Avalaine stared at the door. Her heart was pounding and she was frozen with fear. The constant nausea she had been feeling was now worse than ever.

  For long moments, no sound came, and she did not reply, simply stood with her hands clasped together and her chest heaving.

  Then the pounding came again. Much more forceful. Avalaine jumped and squealed a little at the same time.

  “Who—”, Avalaine croaked. Her throat seemed to have closed off. She gathered herself and spoke again, putting more force into her words.

  “I say, who is there? Name yourself!” Avalaine hoped she sounded as authoritative as she intended.

  Again, there was a long silence. Avalaine swallowed hard and waited, unable to move. Her stomach roiled now.

  Then the voice again.

  “Lady Avalaaaaaaaaine,” called a male voice in a sing-song tone. A decidedly un-musical voice. “It is I, Tobias, your faithful servant. Do you not know me?”

  Avalaine backed away from the door now, her hands to her chest. She did not know of any Tobias.

  “Will you not let me in? I have come to take you to the master,” said Tobias. Avalaine thought the voice sounded young, even though it was also harsh and cold. There was some tone of mocking amusement present as well.

  She did not think Lucas or Milton would have let such a person as this Tobias call on her under any circumstances, were they able to prevent it.

  “I am, er—” Avalaine cleared her throat. “I am going to see my father shortly! My guardsmen will escort me, thank you!”

  Chilling laughter came from the other side of the door.

  “Your guardsmen will do nothing of the sort,” were the next words to come. Again, the harsh voice was mocking.

  “You go not to see your father, you go to see the MASTER.”

  Avalaine was too frightened to ask who this ‘master’ was. She looked at the door, and then her heart lurched. She realized she had not barred the door when she entered, only closed it behind her.

  This was normal for her, as she had no genuine need to use the door bar. There were always guards, and there had never been an attack here as long as she had lived.

  But now, she could not help but stare at the bar, useless in its up position. She couldn’t make herself move to bring it down.

  Did the man on the other side of the door simply assume the door to be barred? He had not even tried to enter.

  Where were the other guards? The other people?

  She cursed inwardly then. She had become a victim of her own status. Her chambers were in a private area, where no one else save her parents, ladies, guards, and other servants would be found.

  She doubted anyone would hear her if she screamed.

  Just as she thought she could not be any more frightened, she looked down to the bottom of the door. The shadow of the man’s feet was still there, but now she saw dark liquid slowly pooling under the door into her chambers.

  It took only a moment for her to realize it was blood, and who that blood must belong to.

  She backed even further away to her bed and snatched up a pillow, holding it up to her face to prevent a scream. She willed herself not to throw up, but it had been a close call.

  “I grow bored, my Lady,” called the voice. Tobias had pronounced the words ‘my Lady’ with a tone of contempt.

  Avalaine did not know what to do, so she did nothing, just stared at the door.

  “COME OUT! NOW!” shouted Tobias, now filled with rage, causing Avalaine to jump again.

  She spun around, looking for another way out, even though she knew there wasn’t one. There was only the balcony, and she could never survive a jump from this height.

  Then she saw a small blur of motion from the corner of her eye.

  Flutterface!

  Avalaine rushed to the small bird’s cage. He had not flown away yet, even though she had left the cage door open. The bird was well trained. It had waited for the message to be attached.

  Quickly, she gathered the string and the small scroll to attach to the patiently waiting pigeon.

  Her hands were shaking so badly she was not having much success.

  Behind her, the pounding at the door began again. This time, it was not mere knocking. Tobias was trying to break down the door.

  Avalaine turned at the sound and was astonished to see the solid oak wood door breaking and splintering at the blows from Tobias. Just how strong was this man?

  Now resigned that he was coming in, and there was no way to stop him, she determined she would send this message to Viscount Brandu. This might be the only way to warn anyone about what was happening here.

  What is happening here? she thought, wishing she knew the answer.

  Finally, she managed to calm herself enough to attach the scroll correctly and pulled Flutterface out of his cage. She tried to be as gentle as possible, though she was now near frantic.

  As she removed the bird, the door gave way, most of the wood falling inward to clatter on her floor.

  Again, she was frozen as she stared at the man on the other side of the doorway.

  He was tall, but Avalaine saw it as the awkward height of a gangly youth, not a man’s full imposing frame.

  But there was something wrong with him, this Tobias.

  His eyes seemed to be more white than anything else, and he grinned an awful, too wide grin that scared her. His hair was a mop of black strands that had likely never been properly trimmed. And though she was far away, Avalaine thought the teeth looked sharp. Pointed.

  Then she noticed his movements were strange. Unnatural. He was constantly shifting, as if he was moving so fast she could not see all of his motion.

  Behind him, she saw prone bodies on the floor. Lucas and Milton.

  “You killed them,” she said, her voice slight and afraid.

  Tobias smiled even wider, a grotesque sight that looked like it should be painful on his beardless, thin face, but the smile waned when he saw what she had in her hand. He pointed at her.

