7Lorren Pierce... 'A Vampires Tale'... Scene 7

A 15th century tale of a young man who inadvertantly becomes a vampire.

Lorren Pierce… ‘A Vampires Tale’… Scene 7

From a dream I awoke with a great start. My face was covered with sweat. Madelaine was kneeling over me and staring wildly into the wood. Yosev had his sword drawn and he too was searching the wood line. I tried to speak but Madelaine quickly covered my mouth with her hand.  Just then, Micah broke through the brush. His breathing was heavy and his eyes seemed to glow against the fire light. Surely this must still be the dream. My heart pounded with fear, and just when I thought I could bear no more, he spoke...

Micah- 'They're here!'

Yosev- 'How many?'

Micah- 'Two of theirs, one of ours.' he unslung his crossbow and tossed it to Madelaine.

Yosev- 'Raise the fire, we may need it.'

Micah- 'I'll take the tracker. You watch out for the other two.'

And then, strangely, he removed his shirt and ran off into the wood, and without the crossbow. I knew he was a strange fellow, but surely he doesn't think that he can manage with just his bare hands. Then there was a snap in the wood, coming from the opposite direction that Micah had gone. Then another to the side. There was a whooshing sound, like wind, yet not random like the wind. This had purpose... intent.

Madelaine- 'They're circling us.'

Yosev- 'Get ready.'

Lorren- 'I can fight. Let me...'

Yosev- 'Shut up and get down.' and he shoved me to the ground and stood over me, straddled, one foot on either side of me, eyes still on the wood.

And then I heard it... growling and baying in the distance... like two animals waged in a mighty, bloodied war. Their screams of battle were fierce, and horrific. What manner of a beast could make such sounds? And then the sounds seemed closer... just beyond the wood line... just beyond sight.

Fear grabbed me. I reached for the hunting dagger on my belt, still intent on playing my part in defense against these foes. Then out of the dark, from what appeared to be nowhere, an image of a man leaping over the flames, sharp teeth exposed in the fires light. It grabbed Yosev from over my body and leapt back into the wood with him, gone.

Madelaine- 'Father!!' she screamed.

She came to stand over me, staring in the direction that her father had just disappeared. But she would not stare long, for without warning the whooshing sound came. Another form of man from behind and out of the dark delivered a crushing blow to the side of Madelaine's head and drove her to the ground. She lay motionless, lifeless, just as my family had lain so long ago.

He looked down to me. He grabbed me by the front of the shirt and lifted me to the very tips of my toes. He smiled triumphant. He opened his mouth to show he too had sharp teeth. The other hand, filled with my hair, jerked my head back, and he sank those teeth into my neck. I cried out at the pain as the blood was being drained from my body.
I could not break free from him. He was too strong. With one last effort, though I believed it to be in vain, I brought my hands up as fast and as hard as I could with what little strength I had would allow. The dagger in my hand pierced the flesh of his chest and he released me. I fell to the ground hard, head against rock, and lay in a daze.

My vision was blurred. I thought I was in some dream like state, for next to me now kneeling over me with hands covering the wound in my neck, was Madelaine. Blood stains streaked her hair and the side of her face. She was weeping. Yosev and Micah, blood stained as well, stood by the fire.

Madelaine- 'Father, he's dying.' Yosev looked at the ground, but said nothing.

Madelaine- 'Father, do something!' still weeping.

Yosev- 'What would you have me do then?'

Madelaine- 'Save him.'

My vision had left me completely now. Was this what it was like to die, to slowly drift into the dark? My hearing was still with me just before I lost all consciousness. I heard the sound of something being dragged and laid next to me. And then I felt something like flesh on my lips and a thick liquid substance spilling into my mouth, and then... all was dark....