Disclaimer: The plot belongs to the author, but the characters belong to Moonton as the respective creator.
This is a short story to begin with, please enjoy.
Old Mansion of the Hill
(H.H.H)
Somewhere in an unnamed hill, an old mansion laid still. The hill was nameless, simply called 'The Hill' even though it had presented since the rise of the empire. It was said as a place of a slumbering ancient vile creature of the night. Thick forest was strewn over The Hill, but the green scenery was belied from a layer of mist, which almost seemed to be unnatural fog. And thus, nobody dared to set foot there let alone traverse deep into the heart of the forest or venturing to the hilltop. Mysteries remained there in the forest and secrets were kept deep within The Hill, even until eternity it should be so, had not a brave man came by to unravel the secrets.
T'was night, the crescent moon shone dimly with the thick fog covered the whole hill, daily it was so. A man in green coat was venturing in the cold air of this eerie forest, with only a single billowing flame he held to guide him. The chill gust blew his blond hair softly and his cold glaring eyes keenly stared to the front. A shape of golden eagle on the back of his coat gave hint that he was not on a trivial task nor he was an ordinary man that night. His white shirt beneath the green coat was drenched in sweat, also his green coat was stained by red blood, so for his black trousers. At a first glance, he had done murder. Yet that was a part of the truth, because the truth was he had slain one of the creatures of the night, vampire. The legend was correct after all, The Hill was den of those abominable blood-drinking undead.
Exhausted he was perhaps, yet beneath the face-covering part of his coat, he gritted his teeth hard. A group of them, twelve vampires were dead by his green long gun with golden rim. They were not savage, intelligent they had and they even lived within an orderly cave. With metal weapon, bows, guns in their disposal, the slaying task was not easy to be finished. He had to sacrifice half of his bullet reserves, a lot of his strength had to be used. Now he was looking for a shelter for the night, the coldness with exhaustion had him decided to remain there for the night. But none of those trees could provide him warmth, and the cave he had visited earlier was far away from him.
But, in his sight a form came to. A shape of house was there in the midst of a clearing on the hilltop. He did not even realize he had climbed the hill slope thus far. Slowly, the size of the house became clearer, a mansion it was. Tall, rusty metal fence stood in front of him, judging from the condition he could tell the mansion was a derelict one.
Something regarding the twin gate picked his interest. It seemed the gate was unlocked for an unknown reason. He opened it ajar, a creaking sound of weary metal enlightened him how time had weather the eerie mansion. It was opened wide enough for him to enter, thus he strode forward into the mysterious mansion.
As the front gate was, the twin door was left unlocked. Slowly, he opened the worn wooden door, and then warily entered the front part of the mansion. A twin spiraling stairs was there in the large room in front part, and three old weary doors were waiting for him at the far end of the room. There were table and chairs for guest he assumed, he would sit there and tarry here for the night if he knew whether this place was truly empty or something lurked within. His gun set it's gaping mouth towards the front as he proceeded deeper into the darkness, it was fortunate his torch was still burning bright.
"Old it is indeed. Warily I shall go." His raspy voice remarked the mansion. Within the hallway, he walked softly for his ears were opened wide. He could only see a few cubits ahead, thus he should listen to any danger that might snare him. Alas, he knew igniting the candle would invite unneeded menace either from the forest or even within the mansion itself. After a certain distance he had passed, a painting caught his eye. A portrait of a beautiful young woman in blue dress, white gloves, matching color hat, and a rose ornament on her hair. Her brown hair with brown eyes only added the alluring beauty of hers. He became still for a few moments, entrapped by the sheer beauty that was perpetuated. Not only was he got himself enticed, he also remembered the beautiful princess or his fellow woman comrades in arms. Soon, he shrugged of such thoughts, he reminded himself he was in an unknown place, thus such place was not for such thought, and also he was not interested yet for relationships.
Despite his best effort to remain focused, he could not let go the thoughts of the woman, she must be the lady of this mansion he assumed so. Yet, how could such living place could be built here, The Hill where creatures of the night dwelled? If she had been one of the aristocrats, he would have heard words regarding her, especially a lady with such beauty. But there was none regarding her, let alone her name. Curious he was, driven by such curiosity now he would explore to investigate further.