  “DO NOT RELEASE THAT BIRD!” he shrieked.

  Before she could think about it, Avalaine forced herself to turn and run out onto the balcony. She ignored the animalistic howling that came from Tobias and she hurled Flutterface into the air.

  “YOU FOUL BITCH! THE MASTER WILL SKIN YOU ALIVE!”

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  The graceful bird took to wing without difficulty and was soon nothing more than a speck in the dark sky.

  “CURSE YOU, WOMAN!”

  Normally she would not send a bird at night, and she hoped Flutterface did not simply turn around and come back there to sleep. But the bird did not return.

  Avalaine closed her eyes and waited for rough hands to grab her, beat her, haul her away to meet this master…

  … but nothing happened.

  Ignoring the turning in her stomach, she dared to move in from the balcony to the edge of her chamber. She looked toward the door.

  Tobias was still there.

  The gangly figure loomed in the doorway, and he looked at her with a baleful expression. She felt cold malevolence coming from him as he stared at her.

  But that was all he did. Look.

  Avalaine saw the splintered door pieces on the ground in front of the doorway. There was nothing to stop Tobias from coming in. Yet he did not.

  “Come here, woman,” he growled, showing teeth that Avalaine could see were indeed sharp, pointed and dripping saliva.

  Stepping forward and taking a deep breath, Avalaine faced Tobias square on.

  “No,” she said, flatly.

  ***

  Tobias howled in frustration, but there was nothing he could do. He did not understand. For some reason beyond his comprehension, he could not enter the room to retrieve the human meat his master had demanded.

  Then a voice came from behind him.

  “I feel your turmoil, slave. Where is the woman?”

  Tobias turned to see Vizron, his master, standing there. His expression was stony, as usual.

  Fear rippled through Tobias then. Not the fear he had felt as a human, when he had encountered Vizron, nights earlier. That had been regular human fear.

  This fear was much deeper. He knew his master was powerful enough to hurt him in ways he had never imagined.

  “She is in there, master!” Tobias screeched, pointing in at Avalaine, who merely stood, a confused look on her face.

  “Then go in and get her, fool! Bring her to me!”

  “Master… I-I cannot enter! I CANNOT! Forgive me!” Tobias howled in a tone of pleading, prostrating himself before Vizron.

  Silence ruled for several moments, then Vizron spoke.

  “How I despise vampires,” he said in a cold, raspy voice.

  Tobias waited for a blow to come that would end his new life, but it did not come.

  “Rise, fool,” said Vizron.

  Tobias slowly rose, still awaiting punishment.

  Vizron sneered at him in disgust.

  “You may not enter, but you have ways to make this female come out. I suggest you employ them. If I must retrieve this human beast myself, then I will have no further need for you.”

  And then Tobias was alone again. His master was gone.

  Tobias smiled. He knew exactly what to do.

  ***

  Despite her fear, Avalaine watched with intense curiosity as Tobias had a conversation with himself.

  She could see no one else, but he had turned away from her and acted as though someone were standing before him. He had thrown himself to the floor as if he were begging at the feet of someone above him.

  Based on his own words, Avalaine felt some small satisfaction that she had guessed right. For some reason, Tobias was unable to actually enter the room to retrieve her.

  That suited her fine. She would wait here forever. Someone would eventually come and deal with him. They would see who could wait longer.

  Then Tobias picked himself up off the floor and turned toward her. His smile was back.

  That is not a good sign, she thought. Her fear was returning.

  Tobias said nothing, just remained still. Unnaturally still.

  Avalaine herself did not move, and everything around her seemed to share the same unnatural stillness as Tobias himself.

  That was how she first noticed the movement in the room.

  There appeared to be some sort of blur coming from the edged of the walls. She focused in on it, then withdrew in horror.

  Spiders!

  Hundreds of spiders began pouring out of every crevice in the surrounding walls. They swarmed over everything in the room, appearing to be closing in on her.

  Just as she opened her mouth to scream, she saw fresh movement, and heard scratching and skittering. Then random squeaking followed.

  Rats!

  Impossibly, the rats also seemed to squeeze themselves out of cracks in the floors and walls. The beady eyes of the grimy creatures were fixed on her as they made their way toward her.

  With a quick intake of breath, Avalaine realized some spiders were descending from the ceiling on webs. She felt some of the heavier ones drop onto her and begin crawling across her body.

  Frantically, she slapped at them and tried to sweep them off of her as she spun and dodged through her chambers, squealing in terror. Rats jumped at her and latched onto the cloth of her dress. She could feel the awful weight of the creatures as they began climbing.

  Laughter could be heard at the edges of her awareness, and she realized it was Tobias. He was the one doing this!

  A clear path remained. One free of spiders and rats. It lead directly to Tobias.

  Now running on basic, terrorized instinct, Avalaine instead turned and ran in the direction where the hordes of creatures seemed otherwise thinnest, toward the balcony.

  She did not know what she was going to do when she reached the balcony, but she was not thinking clearly at this point.

