Midnight After Midnight - Nanowrimo 2022

Chapter 8 - Adelaide's First Victim

The day after, Adelaide woke up without a single ray of sunlight shining above her, lying in an expensive black coffin that was ruby red on the inside with white candles that were melted on the tips. With a nudge of her right hand, it opened with a creak, and she observed that the curtains were so thick, the sunlight barely went through. The coffin next to her didn't stir, which meant that Lionel was still in a deep sleep, and even though the clock said it was five in the afternoon, she wasn't going to wake him up. 

Her stomach was rumbling, and in her mind appeared a craving that had to be satisfied immediately. A desire to hunt, to murder, to feast, which had become so essential of a function to her, she didn't know how disgusted by it she was supposed to be. Everyone else appeared to be asleep during this time of day, thus if she did go out, surely no one would notice what she was doing, and she'd be back on time for their evening rituals. Nothing could go wrong, right?

Without hesitation, she transformed into a bat and flew through the open window. The weather was cold as always, thus no living creature was in sight, not even an insect. Wrapping her shawl more tightly around her neck right after she landed in her former form, she continued moving straight, towards the only source of light on the horizon. She didn't know how far from her it was, but if there was light, there was also someone keeping it on, so she couldn't do anything but resume walking to that location.

She marched with absolute determination inside her, not stopping even for a second as her stomach began rumbling even harder. Now that she was wearing boots that didn't have to be stitched over and over again, the muddy snow couldn't find itself on her feet, which helped her lose track of time and space more easily as she wandered around aimlessly. The endless black, withered trees with thin branches all blended into each other, making her confused and frustrated after walking for an unknown amount of time.

Her stomach rumbled even harder than before when she smelled the mundane, but still appetizing blood of a random human being whose footsteps she could hear from mere metres away. Nimbly, she hid behind a closely placed thick pine tree that was easy to find because she'd walked into the area where those were the only trees, which were many. Hearing a faint noise, the human turned in her direction for a moment, but they turned back almost immediately when they couldn't see anything. She took the opportunity to study them.

Her planned meal was a tall man with greying, nearly nonexistent, hair carrying a heap of logs with him. Despite his age, he seemed to be rather efficient at it. He was wearing a zipped beige jacket with stitches a human eye couldn't see with the feeble light of the fading Sun, wide trousers of the same colour, and a pair of black sneakers with small holes in them. He placed that small heap of logs onto the bigger one that was located near the hill with a cottage on it, where he presumably lived. 

On the left side of that large heap, there was a sharp and heavy axe that he swung in the air like a tennis racket, which made a shiver go up her spine. Then, she remembered that even if he took a swing at her, she could either dodge him easily or sustain a minimal injury because not every weapon can kill a vampire, and it made her relieved for a moment. 

Clenching her fists, she approached him while he was chopping down the nearest tree, causing him to turn towards her screaming and swinging the axe, sighing in relief a couple of seconds later when he saw what appeared to be nothing more than a pale young lady.

Her lips curled into a playful smile. "Good evening, sir. Why'd you greeted a harmless, innocent woman in such a manner? That wasn't very kind of you to do."

He laughed awkwardly. "I'm really sorry, miss, but, you know... Not many people live here, and being as worn down and paranoid as I am, I thought you might have all sorts of, well... Unsavoury intentions, to say the least. Anyway, I suppose we could start all over again. My name's Louis, and you're?"