Author's notes:
Hey, I'd like to present the new story I wanted to write for some time. I hope you'll like, if not, please, let me know what I can improve :)
PS. The chapter should be finished up to the next weekend. Please, forgive me, but I'm so excited about this story that for the very first chapter, I'll be posting as much as I write daily.
As always, thanks for everything, and see you next time :D
Changelog:
2021-02-14: A preview was posted.
2021-02-15: Another part of the chapter was posted.
2021-02-19: The entire chapter was posted.
End of author's notes.
The long corridor was lighted by the dimmed crystals embedded into the walls. The manor owner's great-grandfather's creation was impressive. The subtle magic caresses her skin as she walks the manor halls, sending shivers down her spine. She hated that feeling. If she could have been somewhere else, she would have turned around in a blink of the eye. Sadly, there was a reason behind her arrival to the Victorian manor. With a heavy sigh, she tried to make any sense of the current situation. But it was challenging.
Evelynn's call caught her the moment she returned from work. Akali was exhausted beyond the usual understanding of that word. If it had been anyone else, she would have refused to come, but Evelynn was always an exception. Without thinking, the black-haired woman returned to her car and drove to her girlfriend as quickly as she possibly could. After all, it rare for Evelynn to call. Usually, she would have just come to Akali's office, asking her out. For dinner, walk, it really did not matter.
The raven-haired woman felt trapped. The enormously large manor was built at least 100 years ago. It was all Evelynn knew. Still, there might have been some details that her girlfriend did not know about. The entirety of the estate seemed to be clouded by some mystery, something dark. The sad part was that she could not name it appropriately. As if she could not grasp it entirely.
Footsteps made no sound here. The thick Persian carpet muffed everything. The enormously long piece of fabric covered the entirety of the floor here. Numerous paintings hung from the walls. There were some genre scenes presented there, but the majority of the images were portraits. The portraits lavishly framed, held faces of men with sickly pale skin, sharp features, sky blue eyes, and straight hair coloured fair. The portraits' collective gazes, cold as ice, cut into all who passed by. Akali felt as if she was being watched by them all the time. It was an eerie sensation that only reinforced the woman's concern. She needed to reach Evelynn's room as soon as possible. The quicker she did so, the quicker she could leave that place. It felt as if the manor was cursed.
Her girlfriend's room was located at the building's very top level. Frankly saying, it would be wrong to call it such. The entirety of the floor was Evelynn's. She could do anything she wanted with it.
After some time, she finally reached the stairs leading to the final building's storey. Never in her life, Akali felt so scared walking through the manor's halls. The feeling of being watched, being stalked could be hardly compared to anything she ever experienced. Some spiderwebs caught the woman's attention. Her heart started to pump the blood faster. Without an ounce of hesitation, she ran upstairs. If there was one thing that Akali knew about the blond beauty she got used to calling hers, was the fact that she was pedantic. Inside her quarters, or even near them, the dust, dirt had no place. She would either order the servants to clean it up or do it herself. Something was off. Her guts knew that. That feeling - that started to build inside of her once she picked up the phone – was getting stronger and stronger, slowly taking control over her body and mind.
It did not take her long to climb up. She was welcomed by the slightly ajar doors. Something was definitely off. Without thinking, the gun was pulled out of the packet. All of Akali's senses were on high alert, muscles ready to act, flexed, tensed. She came past the doors, ready to shot at any sign of danger. The remnants of the marble statuses lay all over the greenish carpet. A couple of red spots could be easily spotted on the fabric. It was not blood, about that, Akali was sure. The characteristic metallic aroma was not filling the air here. The raven-haired woman stopped for a few moments, sniffing as quietly as she could. The pungent smell of the red wine hit her nostrils a moment later. So, the source of the spots was known. It was wine. A few additional seconds were spared to inspect the hallway thoroughly. If there were wine's stains here, the glass should not be far.
Akali found the cracks soon enough. Most of the glass shards hid between the carpet's fibres, making it difficult to spot at first glance. However, the most intriguing piece was laying at the very end of the corridor. At the glass, the visible, fresh lipstick stain could be seen. It was Evelynn's favourite, she called it – Bloody Merry.
With every passing second, the raven-haired woman getting calmer and calmer. It could have been seen as strange, but it seemed her work finally found her beloved. Of course, she was concerned about her girlfriend's wellbeing, but the thoughts regarding that were pushed to the back of Akali's mind. If she has been right, she would have been soon faced with an extraordinary danger. She needed her mind to be calm to fight it.
She approached the door located at the very end of the hallway. All the time, her finger was lingering over the trigger of her trusted Colt. Truth be told, she was very sceptical about choosing M1911 over many other options, at least initially. However, as time passed, the raven-haired woman grew a fondness for that particular handgun. It had never let her down.