Then, he came to a metal door, larger and menacing than the others at the end of the hallway. The big black door was beckoning him to open it, with his curiosity to sate, he attempted to open it by pulling it, yet it did not budge. "It is sealed." He remarked, as there was a sigil upon the door, not only common lock was placed upon it. And there was only one solution to the obstacle, he aimed his gun and pulled the trigger to the keyhole, a few loud banging noises stirred the silence, and the lock was broken. It was good for him that his gun was able to penetrate magical seal. Then a stairs heading to Hades laid itself before him, it seemed this hallway led none to upper part of the house.
He made his way, descending the old stone stairs. A stale scent greeted his nose, permeating in the chamber air, typical for an old place such as this. He wondered if this place had relation to the legend circling around this hill, and he hoped that this underground chamber would yield answer to his curiosity. Perhaps a little imagination would suffice to give him warning of impending danger down there. As what he had heard from his fellow Monastery comrades, The Hill was where a vile creature, a vampire he speculated laid in a slumber, not only a place for common vampires to gather. Yes, he as the Monastery's gunman who executed those who were evil was given a task here in a dangerous area alone. He was a capable man himself, yet if the legend was true then he might find his own demise here, as an ancient vampire was not a foe to be fought alone. It was an irony indeed that he was curious yet he hoped none of it was true.
He steeled himself, as his feet no longer felt any stairs. The underground chamber was quite spacious, enough for him to stand tall and wide space remained above him, and dozens of man could fit there. The darkness veiled the entire chamber, thus he found those candelabrums on the wall and he lit the dusty unused candles. Every candle across the room he ignited, until the room was dim yet everything was bright enough for him to set sight upon and thus he put his torch on a torch stand on the wall. The chamber was a plain sight to see, grey stones were the floor and the wall was painted in smooth grey as if it was for naught he went down here.
In the middle of the chamber, there was a coffin kept there alone on a stone pedestal, high enough to reach a man's maw. Immediately he became curious but wary of a strange placement of a casket, instead of being buried in cemetery he saw one here. He came closer to the coffin to see it clearer with his gun remained on guard, after all the legend might be true of a slumbering vampire. Right beside the coffin he was, and then his hand rubbed the surface slowly, feeling the dusty yet smoothly carved wood. There was an engraving on the coffin lid his finger sensed, a writing it was. A name it was, 'Carmilla Ansaac' was the one which the coffin for. He saw back to his memories to find any clue regarding that name, yet he found naught. It was a new discovery for sure.
Interesting enough, there was no lock placed upon the coffin. Using the fact, he heaved the lid which was quite heavy and opened the coffin fully. To his surprise, within the coffin laid the body of the lady the painting depicted earlier albeit her body looked different somehow, solemnly her eyelids were closed and her arms in metal gloves were crossed upon her chest. From the coffin size, her seemed to be tall body was clad in a beautiful red dress and a winged-rose ornament was on her white hair which he noticed were not so in the painting, enhancing her already beautiful pale skin. Suddenly, an alarm rang in his head. Her corpse should have been centuries old, yet what he saw none of those decaying signs on her body. He immediately grasp the lid to seal the coffin in haste, he realized she was the slumbering vampire whom he did not want to trifle with by himself as it was the same as a suicidal wish to continue.
All of a sudden, a hand grasped his wrist, ceasing his attempt to close the coffin. Alas, Pandora Box had been opened and it could not be closed anymore. His eyes widened upon seeing her crimson blood eyes opened. He tried to release his hand from her iron grip, yet it failed miserably. "Ugh!" He winced in pain as she clenched his wrist harder and harder. Her crimson orbs stared at him, as if wishing to consume him in an instant. Almost panicking, he replied with a gunshot to her heart. An explosive noise from his gun immediately cease her grip on his wrist, thus he backed away with a taught dash technique he knew. He calmed himself down, gradually his breathing became more stable, less ragged, but his wrist was still hurt from that deadly grip. He eyed the coffin sharply and his pistol was still aiming to that way, it was too soon to be over he assumed.
From the coffin, she arose and stood up in an instant as if a string pulled her up. The bullet he shot fell to the floor leaving only a hole on her dress, he stared closely to the bullet. Without doubt, she was a vampire, an ancient one to be precise. She stood elegantly on the stone pedestal, her hands were crossed on her chest, and her eyes stare coldly to him. "Who art thou, O mortal? Thus, thou dared irking my slumber." Her soft raspy voice wrapped in an old accent harbored her anger towards him. "I do not need to tell myself to such creature as you!" He was glaring at her sharply, just as intense as his agitated tone was.