  But even this escape was denied to her. As she reached the balcony, a wave of fluttering blackness rushed in at her.

  Bats!

  They shrieked and squealed as they whirled around her, striking her with their wings and bodies, creating a vortex of blackness.

  Avalaine could think of nothing else to do but surrender.

  She dropped to the floor and curled herself up into a ball. Spiders swarmed over her, crawling into her hair and under her dress. She could feel them on her bare skin.

  The rats did the same, smothering her. Her stomach lurched at the smell of them and the feel of their matted fur and slimy tails on her skin.

  “STOP!!!” she screamed, tears gushing from her eyes. “PLEASE STOP!!”

  And then it all stopped.

  ***

  Varsus, Matthias, and Wendell rode as fast as they could toward Mount Lirra.

  Even though he had traveled this very road many times in his past, something about this night seemed darker than usual.

  Two moons were out, and so they should have been illuminating the lands before him almost as good as daylight.

  Yet, even though he could see the white orbs hanging in the sky, somehow their light did less than they should have to light the way.

  Night riding was always dangerous, but Varsus felt he had no choice.

  Something foul and deadly was happening, and he had to try to stop it. He had failed back in the Endless Forest, but he could not fail now.

  Even more, he feared Avalaine was in danger. The vile creature they fought had told him as much before it disappeared. He had to get to her. If that thing hurt her because of him, he did not know if he could live with it.

  Varsus willed his horse to move faster, knowing he had put unreasonable burden on the poor animal already. He determined his horse would be rewarded beyond all measure, even should he not reach Mount Lirra in time.

  As they began climbing the final hill that would reveal the flatlands surrounding the estate of Mount Lirra, Varsus saw a figure in the road, silhouetted against the sky.

  He pulled up, halting his horse, and both Matthias and Wendell did the same.

  “My Lord, why do we stop?” Matthias asked, and Varsus could tell he was frustrated at the break in their pace.

  “There on the road,” said Varsus. “That man…”

  “What of him, my Lord?” said Wendell, “he will move aside when we near him.”

  Varsus did not like the look of the dark shape. Whoever it was had simply been standing, not actually traveling the road. Waiting for them.

  “Who goes this night?!” called Varsus. “Announce yourself!”

  The night was still then. Only the sounds of the horses and the strains of leather shifting in place could be heard. No wind, no other animals, only those on the road.

  When enough time had elapsed, Matthias shouted out.

  “You are addressed by the Baron of Varsus! You will announce yourself, and quickly!”

  Between one moment and the next, the dark figure had moved closer. Too close given the distance between them and short time passed.

  The horses began balking and prancing, trying to move backwards.

  Varsus reached across and placed his hand on the grip of his sword.

  “Last chance, man!” shouted Matthias, as he actually drew his weapon.

  Then the man spoke. As he did, the three men felt chills travel through them. They knew the sound of voices such as these.

  “No need for such hostility, my Lords,” said the man, who had stepped close enough now to be seen.

  “They calls me ’Runty Randy’, although I don’t think anyones will be calling me as such no more.”

  Now revealed, Varsus could see the man, a boy really, was quite small and thin. His brown hair was cropped short and uneven.

  His face had the youthful look of someone into their middle teenage years, except the youthfulness seemed frozen somehow. Waxy.

  Randy wore a dirty white shirt with black trousers. He had no other clothing. His feet were bare.

  As soon as the boy spoke, Varsus and Wendell drew their weapons as well. The voice and the boy’s unnatural movements were something they had all experienced before.

  Barnaby, thought Varsus. This poor boy has been made like Barnaby!

  “Hold, creature!” shouted Varsus. “We know what you are, and we know what your master is!”

  Randy laughed. Varsus felt another chill in his bones.

  “If you lot truly knew what my master was, yous would just give up and die. That’s better than what he plans for ya.”

  “Enough talk, creature!” shouted Wendell. “Now we— !”

  With a growl, Randy shot forward, and before anyone could react, he tore out the throat of Wendell’s horse.

  The horse died screaming as much as it could before falling. Blood gushed out of the open wound. The horse fell on top of Wendell, who cried out in pain.

  Varsus was thrown from his horse as the animal reared, then broke away across the grass, away into the darkness. He hit the ground hard, then scrambled for his sword, which he had dropped as he fell.

  Matthias clumsily attempted to dismount from his horse before being thrown, but caught his foot in the stirrup and was dragged several paces before he dislodged himself. His horse also disappeared into the night.

  Varsus and Matthias hastily regained their feet, weapons in hand, ready to engage the creature.

  But they stood frozen in awed horror instead.

  Randy had not attacked them, but was kneeling over the dead horse, greedily lapping away at the blood oozing from the poor animal’s throat.

  Varsus watched in disgust as the creature fed itself. The only sounds now audible in the night were of its lapping and sucking, as it remained uninterested in anything else but its gruesome meal.

  Steeling himself, Varsus shot Matthias a look, and the other man nodded back at him.

  Brandishing their weapons, they moved in for the kill.