Step by step, the distance between her and the close door was vanishing. She felt like some sort of wild predator in the jungle. Akali was on a prowl. The problem was that she was yet to know what enemy would she face. The woman was so focused that she could swear at least a couple of breaths were missed by her. To some extent, her body considered the breathing to be an utter waste of time and energy. Only after her lungs had begun their demand for the fresh air, she noticed that occurrence. She took a deep breath, trying to calm down and regain complete control over her body.
Whilst still a couple of steps away from the passage leading to the adjacent room, new sounds began to be registered by her currently sharpened hearing. At first, the still-young woman was not entirely sure whether she actually heard something or it was just her imagination. The new sounds seemed to be a mixture of quiet groans, whines, gasps. Akali allowed herself to stop for a moment to make sure that she could still control her senses. For a fraction of a second, the ultimate silence ruled over the nearby area. The moment the woman wanted to proceed, the sounds returned, louder, coming closer. There was no doubt, this time. She heard the mixture of sounds clear enough.
As if the situation could not worsen, the storm decided to start its reign at that very moment. The lightning split the skies, soaking everything with a bright glow. It was being followed by the thunder that had shaken the area. The heavy raindrops began hitting the old shutters only a moment later. The difficult situation Akali found herself in quickly became as if taken straight out of the horror movie. The clear, loud creaking of old hinges reached her after some time. Someone was roaming around the floor, clearly seeking something. Inside the woman's throat, the huge gulp formed. She swallowed it as slowly and quietly as she could. There was no time for her to fear. She needed to act quickly. Somewhere there, her girlfriend might be taken as a prisoner. The goal was to set her free.
The door's handle was unnaturally cold. Even though it was made out of pure steel, it should not have been freezingly cold. As soon as her inner hand touched the metal, she wanted to withdraw it. It was evident that something supernatural was happening behind this closed passage. Akali opted to put a bit more strength onto the handle, opening the door slowly. In the imaginary world, it would have opened without making a sound. However, in reality, the loud, protracted squeal sounded. The raven-haired woman froze. There was no point in believing that her presence was not discovered. Most likely, someone or something that was lurking around knew about her way earlier.
Taking any advantage out of the given time of calm, she started to look around, trying to memories her surroundings. Sadly, it did not last long enough for her to find out anything important at all. The sound of shuffling of feet could be heard, coming from the right hall. The gun was immediately fixed onto the passage leading to the room. For the raven-haired woman, time seemed to die out, froze.
Irritatingly slowly, the door began to open. To Akali's utter surprise, one of the many maids working in the estate walked out from it. Just one quick glance over her from could tell her story, at least to some extent. Her uniform was ragged, damaged in some areas. The woman's left foot was probably twisted. She was shuffling it all over the floor. The blond strands were glued, soaked with most likely sweat. She was slightly tilted to the front, keeping her head low, allowing her fair to cover it entirely.
"Kathrine?" Akali slowly asked. "Are you alright? What happened here?" she continued to ask questions, slowly lowering her gun, allowing the maid to come closer.
It was a prolonged process, so she decided to close the distance herself. Strange, the woman did not reply to her call. Maybe she had problems currently with speaking, maybe. With every single step Akali took, the somehow familiar smell started to fill her nostrils. It was heavy, metallic, but she knew it. She was sure about that aspect, but she could not name in properly in the end.
The realisation descended upon her when the maid was a mere step away from her. Just around the corner, there was a large thick pool of red. It was, without a doubt, blood. The low, primal hiss escaped the blonde's throat, giving one last warning to the raven-haired woman. The sharp nails pierced through the fabric of her coat, pierced through the shirt, and buried deep into her flesh. Unnaturally firm hands began pulling her closer, deepening the already existing wounds. Kathrine lifted her head, revealing the bloodstain covering the entirety of her face. Her small, delicate lips were twitching. Some foam was dripping out of it.
Driven by her experience and instincts, the raven-haired woman used her gun to knock out the maid. Even though all strengths she could currently muster were put into the hit, all it accomplished was shaking the woman slightly. Thankfully, the nails were pulled out of Akali's flesh, spraying the thick, hot, fresh blood. The raven-haired woman groaned loudly but did not back down. Nearly instantly, she kicked the blonde straight into the chest, finally making her collapse onto the floor. The Colt was immediately fixed on top of the laying women, waiting for any excuse to fire.
"Stay on the floor, whoever you are!" Akali ordered the maid.
It was a futile effort. Something that was previously known as Kathrine lifted her head slightly, opening her mouth. The rows of long, sharp fangs were flashed out. Some of them were still covered in the blood of most likely her previous victim. Without an ounce of hesitation, Akali fired. The first shot hit the heart, the second pierced the skull of the poor maid.
