Death, Come Near Me
The sound of glass shattering disrupted the silence of the night. A young girl, no more than 8 years old, woke up from the noise. Another argument? No, It was far too quiet to be that. She would've heard the sound of her mother and her husband, who happened to not be the girl's father, would've been in a screaming match followed by the sound of more things breaking. Next would've been a short silence and then a door slamming and finally, her mother crying. The girl laid awake as she tried to listen for whatever could've caused the sound that woke her up. She couldn't hear anything out of the ordinary, aside from the usual crickets singing their song or an owl trying to communicate with another. A thief, perhaps? Truth was, all her family had was just enough food that they wouldn't starve to death and a few garments to wear on their backs. Nothing at all luxurious and least of all, nothing of worth to steal. If it was a thief, they would likely be disappointed by what they found. Whatever made the noise surely must have left by now. The 8-year-old young child couldn't help but climb out of bed. When her bare feet hit the old wooden flooring of the house, it let out a low creak. Immediately she froze and looked in the direction of her bedroom door. A few short moments passed until the young girl decided it was safe enough to proceed.
With gentle footsteps, she ventured in the direction the original sound came from. Upon nearing the room where it came from she stopped. The house window in the living room had been completely broken with shards of glass littering the floor below it. As far as she could see, there wasn't anyone there, but she couldn't help but shake the feeling that whoever it was, was still inside the house. Her mind wandered and with each thought, her heart rate began to quicken. Who broke in? What did they want? Whatever it was, it couldn't be for anything good. The young adolescent tried to calm herself by taking multiple deep breaths in and out. However, it was for nothing when someone grabbed her by the arm aggressively. She nearly jumped out of her skin with an audible gasp. Her first instinct was to let out a scream, but whoever it was had spoken before she could.
"What the hell are you doing up, Elaina?" Serghei spat in detestment. He never was one to like kids and the truth was, he never wanted any. His grip tightened around the young girl's arm despite her best efforts to try and pull away from him. "You should be in bed, child." Again, he spoke with more venom in his voice. As usual, his breath reeked from his usual alcohol intake.
"I heard a noise, Now let me go. I'll go back to bed." Elaina spoke quietly, still struggling despite her futile efforts. She turned her face away from the stench that came from Serghei every time that he spoke. The more she struggled, the more desperate her attempts to escape from his grasp became. "You're hurting me.." Elaina whispered.
"You don't know pain, Girl." Her words caused Serghei to let out a disgruntled scoff. He began dragging her back to her room with heavy footsteps.
"I can walk, I don't need you to drag me." Elaina protested against her stepfather, who only became more displeased the more that the young girl spoke.
"Stop talking back to me, You insolent brat!" Serghei bellowed out, interrupting what little peace there was between the two. As though on cue, whoever had broken into the house was directly behind Serghei. It was as though he was called out by the man screaming at the young child. Sharp fangs were sunk into Serghei's neck from behind, he screamed out once more. This time it was more from pain than it was anger.
While Serghei was being attacked by whoever, or whatever it was, Elaina was able to break free from his grasp. She fell back, trying to crawl away from the creature. Although she did try to scream out, she found herself not even able to do that. All Elaina could do was watch as the blood was drained from her stepfather. Despite the fact, she held no love for the man who was her stepfather she never wished for him to be murdered. She may have hated him, but she didn't think that he deserved this. Elaina began quivering as she watched the scene in front of her unfold.
Aalis and Ryia, Elaina's mother and half-sister, came running out of their rooms due to Serghei screaming. By now, they have become much quieter. Both of the women were met with the gruesome sight of something humanoid-looking creature feasting on the blood of Serghei. On Instinct, they both screamed out which in turn made the creature look at both of the females who had let out the ungodly noise. A grin that could match only that of the devil himself spread across the creature's lips. He had dropped Serghei to the ground as his attention turn towards Elaina's half-sister, Ryia. The creature said nothing and continued his feast on her. He cared not for the audience, not like any of them would survive. At least, that was the creature's plan. He could not remember the last time he had a feast like this.
Soon as the reality of what was happening sunk in for Aalis, she finally reacted. She looked around the room for something, anything that would be of use. Her gray eyes falling upon a wooden chair at the dinner table and picked it up. "I will only say this once, let my daughter go," Aalis demanded, only to be ignored by the creature. Seeing that he didn't respond in the slightest, she used the chair to swing at the intruder. Upon impact the only thing damaged was the chair, which had fallen apart completely. The thing feeding on Ryia didn't even react before he dropped her corpse to the floor as well. Whatever blood remained in Serghei and Ryia began pooling around both of their bodies.