"Whence cometh thou!?" She asked but he gave silence as answer. "Such an impudence, thou trespassed my domain, and indignant thou art! Hath I done deeds which offended thee!?" She snarled at him. "You are a creature of the night, letting you go I cannot!" His glare became even sharper, as he manifested obvious intention of slaying vampires. She smirked a bit upon hearing his purpose of intruding her mansion, interrupting her sleeping body.
"Thou art hunter of mine kind I tell, and thou hath cometh to slay mine soul, thou wilt deliver thy killing due of mine curse solely, didst thee?" She taunted him. In truth he knew confronting Carmilla was a mistake, yet it would be a bigger mistake to let her roam free, thus he had no choice. "If I may ask, why did you become the creature of the night? Human you were once I know." He asked regarding the reason she was turned into a vampire. "She became still for a few moments, the she set her eyes on him. "Why curious art thou? Thy question delved to mine past." Holding her chin, she questioned the sudden question. "I was wondering, why did you forsake humanity? You once were the lady of this house I assume." To his question, she answered with calm expression. "Very well, I know not thy true purpose of questioning me, yet I shall answer thee. Even though, it shall not turn thy heart, perchance thou shall find remorse." Looking downward, she remembered her past.
"I once was a noble lady of the very house thou stands. My father betrothed mine self for his gain. Yet, I met my true love, but fate sided not on me, made a tool I was for my father strengthening power. Wherefore, I ended my life. Notwithstanding so, my true love was one of the race thou seek to kill, thus he resurrected mine flesh with blood of his." Thus, she finished her story, and he nodded in response. "I see, a tragic story I say." He felt a tender moment from her story, yet it did not change the fact she had to be slain. Suddenly, she smiled which made him became alert in an instant. His instinct told him that a fight was soon to come about.
"Yet, thou shall not liveth to tell the tale." Magical energy surged within the underground chamber, two rose shaped orbs appeared and floated around her, two bat-like wings on her back were spanned menacingly. She came closer to him in almost a blink of an eye, levitating while the orb swirled around her, ready to hurt him. Without any thoughts, he rolled to his left and a barrage of four bullets was heading to her while he hunkered down. Three managed to sink inside her, yet it deterred her nothing from approaching him along his movement direction. She only smirked upon his futile attempt to kill her.
Without he realized, she was only two or three cubits away from him, he tried to run to the front as left to him was wall, but suddenly the rose orbs passed his body. He felt weak all of a sudden, as if a gust of wind had passed his chest cavity and had stolen his life force. "Ugh…w-wha..t?" He stuttered upon his words, those orbs must have caused this. The weakening was enough to distract him. Suddenly, her hand drove him to the wall, forming a crack around where he was now pinned. The impact gave him pain on his back and chest, "Argh!" He grunted of the impact.
"Thou, mortal shall be mine supper for the night. Worry not, no longer tills death cometh to thee." She whispered to his ears, he did not listened as he was grasping the situation which happened too quickly in his eyes, not to mention he had not recovered yet from the orbs' effect. She opened her jaw wide, showing the pearly white twin fangs which were ready to be sunk on his neck. Her left hand titled his head rightward, exposing part of his savory neck. Thinking fast, he aimed his gun to her belly, quickly he pulled the trigger in point blank range. It worked, she was taken aback as she yelped in pain, and a hole had been carved through her abdomen, as his gun was designed to fire twice the power on sixth shot. He seized the chance, he ran to the stairs in rush without even stealing a glance for a second.
He shut the metal door leading to the underground chamber, immediately afterwards he ran to the front door in haste. He grabbed bullets in his coat pocket, and then he reloaded his gun quickly even though it was dark but he knew his gun well. The long hallway seemed to be endless as it was shrouded beneath the night's influence, without his torch to bear the guiding flame which was abandoned near her coffin he would find more obstacles to flee.
"After all of these, have to find Alu-" A blast from behind landed upon his back cut his sentence, knocking him down with a thud and his gun was sliding across the hallway, far from his reaches. Everything seemed strange in his sight, the wall swayed and the floor felt tender somehow. "Damn it!" He muttered, not that he was in pain, but he was disoriented, deprived of his senses. He was lying, prone on the floor, his elbows tried to lift his body up yet it was hard. Twice she had him, this was the second time he fell to her tricks, and he would suffer consequences of it.