Even though the raven-haired woman already fired twice, she was still tensed. As slowly as she could, she closed the distance to Kathrine's body. With the corpse still at gunpoint, she pulled out a medium-length knife. The blade was curved, serrated, covered with many symbols. In a moment quicker than a blink of the eye, she knelt down and severed the head of the woman with ease.
"Degenerate, this does not bode well," she allowed herself to comment in a whisper-like manner.
In her life, the raven-haired woman killed many of such monstrosities. To some extent, it was a family business. Or maybe more of a burden that was being passed from one generation to another. All Akali wanted was to live a normal life. Sadly, as the current situation showed, it was not an option. Her legacy was crawling behind her back. Sometimes, it seemed as if the darkness was gone for good. Yet, there were times like this when fate decided to remind her about her heritage.
Akali allowed herself to linger for a couple of moments more. She still could feel the blood pouring down from her wounds. Even though some fabric was used to staunch the bleeding, she knew better that it would take time for them to seal entirely.
Not really sure whether she should delve deeper. The woman opted to check the adjacent room where she initially spotted the bloodstains. It was so fruitless for her to try to creep now. After all, if there had been more of degens like Kathrine, they would have known about her already. Akali hissed quietly when she bumped into the doorframe unintentionally. The already brownish piece of fabric wrapped around one of her wounds started to leak. The fresh blood was slowly running down her arm. The raven-haired woman looked at that, shaking her head.
"Can this freaking day end already?" she asked herself with a heavy sigh.
As it was to be expected, in the small room, Kathrine's previous victim's body was found resting on the wall. It was an elderly man clothed in a dark, nearly black butler's suit. On his wrinkled face, the sadness could be seen. His deep blue eyes were empty, fixed on the floor. She knew the man. His name was Albert, and as far as Akali knew, he was the one who brought up Evelynn. He was more of a father figure to her girlfriend that her biological father. Based on the man's expression, he was not surprised, far from that. It seemed that he knew what was planned for him. Albert's neck was ripped to the shreds. Kathrine must have turned recently. The butler was most likely her first victim, her first meal. When Akali was young, her father showed her the photos presenting the first victims of the degens. The scene in front of her sickeningly resembled these images. Albert was dead - she was sure of that. The degens could not turnover humans into vampires. There was little the raven-haired woman could do for the dead butler. She opted to kneel beside him and close his eyes for the one last time.
It was irresponsible out of her to leave the room without looking around. Still, Akali was sick of the situation already. Fiding Evelynn was her primary goal. Killing the rest of the degens was just a side task.
The room in front of her was leading to yet another corridor. If she had been to walk straight ahead, she would have reached her girlfriend's room at the end of it. Still, more or less in the middle of the hallway, a branch led to the spacious living room. If someone or something had been holding Evelynn hostage, the living room would have been the best place to start the searching.
The awful feeling of being watched did not fade away. If anything, Akali could have sworn that it only affected her more and more as the time passed.
Maybe you heard that the old habits die hard. Akali was not an exception. On her tiptoes, she tried to creep forward. Even though it was entirely pointless, she still found her body tending toward such behaviour. Step by step, she was getting closer to the middle point of the corridor. It would be difficult to explain, but some part of the raven-haired woman felt like something was waiting for her. Waiting for her to be close enough for it to attack.
The light system started to buzz. The bulbs were flickering, burning out at the rapid pace. Just a couple of moments later, the nearest bulb exploded, covering the area with the glass shards. Nearly instantly, the entirety of the hallway was covered by darkness. Akali swallowed the gulp, awaiting some sort of the assault. The darkness was being temporarily castaway while yet another lighting split the skies. The raven-haired woman needed to adapt to the situation on a fly. It was evident that the only time for her to push forward safely was when the light was back. It was so unfortunate that her flashlight was left inside the car. Even more unfortunate was the fact that she could not go for it now. She felt as if something was waiting for her to turn back. She was trained to deal with such situations. Still, she found herself scared, not sure what to do.
The rumble of the rain was so loud that she could barely hear anything. When the next lighting appeared, Akali marched forward, forcing her body to move. She was no longer sure whether the sounds she was hearing were downpour or rather something much creepier. The darkness returned before she could reach the beginning of the branch. The gap between her and her current destination was not large, maybe a couple of steps, maybe even less. Akali's heart was pounding hard inside her chest. Her breath became shallow, heavy, wheezing. She could have sworn that someone or something was breathing close by. However, she could not prove that thought. As soon as the woman stopped exhaling, the breathing sounds faded away, leaving her surrounded by the rumble of the rain.