Elaina's pulse was once more racing, her breathing becoming irregular as bloodshed went on around her. She couldn't quite understand what was happening before her, it was unlike anything she had ever seen. Tears stained her face, turning her attention towards Ryia. Elaina could feel her nausea building at the death all around her. What was seconds seemed like minutes and what was minutes seemed like hours. Even a scream didn't seem to be able to snap the young girl out of her state of shock.
All she could do is watch as the humanoid creature began feeding on her mother, her mother staring back at Elaina as she mouthed a single word. However, it didn't register, causing Aalis to mouth the word again. When Elaina still didn't move, Aalis finally spoke aloud. "Run!" Hearing that single word brought the girl back to reality only for a few brief moments.
"M-Momma?" Elaina managed to say, through a quivering voice. She watched as the woman who cared about her went limp, the life fading from her eyes and darkness claimed her soul. "Momma!" Elaina cried out. She tried to run towards her mother but ended up being intercepted by the person, or thing responsible for her loss. She was the only one left, and Elaina knew there was nothing she could do.
Her eyes met with the creatures, which seemed to stand out vividly in the darkness. For the most part, they appeared to be a dark red, nearly black. Its pupils glowed a crimson red in a catlike fashion. When she looked into the things eyes, she could see no soul, only the desire for blood and to kill. They were eyes that she knew she would never be able to forget. Elaina stopped breathing momentarily, as though that would do anything to hide her from the predator before her.
After a few seconds later, her mother's words played back in her mind. She began running towards the front door but once more the creature blocked her way. Elaina couldn't help but how the thing before her could move so unnaturally fast. There was no humanly possible way for it to do so. It began walking towards her slowly as Elaina looked around. She tried to find a way out, any which way she possibly could. Nothing, there was absolutely nothing she could do. Elaina knew she would soon meet the same fate as her mother and half-sister. She was trapped and she knew if she tried to run from the predator, it would only manage to find her within seconds. Tonight weighed heavy on her chest but knowing that it wouldn't be too much longer till she saw those she loved gave her some semblance of solace. A wicked grin spread across the creature's blood-stained lips.
The loud bang of the front door being kicked open caught the attention of the young girl and the predator. Two men that she had never seen before entered the house, adorned with various weapons. In what she could see through the darkness of the night were various pieces of silver in the shape of arrowheads as well as a multitude of chunks of pointed wood. In their hands, they held a crossbow. While the creature had become distracted by the two newcomers, Elaina quickly found a place to hide inside the lavatory nearby.
One of the two-man aimed his crossbow at the creature and released the arrow. It went flying through the air but just as the arrow was about to pierce through the heart of the bloodthirsty abomination, it dissipated into a black fog and vanished. Seeing that he had missed, the man grumbled, "Damn Vampires and their disappearing acts.." He let out a sigh. "I'll search for any survivors, See if the thing is still around will you?" The man ordered, clearly the leader between the two.
The second of the two simply needed and began searching the house to see if the vampire was still inside of the house or if he had truly disappeared. With each room that he checked, he had become slightly more annoyed that it was nowhere to be found. It seemed as though the bloodsucker truly did leave.
The first of the two men searched for any survivors while his companion searched for the vampire. He searched through each of the rooms thoroughly, including the tinier spaces. A solemn expression fell on his features when he spotted the three corpses within the dining room. He couldn't stop a soft sigh escaping from his lips. The sound of something dropping nearby caught his attention. His immediate thought was to look to see where his companion was, thinking that it may have been him. However, he decided that the sound came from a different source as it had come from a direction some ways away from where the second man was. He raised his crossbow and began creeping towards the room that was the source of the noise. Once in front of the door, he opened it slowly, getting ready to attack if need be. The sight of a terrified little girl allowed him to lower his guard. "Hey there…" He spoke softly, crouching down. "It is safe now." He reassured Elaina. "What is your name??" The man asked.
The young girl looked around before looking back at the man. She thought everything over and tried to determine if this man was someone she could trust. The fact that he was armed to the teeth was a little offputting, but her gut told her that she could indeed trust this man. What harm could telling him her name be anyway? "Elaina. My name is Elaina Van Angeline." She whispered before she let her curiosity get the best of her. "Who are you?"
"Gavril. I am a vampire slayer." The male smiled softly, before standing back up. "Seeing as though you are the only one left alive, is there any adults you can stay with? Any aunts, uncles?" He asked, tilting his head.
"N-No… No one.." Elaina looked down. She really was the last one to remain, wasn't she? That knowledge weighed heavy on her heart. Although physically she could breathe just fine, emotionally it felt like she no longer could.
Gavril thought over what she had just said. She admitted that she was alone in this world now. "I can offer you Sanctuary if you would like." He offered. All he got as a response from Elaina was a nod and a small smile of thanks. After both Gavril and Elaina had rejoined the second man, all three of them had left.