Sounds of high-heels echoed from the way to that metal door, in the darkness there she was walking in elegant manner, noble-like one. Her hips swayed to the left and right as her long legs in black stocking prowled forward towards her prey. Her dress had high split which only added the allure of her supple legs should he saw her, the flounce was a good complement to overall of her dress. He turned his body, lying on his back to see her presence came near. In the dark hallway he managed to catch a glimpse of shape, frantically he crawled backward while keeping an eye to her. He felt being played with by her because she could have caught up to him without very much effort judging from how quick she had been in the underground chamber. Yet, she prowled slowly like a cat toying with a helpless mouse. It seemed she would find an amusement of him before she turned him to her meal.
"I commend thee, O mortal for thy tenacity. Wherefore so, I shall not deem thee low anymore. Notwithstanding so, I thirst for blood, and thou shall suffer for thy trespassing." She was only a few cubits away, her menacing glare stared right to his eyes, and her right hand was holding her chin and her left hand were on her belly, waiting to grasp him. Seeing his demise right in front of his helpless body, he found clarity in the midst of confusion in his head. He remembered there was a certain spell he knew, a simple spell to be used even for those who did not have magic affinity. He thought this was his only chance and he will make use of it.
"Purify…" He muttered, focusing his energy to his head. Immediately, soft green glow shone on his body for a moment, all of that lethargy and dizziness vanished. He managed to banish those detrimental states, and now he was ready once more to fight. Quickly he raised both of his legs and spun those in an arc, giving him momentum to stand up without even wasting a second. Not wasting a moment, he performed somersault backwards where his gun was lying on the floor. He landed just a foot away from his gun, luckily though he found it quick. He armed himself once more, he fired a barrage to the way of the high-heels-clicking sound came from while stepping back, the flash of the gunshot were enough to show him she phased through leaving a trace of shadow-like mist every time the bullet hit her. Yet, she remained calm, kept walking on a constant pace without being deterred nor agitated by the fact her ingenious prey once more displayed his craftiness.
"Thou hath desecrated tis dress of mine, thou shall not do the same. And I shall not underestimate thy armament any longer." She became wary of his weapon, it turned out that his offered more resistance than her preys centuries ago. Once his gun ran out of bullets, he dashed backward in a blinking manner. Behind him was the front chamber, where he entered them mansion from earlier, the exit was close yet somehow it will not be easy he knew. "Thou thinketh flee thou art able to, but I beg to differ. Thinkest not thou, thy fleeting breath shall last till dawn break." He heard the word 'dawn' as a whisper, without thinking he turned his back around, looking to the front door, switching his sight from the dark hallway.
She was there, standing in front of the front door, barring his escape route. The high window let dim moonlight to enter the mansion, and he saw her presence quite clear. "This is bad." He muttered upon his plight, he had to find an alternative route, or at least take her down here and now. But the latter option seemed nigh impossible for the moment, she could avoid his bullets with ease, which was his only way to resist his demise. Thinking quick, he took off to the other hallway adjacent to that one which headed to the underground chamber while he was filling his gun back with bullet since she seemed did not give chase anymore.
He was confused where he should seek hiding place, as the whole mansion was strange to his knowledge. It would be a gamble, but it was his best effort to try each door he even could not see, to know which was opened and which was not. The space between each door was spacious he thought, because it took him a lot of effort to locate the next door in the dark. His palm frantically grasp the door knob, prying it open yet failed from door to door, then on the second room to the end of the hallway, he heard once more her high-heels drawing near. He was panic once more, thus he ran to the end of the hallway to find a stairs leading upward, and he ascended the mansion to find where he should hide.
Luckily, he saw a dim light at the end of the tunnel. Heading towards that light, he saw a shape of a door to the right side of the second floor. The stairs to the third floor should be somewhere else he guessed. A lone door at the end of the right side of this maze-like hallway seemed inviting. Thus, he held the door knob, and it was opened with ease. Inside, there was a round window where dim moonlight gave illumination, and there he saw a lavish bedroom. He shut the door quietly to avoid giving away his whereabouts, and then he headed to the bed side and hunkered himself down, calming his breath down and observing more of his surroundings.
The bedroom seemed filled with luxury, a vanity table was there which gave hint that perhaps this room belonged to Carmilla. Compared to him, Granger the Vagrant Poet, he did not have such privileged place to lay his head down. Yet he wondered why she would have loved such creature, and worse she even had become one. His countenance did not bear much of his emotion, yet within his head he had turmoil after hearing her story. But what had been done could not be undone, thus his resolution was firm, she had to be slain but first he had to find an escape route and find assistance from the Monastery, Princess Sylvanna would agree he thought, and Alucard probably would be eager to help him in this endeavor.