Thankfully, the next lighting split the skies just a few moments later. With her mind filled with fear and hesitation, Akali pushed forward. Her trusted gun was ready to be used again, waiting for an opportunity. One last heavy breath was allowed to escaped her throat before she faced her demons. She reached the branch, scanning the area. She allowed herself to sign when nothing was found.
Something wet dropped down from the ceiling. She was in troubles. The woman did not have enough time to jump to the side before something heavy fell onto her. The right sleeve of her expensive coat was torn off. Before the light faded away again, she saw the degenerated face of the unknown man. Before she could do anything, the sharp as razors teeth sunk into her arm, tearing up her muscles. Akali could not have held the pain. She cried out loudly cause of the unbearable burning sensation. From a distance, the sounds of the steps reached the woman's ears. Even though she was weak, wounded, it was evident for her that if she stayed on the ground, she would die. With yet another scream, she pushed toward the degen. Her mostly intact left hand was seeking the gun she dropped.
Akali could feel her strengths fading away, her fibres being torn, her blood being sucked by the hungry monstrosity. It did not consider her as a threat toward itself. A costly mistake that had it killed. A couple of shots were fired as soon as the handgun was reached. They pierced through the man's skull, spilling his blood all over the wounded woman. She tried to reach out for her knife, but she did not manage to do so. The footsteps silenced. And just a moment later, the blackness came when someone or something struck her on the face.
A severe throbbing headache brought Akali to reality. It seemed as if every single fibre of her body was hurt. Her entire frame was aching. The burning sensation was spreading quickly, making her dizzy weak. She tried to look around. The raven-haired woman was held inside the spacious living room. She was still on the floor, which was owned by Evelynn. The light was on, allowing the wounded woman to at least catch a glimpse of her surrounding.
"Oh, I see you woke up finally," the rich male voice sounded.
"Who are you?" Akali asked weakly.
"I see my dearest daughter has problems with manners," the man replied. The sound of the chair shuffling reached Akali's ears. "Let traditions be done with. Let me introduce myself properly, firstly," he added, most likely walking toward her.
Within a few moments, the extremely tall, pale-skinned man of noble blood appeared in front of her. The expensive, colourful coat he wore seemed to be taken from the 17th century. He was blonde with the eyes of the clear blue skies. It was evident that he was an immortal, most likely vampire. His slender yet firm fingers held Akali's chin gently, forcing her to look him directly into the eyes.
"I am Vladimir Tepes, Evelynn's father," the blonde said. "Nice to meet you, at last, if I may add. My daughter was not willing to introduce us earlier. I find it extremely rude on her behalf. I thought that I have raised her up better. Sadly, it seems that I was mistaken. Please, forgive me for such a rude welcome," he added, a hint of embarrassment lingering in his voice.
"You are a vampire, are you not?" the raven-haired woman asked, not breaking the eye-contact.
"Oh, is it not evident?" Vladimir chuckled. "I would have thought that my surname is enough to answer your question," he added, smiling lightly.
"How can it be possible?" Akali started. "Evelynn is a normal woman, not a vampire. How can you be her father?" she asked.
"I assume your family did not pass such a knowledge onto you, heh?" the tall man asked rhetorically. "Of course not. It would be too easy. Listen to me, Akali," he called the wounded woman out. "The pureblood vampires' offspring are not born transformed. They inherit vampires' genes. However, these genes are dormant until awoken. To awake them, all that is needed is for such a person to be bitten by the vampire. These two degenerates that you encountered earlier were victims of the butler who foolishly drunk Evelynn's blood," Tepes continued explaining.
"So, you have awakened Evelynn's genes, have you not?" Akali asked, feeling her strengths fading, feeling herself dying slowly.
"Sadly, it was not me," Vladimir replied. "It is why you are needed. It is why you need to be transformed into a vampire," he added with a hint of guilt in his voice.
"What do you mean by that?" the dying woman wanted to know. "I am at the death step. Just a couple of moments more, and I will be gone. There is no use of me currently. Not in such a state," she added with sadness.
"Sadly, you are right," Tepes responded. "However, we will still try. Try not to move. In a moment, you will feel a bite, then as your blood will be drained, the bliss will take control over your body," the man added before turning around.
"I do not understand," Akali whispered, too tired to argue.
She felt cold, drained. Just a couple of moments more, and she will be done. Her life will be finished. There was just a single thing that she regrated. Not saying goodbye to her beloved. However, about that, she could not do anything. As the raven-haired woman closed her eyes, the pain spread all over her body. The delicate skin on her throat was pierced by razor-sharp fangs. Life began to be sucked away from her, but she no longer minded.
"Don't worry, darling," Evelynn's soft voice rung in Akali's ears. "Your mine, in this time, in the future, forever. We're one. I'll be waiting for you, my beloved," the soft, filled with emotions whisper was the last thing the raven-haired woman heard before the blackout.
