Chapter 6
A Nest of Fangs
Mal crept through the dark. He had stalked his way from the outskirts of Dunwich up to an old, seemingly abandoned manor house.
He’d dressed in his sneakiest outfit: his usual jeans, a black T-shirt, and a dark overcoat.
He was as obvious as a missing word in a …
Of course, Mal didn’t think this. Mal assumed that because no one had confronted him, he was hidden.
He had followed the instructions in his dossier and found the massive estate with relative ease.
Mal didn’t know how big an acre was but he was sure this estate had lots of them.
He’d hopped a bushy, fence-y thing and made his way along the grounds, keeping close to a forested boundary.
He found it odd that a lot of the land seemed to be tilled, as if vampires needed vegetables.
After twenty minutes of tedious skulking, he’d found himself close to the manor.
It was an imposing structure, made of a beige limestone.
It had more windows than Mal thought necessary and looked at least three or four stories high.
It was a great, ornate slab of a building, with lots of strange protrusions at its edges and top.
The grounds were dark except for a single light that pulsed near the grand entrance, but Mal could see no light from within.
He stayed low and kept his distance, remaining in a wooded alcove about fifty meters from the entrance.
He had no idea what he was supposed to be doing, or what he was meant to be looking for.
All the file had said was “watch the nest.” So watch the nest he did.
It looked more like an empty building to him, but the photos from the file definitely matched.
He was in the right place; now he just had to sit and wait.
He thought about climbing a tree to get a better vantage point, but he was barely subtle at walking; shaking a dirty great big tree in his attempt to climb it was bound to draw attention.
He waited, and waited, and waited, and waited.
Eventually, twenty minutes passed and Mal thought it might be nice if something interesting were to happen.
But nothing did. He waited another twenty minutes and then another, each feeling like it lasted forever.
He’d been crouching for so long his knees started to hurt, so he decided getting a bit muddy was worth it and sat down among the foliage.
As he did, something finally happened. A man, or a woman, Mal couldn’t tell from this distance, strolled up to the front door.
Mal was so grateful he wanted to yell his thanks to said person, but that would have given away his position.
He peered forward, desperate to see what happened when you knocked on a manor that showed no signs of life.
The door opened from within. Music and laughter poured out into the silence of the night.
Mal was shocked. Through the tiny silhouette of the door streamed bright lights.
He looked at the windows and could see nothing, no light, no life.
But through the door, festivities were in full flow.
The person entered and the door slammed shut, leaving Mal with the silence and the dark once more.
Mal could barely believe it; he strained his ears, but couldn’t conjure even a glimpse of the sounds from before.
It suddenly dawned on him that he was very much not alone out on this estate and that he had no clue whatsoever as to who or what he was stalking.
What if the folklore was true? Incredibly fast, impossibly strong, bloodthirsty monsters.
All dancing, delighting, and building up an appetite.
He knew he wasn’t subtle, and they might even be able to see in the dark.
They’d probably already spotted him and were getting ready to ambush him any second.
He was already dead, he just didn’t know it.
Mal felt his breath quicken, and his body began to shake with adrenaline.
He was going to have to run and pray that no one had seen him.
This was going to be it, his only chance of survival. He tried to calm his breath and …
“What the fuck are you doing?”
Mal almost screamed at the sight of her.
She stood over him, glaring at him with those piercing green eyes.
She wasn’t a vampire, but for a moment Mal wished she was; at least then his suffering would be over quickly.
Having to explain this was going to be impossible.
Des stood in silence, her air demanding an explanation.
Mal didn’t say a thing for at least thirty seconds.
When he did speak, he wished he could shove the words back into his face.
“Nothing weird, I promise.”
“Nothing weird?” Des said, to a man sitting in a bush in front of an abandoned house at one o’clock in the morning.
“Shhhhh,” Mal said, “they’ll hear us.”