Summing up so far, he thought that this whole mission had complicated more than it should have been, how could such simple task of slaying vampires which not even close to A-level task dangerousness turned to be a game of cat and mouse, Carmilla and him, Granger were playing a game where he was the mouse instead of the cat he usually had been in past S-level tasks he took on alone. It was a mistake he thought, this whole idea of finding a good place to tuck his head. So now, he stood up once more and peered around the room, perhaps he would find something worth to be inspected.
A pendant caught his interest, a small golden pendant on the vanity table. He took it, and brought it near the window so he could see it better. Under the moon light, he opened the lid, and there was a picture of a man with black hair, crimson eyes, and pointy ears. No doubt, he was her lover she had mentioned earlier. A name was carved on the rim of the frame, 'Cecilion' was the word, and it must be his name he thought. He put the pendant back to the table, before he realized that the window was made of glass, thus he could probably open it somehow or even break it if necessary. Carefully, he peered close to the locked window frame, but despite being old he saw that the metal remained sturdy and had less rust. Thus he had to find a key to open it or break it with a shot. Though, the latter was a foolish choice, as it would definitely give away his location to her, not to mention she would outrun him in the forest, she could even fly with that pair of bat-like wings on her back.
"I perceive thy stench O mortal, and thy heartbeat bringeth to mind the savory taste of mortal's blood." Her sultry raspy voice rang across the hallway, whispery in his ears and instantly he went to hunker himself beside the bed to hide. The high-heels sound passed in front of her bedroom where he was, the sound became louder to his horror, he readied his gun, making sure if she found him he would be ready. For a minute he waited for her presence to come, yet she did not bust him out of his hiding spot. And her foot-steps became dimmer by each passing second, thus he let go of his held breath. It was a relief for sure. But sure he could not tarry there for the night and hope for the sun to save his neck from her fang lest she would find him easily.
His ear leaned on the wooden door, listening carefully to her presence whether she was near or not. There, he did not hear her steps anymore, thus he opened the door ajar, and it was clear enough that Carmilla was somewhere else. He thought this was suspicious as there would no way she could have missed him, perhaps it was intentional from her, and she probably was toying with him. Nonetheless, he had the chance to run and sneakily he traversed the hallway. He did not know where the twist and turn would take him, but at least he knew if she would be close. For a while, he walked in the dark, and then he heard her footsteps to his left, probably from another hallway to his left. Quickly he walked fast to the front, apparently the hallway was straight and there was a right turn, he turned there and became still. Till sign of her presence passed, now he head straight to the end. Right at the end, another staircase awaited, and he without hesitation once more ascended the mansion.
It was fortunate for him, that on the third floor there were a lot of windows, dim moonlight lit the way a bit. He did not hear any sound of her, so he thought perhaps he could drop tension in his head. The third floor was seemed to be the attic, as it was no longer hallway and maze. There was a lone cupboard in the far right of the room, and there was nothing more in this plain attic, which meant that he could hide little in this floor should she found him here. He scouted the whole room, scouring every wall he could touch in order to find an exit somewhere, as the window seemed out of option, not only those windows were firmly sealed, the mansion's height was simply too much to be scaled down and he did not have any makeshift rope, breaking those glasses would only bring her near.
"Where art thou, O mortal? Hiding is vain from mine sight." Her voice came from the staircase, he became alert instantly. He knew he was doomed if she were to find him here. In the dimly lit attic, he caught a glimpse of a door, but he did not know whether it was locked or not and if it were locked, would he force it open or not? Thus, there was little time, yet there were choices to take, what would be his next step? Hide here or should he run to another door at the right end of the attic as the staircase was at the opposite end. He could hear that she was ascending the stairs quickly. His heart beat faster and faster as she was drawing nigh. Somehow, his feet became stiff a little as fear started to gain a good grasp to his mind. He even did not know if he could slay her with his current gun, because his gun was sufficient to kill common vampires, yet the case would be different for her, an old vampire. Not only magic was in her disposal, she could withstand shots from his gun far better than common vampires. Fate was cruel that night for him he thought.
To be continued...
Note:
The author used Granger's skin, Bardic Whisper as his physical appearance and yeah, let's pretend that he forgot his rocket launcher, because in the game he has one, but for the story he did not bring it. So do not be confused with the description the author wrote. And yes, the author made Carmilla speaks in the story in early modern English or also known as Shakespearean English to signify her age and her heritage, after all she was a noble.