Lord Lorriac stared out the window of his study. It was a dark night, with no moon. The trees swayed in the slight breeze, and the roses on the trellis below his window filled the air with perfume.
It should have been a peaceful sight…but that was why Lorriac was worried. To him, it was altogether too quiet. No nightbirds sang their songs, no insects shattered the silence with incessant chirping. It was altogether too quiet.
Unnoticed by the Baron of Steden Fief, two red eyes tracked him from across the courtyard. As he blew out the candle stub Lorriac felt a prickling sensation on the back of his neck. Turning around slowly he saw something that looked like it came from a nightmare.
It was a huge beast, covered with a strange coat made of either hair or scales. Its back legs were short, and its forearms were long…but the scariest thing about it were the eyes. They glowed with a red, hate-filled light — and their gaze pulled Lorriac's eyes toward it.
Lorriac opened his mouth to call for help, but no sound came. Those horrible red eyes held his gaze…and he felt unable to look away.
He could not look away.
Staring at the beast for what felt like an eternity, Lorriac could do nothing. The terror he felt from gazing into its eyes was overwhelming him. He couldn't speak, couldn't move, couldn't look away.
His heart-beat began to slow. But just before it stopped, the last thing Lord Lorriac heard was the clock striking the midnight hour.
Recent edit: someone in a review pointed out that I was breaking this website's rule of publishing something that was in not in the public domain. I have fixed that by editing this story to be just a Halloween-horror fic, and not a song-fic.