“Who will hear us?” Des said, raising her voice to get a rise out of Mal. He stood up and gestured with his hands for her to be quiet.
“The, the people in the house,” Mal said, whispering with as much emphasis as he could muster. Des looked over to the dead manor house and back to Mal. She seemed unconvinced.
“You better have an incredible explanation for this,” Des said, humoring Mal with a whisper.
“I do, I really do,” Mal said.
“Go on then!”
“But I can’t tell you.” Mal winced; he knew that was a mistake.
“You can’t tell me? Me specifically? Are you here because of Walters?”
“Noo?” Mal said, his voice getting squeaky as it trailed off.
“Did you even believe that?”
“No.” Mal sighed.
“Can you tell the invisible people in the manor house what you’re doing here?”
“I don’t want to talk to them and trust me, you don’t either.”
“Well, that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
“No, no, please don’t.”
“Are you going to tell me what you’re doing here?” Des said, no longer whispering. Mal’s silence said nothing.
“Then I’m going to see what they have to say.” She strode from the bushes and marched across the stony walkway to the entrance.
Mal followed nervously, begging her to come back.
“Des. No. Please.” She was undeterred and actually started stomping on the gravel.
Kicking stones and rocks aplenty. She got to the steps before the grand entrance and started to climb, forcing Mal to run up to her.
“It’s vampires, vampires. In there, fucking stop, please, I’ll tell you everything, just not here, we have to go. ”
“You expect me to believe vampires are in there?” Des said.
“That’s the best you’ve got?” She held her hand up to the door, threatening to knock.
Mal was straddling the line between complete panic and utter terror, and clearly his face was showing just that.
Every part of him wanted to run away, but he refused to leave Des to whatever was happening in there.
As she turned to look at him, her certainty waned and her expression softened.
“Fine,” she said, letting go of her frustration.
They stood for a moment facing each other on the top step.
“Let’s get out— MAL!” She shoved Mal to the ground.
A thunderous crack ruptured from behind him, louder than a gunshot, breaking the silent night in two.
There was a flash of blinding blue light.
Mal hit the stony earth with an aching smack.
He oriented himself and found Des sprawled out on the top step.
He heard a pop behind him, but when he looked around, no one was there.
He rushed up the steps to Des’s side and knelt next to her.
Where her right shoulder should have been was a gaping hole.
The edges of her clothes around the wound seared and smoked, and the wound itself was bleeding through blackened, cauterized flesh.
Mal looked down at the woman who’d just saved his life and felt a numbing shock.
He stammered the word “no” over and over.
He felt empty and cold, and as if his breath were running far ahead of him.
He put his hand on her neck, searching for life.
She was just holding on. Only half a corpse.
Mal’s death sense started to hum. He took her in his arms, propping her up on his knees, and held her head with his left hand.
He slammed his right fist against the door and screamed for help.
“Please, please, you have to help her. I’ll tell you about the people hunting you, you can kill me, just save her.” He banged and banged, and time stood still as his pleas fell on deaf ears. Tears streamed from his eyes and his death sense felt as though it was about to burst in his head.
The door swung open and several people picked Des up and took her inside. A large man pulled Mal to his feet and helped him through the door.
“Save her, please, you have to save her,” Mal said, feeling as though he was about to pass out.
The man propped Mal against a wall and held his shoulder firmly, keeping him upright.
Mal watched as they examined her; one looked at the large man and shook their head.
Another spoke but Mal couldn’t hear or didn’t understand the words.
Everything was a blur. Mal didn’t understand why they weren’t helping.
“There is only one way we can help her now,” the large man said. “Do you understand?” He looked to Mal with urgency.
“Save her life,” Mal said. The large man nodded to his friends and they picked her up and carried her gently out of the room. Mal tried to protest but the large man simply shook his head and held him still.
“Come,” he said, “sit.” He ushered Mal to a chair and Mal sat trembling in place. “Where she goes now is only for mine to see.”