of them, and then they are burned outside of the towns to prevent the spread of their disease. They are spotted often hiding amongst the trees and underbrush of the forest thicket, they only venture out to feed, but mostly to kill and spawn more of their kind. There aren't alot of ways to destroy them, unlike vampires, neither sunlight, water, or a stake through the heart has any effect whatsoever, anyways, he finishes the tale to take a short breather.5

"What about the thing that attacked me, was that one of those things" asks Holly with wonder shining in her bright blue eyes. His face begins to change, he turns his head to stare into the darkening skies on the other side of the window; placing his hand squarely on his lap, shutting his eyes as he does so. Holly just sits there with her hands folded, wondering what's with him, she opens her mouth to speak, but he speaks first "I will tell you, but there is something you must do for me" no smile spreads across his face, what a relief she thinks, she thought he wanted something from her, good thing it wasn’t that. He opens his eyes, light flickers off the grey turning them a deep lightning blue, "It was the day that I had just returned from London, I had a thirst that the nearest pub could satisfy", he's a drinker she thought, "So I stepped in, that is when I saw the beast (paying no mind to me or anyone around it, which was no one, because everyone had already fled screaming into the town)so I circled around and saw a body clasped in it’s menacing claws, the fangs injected deep into the flesh of the womans throat, without another thought, I removed my pistol and took aim, flipping back the clasp and pulling the trigger, the bullet made a fresh wound in the creatures throat, blood began to spurt out onto your limp body, the creature dropped you and jumped out the window into the daylight. Running to the door, I looked out, just in time to see the thing sprout wings and take flight, flying off toward the mountains" he finishes re closing his eyes. "Was it a vampire?... I can’t quite remember talking to anyone. I have no memory of what happened". They only thing she can remember is arriving in town, early in the morning.6