ON A DARK NIGHT

     Kathy heard something outside the house. A soft scraping sound that kept repeating over and over with a minute or two of silence in between the sound. She felt a stab or two of fear then pushed the feeling down inside. She had nothing to fear. Yes, it was near 1 AM but so what. Kathy was a night owl and spent nights working on her novels. Night was the best time for her creative juices to flow and when she came up with her best writing. So, Kathy felt she had nothing to fear. She lived in a rural area and there were few strangers about. But she knew that didn't mean that no strangers would ever show up with malicious ideas in their minds.

      The scratching sound came again, louder and more persistent now. Kathy gave up on her writing. She would need to solve this mystery before she could concentrate again. She got up from her computer and went to the window of the little room she used as her office. On the way there she turned off the light in the room so she could see outside. Beyond the backyard was a forest which she had often explored. Lots of trees and a small stream meandered through it. Deer, foxes, coyotes and lots of smaller mammals lived in the forest. In the forest also were many small hills and valleys and a meadow full of wildflowers during the spring and summer months. Nothing there for her to worry about. Even the occasional black bears that passed through the forest wouldn't come up to the house and scratch at the structure.

     Kathy took a deep breath and was about to turn away when the scratching sound came again. She couldn't help making a little gasp. The sound was coming from just below the window that she was standing in front of. She took a step back then got her courage and went to peer down through the glass. She saw a shadow moving amongst the shrubs growing outside the window.

     “Jeez!” Kathy hissed thinking there really is something outside scratching at the house. A god damned trespasser. Kathy went and grabbed her shotgun from the hall closet and headed for the front door, the closest door to where the window was located. No way was she going to let someone hang out and try to break into her house!

     She opened the front door and stepped outside onto the porch, shotgun held at the ready. “Who ever you are get the hell off my property! I will shoot you if you don't!” She yelled loudly. Then she waited.

     There came from the dark shadows a raspy hissing sound that sounded suspiciously like a hideous laugh. That made Kathy even madder. She went down the porch steps and headed for the location where she had seen the shadow.

     Something was there, she could see it. It was moving but not away from her but toward her. Kathy felt her heart leap but kept her cool. She would shoot the sucker, shoot to kill. She wouldn't give whoever this was a chance. They already had their chance. She kept the shotgun at the ready.

     The shadow came closer, moving with a weird humping motion, like its legs were disfigured or something. It was making strange raspy sounds. Kathy noticed two small lights bobbing up and down as it approached her. She stopped to wait for it to reach her. She would stand her ground.

     “Show yourself.” she called out.

     And it did. The thing stepped into the light radiating out from the back door. Kathy took one look at it and almost dropped her shotgun, her shock at the appalling sight was so powerful. It wasn't human but something awful and decayed looking. Its eyes were a sickly glowing yellow, the lights she had seen. Its mouth was awful looking full of sharp fangs. Its skin was greyish in color and its hair was stringy. It straightened up and stood like a human. She saw it was wearing tattered clothing, clothing that looked like they were decayed too. Maybe it had been a human once upon a time but not any longer. It was a hideous looking thing. The creature moaned and lurched toward her, hands held out with fingers curved, long grey talons grew from the ends of each finger. It was attacking her!

     “God!” cried Kathy and she fired the shotgun at the approaching creature. She struck it right in the chest but that didn't stop the creature. It only hesitated a moment then came at her with a supernatural fast rush. It cried out as it did.

     Kathy stumbled backwards then turned to flee back inside her house. She was sobbing now, terrified beyond belief. This looked like some sort of nightmarish creature come from the nearby cemetery. A vampire! That's what it looked like!

     The vampire caught her by her hair and yanked her backwards. She fell and the vampire fell down on top of her. The struggle only lasted seconds. The creature was amazingly strong and compared to it, Kathy was incredibly weak. With a growling hissing sound it overpowered Kathy without effort. She hadn't stood a chance. She had dropped her shotgun but it wouldn't have done her any good. She had already shot the creature and it had had no effect on it.

     Kathy felt the fangs sink into her throat and felt the searing pain when the creature tore the flesh away. Kathy screamed in agony. The vampire lapped and sucked at the blood. Kathy moaned as she listened to the vampire drinking her life away. She couldn't struggle. The vampire held her immobile. A sort of peaceful feeling spread throughout her body and a soft comforting blackness crept in.

     Kathy's last thoughts were wondering if she was going to die or was she going to be turned into a creature like the one draining away her life.

Reviews

[Star Wolf]

I really enjoyed this well written vampire tale. It's riveting for sure.

[Black Cat Fever]

Very chilling. This is good horror reading.

[Wolf's Dark Song]

A rather eerie vampire story. Creepy too. Harkens back to the day when vampires were the living undead, almost mindless for just one thing, blood and were rotten creatures come back to life from the grave. Good work on this.