Death and all Its friends (Vampire Romance)

Death and all its friends

This is my first ever story on Wattpad, so it's probably not at it's best - constructive criticism appreciated!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Royal Grange had been abandoned for years, feared, despised- and secretly admired- it stood proud among the stunted, twisted orchard that surrounded it, the pale sandstone exterior as perfect as the day it was built. Whenever a newcomer glimpsed the Grange for the first time, their reaction was invariably the same; they loved it. Until they found out. Some beautiful exteriors hide a black and evil heart, and a deadly past. The first death occurred the day it was completed...

1959

A bitterly cold April morning, and fifty men stood back to admire three years toil finally finished. The exhausted faces of the workers almost simultaneously gasped, gazing at the sandstone school. They had never seen anything so perfect. The smooth beige unbroken, unblemished stone, behind orderly rows of small saplings, divided down the middle by a gravel path.

Tobias James ran a hand through his dark blond hair. Turning to his cousin he grinned smugly,

" Remind me what you chose to do, no amount of trees alive can possibly hope to out class this!"

Confused when no reply was forthcoming, he strolled across the gravel path, relishing the crunching underneath his weathered old boots. Darren was examining the small saplings planted last month.

"Darren, come on, everyone else has already gone inside... are you even listening to me? What's wrong?"

Tobias frowned at Darren's anxious expression. Lines dissected his head angrily, his normally carefree face was gone, replaced by a scowl.

"Look at this, these tree roots, we set them ourselves, so this wouldn't happen. They're twisted Tobe, it isn't just one of them either, all of them are like this, they're all black and gnarled, like they're from an old tree. They'll blame me for this, I was in charge - what do I do?"

Unnerved by this revelation, Tobias took a second to answer.

"I guess we just ignore it, must be bad soil or something, "Tobias answered, trying to sound like he knew what he was talking about, "I'm sure there is a perfectly reasonable explanation."

Darren shook his head, his dark brown hair rustling in the wind.

"That's just it, I don't think it's anything NATURAL Tobe, I think it might be, y'know..." he lowered his voice and uttered the word Tobias had been trying to push from his mind "vampires..."

Tobias felt himself go numb, he knew without asking that his expression had gone cold.

"Vampires don't trouble themselves in human affairs. Come on, we're going to miss the champagne at this rate."

Darren forced himself to smile - he knew how much Tobias hated vampires - he should never have said anything.

"Go on ahead, I'm gonna take a sample of the tree roots, see if maybe it's something curable."

Unconvinced though he was, Tobias knew better than to argue with his mulish brother - an unwelcome family trait.

"Fine. See you later."

An hour later, and Tobias was slightly worried - how long does cutting up a tree root take exactly? The champagne had finished a while ago, and the men were ambling around chatting, the grand domed ceiling served as a strange contrast to the worn boots and frayed clothes of the exhausted workers. Most of them had congregated into large groups, laughing and joking good-naturedly, aware that they had created something spectacular, and feeling justifiably smug.

Only two faces was missing from the circle of Tobias' friends and family surrounding him, his wife Carla had never liked social gatherings, and he suspected was simply using her pregnancy to avoid having to meet all of her husband's workmates. The second face was Darren.

Where are you?!

Excusing himself for a moment, he left the house, in the time since he had been gone last, it had turned dark, was it his imagination or were the trees noticeably more twisted? Creeping along the gravel path, flinching at every crunch, he finally came to the spot where Darren had been. HAD been.

"Darren?" Tobias whispered.

Convinced he had heard a rustling amongst the bushes, he walked through the rows of trees. Eventually he came towards the end of the orchard. As he tried to take a step forward, some caught his foot.

"Stupid twig," he muttered, before sweeping his foot out in a kick. The twig was a human. A human body. An all too recognisable body.

"Darren..."

Darren face was twisted with fear, the trees roots wrapped around him unnaturally strongly. Worst of all though, were the two puncture wounds on his neck.