Twilight was calm in Nokesville. The sun set passively behind the spindly tall trees, as if content in knowing it would be allowed to rise the following morning, or perhaps relieved to be going elsewhere for a few hours. A coven of bats flitted around the house, chasing insects and curiously investigating the girl who sat on the deck's wooden railing.
She looked normal enough. She was slender and muscular, a result of daily runs on the treadmill, with a pretty face. A few oddities tarnished her appearance, eyes that were too purple to be normal, ears that were slightly pointed, and, when she smiled, her canines were a tiny bit too long. However, her pink lips, lightly tanned skin, and golden hair made her cute, even desirable, to those who could get passed her 'abnormalities'.
The bats were one such group. Their acute senses stretched beyond those of any humanoid, and as a result a few of the younger and bolder would venture so far as to land near the girl as their elders swooped and dove overhead.
"Come here," the girl cooed to one young and bold male. He crawled closer to her extended hand, sniffing her cautiously. His furry little ears twitched back and forth and he stretched forward with one leathery wing, tapping her finger with his claw, testing it. The girl laughed, a bell-like sound that made the little bat shrink back and begin to chatter in his harsh language.
"Radais!" a familiar voice said, in shocked tones. The girl turned around and all of the little brown bats took flight simultaneously, in response to her rapid movement. "Those rats could give you diseases! Now come inside and wash your hands!"
The speaker was Gregory, Radais' father. Radais nodded, sliding from the railing and heading inside the house. Gregory watched her keenly, making sure the girl washed with heaps of soap and practically boiling water.
When Radais was young, Gregory had been strong, young, and full of music. He had always been singing. His brown eyes had glittered with youthful vigor and passion. Now, nineteen years after Radais' first memories of the man, he was thin, worn, and seemed faded, like paper left in the sun. Even so, his eyes held a sparkle, like a flame trapped forever in topaz.
"How was work?" he asked, handing the now germ-free Radais a plate with pork chops, peas from a can, and Gregory' World Famous Garlic Mashed Potatoes.
"Work," she answered, taking the plate and a glass of tea to the table in the small dining room. Dinner was always nice in the house, relaxing and inviting. "But in just two paychecks I'll have enough to pay off the car."
"And then you can move out!" Gregory chuckled. He had convinced Radais to attend the local community college, where she was now a junior, with the promise of always have a place for her to live. And since she was still paying off her 2004 mustang, she would probably need his promise for a few more years.
Radais was proud that Gregory made her work for things. She had seen a lot of her peers crash and burn because they had no work ethic. Then again, most of them were dumb humans.
That was another thing that made the girl proud of her father. He had raised her kindly, instilling in her the knowledge of her heritage from a very young age. Kelpie, a Scottish water spirit, and elf. An interesting mix.
Despite this, Radais saw herself as human. Perhaps hyper-intelligent, she found that a great deal of humans were ignorant or just plain stupid. But, she also felt like a white bat among a coven of brown cousins, rare and unusual, but still the same.
"You'd hate the house without me, Greg," Radais said, swallowing a mouthful of potatoes.
"I'll have crazy house parties with the other professors."
Gregory was an art professor at a nearby liberal arts college, who taught sketching and basic drawing to freshmen.
The two talked over the rest of dinner. Radais brought up her need to visit the local library, and Gregory glared.
"You know I don't like when you go there. That platform could be dangerous Rad, you could get hurt and no one would find you!"
"Relax, Greg. Nothin' is going to happen. Now, I gotta go before they close. Bye!" With that, the girl whirled out of the house, into the car, and down the road. Something about driving made her feel good. Perhaps it was the speed, perhaps it was the control. All she knew was she hated getting out of the car.
The library was a building that sat, squat and brooding, on a street corner in the oldest part of the town near Radais' country house. It was clearly an ancient being with stucco walls spotted with black where the paint had chipped off or gum, placed by neighborhood kids, had rotted. It had been built over an old train station, and there was a trap door located, ironically, in the adult mystery section. Radais had discovered it several months ago while walking through the shelves.
When Radais stepped inside, the librarian, a scrawny dinosaur of a woman with short, dark hair and small eyes, reminded the girl that the library would close in twenty minutes. She politely nodded, but said nothing.
The scenic route, through the romance and horror sections, was devoid of people. Good, Radais thought, Easier when no one is around. She found the trap door easily, and lifted the heavy wood boards quietly, lest the librarian hear her. Steadily, with practiced motions, she swung her legs into the black pit and dropped into the tunnel and the platform.
On her first journey, the platform, the tracks, and the adjoining tunnels had seemed sinister and creepy. Now, even with golden light from her lanterns, the place was sinister and creepy. Ghosts of cobwebs littered the ceilings and cinderblock walls, which were coated with some kind of thick dark paint, the color of dried blood. Radais, in truth, didn't really know what drew her to the place, but she loved it. It was mysterious and cold, and her sense of adventure piqued whenever she was down in the platform.
A noise rang out from one of the tunnels, the sound of footfalls. Radais froze, fear momentarily gripping her heart with icy hands. Her mind caught up, and she convinced herself it was probably a rat, or possibly a bat. What if it's hurt? She dipped down to the ground, picked up one of her lanterns, and started down the tunnel.
The walls of the place were coated with some kind of slime, and as Radais quickly found out, so was the floor. The flagstones were uneven, as if the paver has carelessly tossed the rocks into place, and the addition of the slick mucus made the footing especially poor.
"Sorry thing better be dying," she grunted as she stepped over a particularly nasty spot. She paused for a second, and a sort of gurgling noise reached her ears. How odd. Her lantern cast its light upon the slick walls and she searched for movement.
Several steps later, the girl slipped in the ooze, almost falling. She managed to save herself from a wipe-out, but she dropped her lantern and it went rolling backward, toward the mouth of the tunnel, leaving Radais in almost complete darkness. The gurgling noise stopped and silence encroached on the girl. Then, the sound of heavy footfalls echoed through the tunnel. Radais scrambled toward the lantern.
A sound, a cross between a wolf's howl and a hawk's scream, exploded in the tunnel, sounding way too close for comfort. Radais stopped, turned around, and just enough light shone through the slime-covered tunnel that she could see her assailant.
The creature was tall and thick with muscle, with slimy, dark green skin that was covered in brownish-red boils. Its face was similar to a frog's, with wide green eyes and an even wider jaw. Sharp little teeth, coated with fresh wet blood, protruded from the thing's diseased gums. It was close. Way, way too close. And it was getting closer.
Its rancid hot breath rained down on her. She turned and tried to flee, but the slime brought her down. She heard the unmistakable sound of her head hitting stone, felt a harsh blow to the back of her skull, and the world became fogged. Her consciousness was slipping away. A flash of red passed in front of her eyes, followed by the sharp sound of either stone or bone breaking. Radais discounted the noise as delirium, and even as she felt the hot breath of the creature on her face, she passed out, into concussious dreams.