The House of Vampire

Chapter 1

A/N: Thank you for clicking on Haunted House! This is a little something I wrote a while ago, and finally got around to posting online here because...why not? Most chapters are pretty short, between 800-1300 words. I hope you enjoy it.

The mansion loomed ahead, grim against the building thunderheads, like something from a bad horror vid. It was an Old World-style building, with huge peaks and chimneys that reached towards the sky, as if trying to part the clouds with its five stories. Windows gaped sightlessly down at the small group huddled beneath the hill the mansion was perched on, and the curtains rustled in one, as if someone were peering out, spying on potential victims.

"Creepy place, huh?"

Chandre jumped, almost dropped her backpack, and glared at Shi. He bared his teeth in a grin. Around them a group of teenagers and adventurer seekers had gathered, murmuring up at the huge building. The tour guide smiled at them, and waved her arms up at the sight. Her nametag read "Anie!"

"This is the old Cooper Mansion," she said perkily. "Five hundred years ago, when colonists first settled on Aurora, Governor Constantine Augustus Cooper built this as a hostel for incoming settlers, and it has stood ever since."

"Some people say it's haunted," a girl whispered to the boy beside her. Chandre listened carefully, tuning into two conversations at once, although she had heard the tour guide's spiel in her research of the building.

"Yeah—at least one person dies every year, their blood sucked from their body," her date whispered back. The girl shivered as if let in on some delicious secret.

Chandre stared up at the mansion, and felt the evil shift and stir. She shivered too, but for an entirely different reason, and Shi wrapped his arm about her, hugging her close.

"Blood Moon, in two nights," he murmured, and she felt the beginnings of the Change ripple through his body. "That's when the deaths always happen." He leaned into her, as if nuzzling her neck. His lips brushed her earlobe. "What do you think we have to kill?"

"Sounds like a vampire," she muttered. "And if it is Constantine Cooper—"

"It's not. I passed his grave in the cemetery."

"That means nothing."

"I brought extra silver bullets, just for you."

She shifted, feeling the bulky weight of her backpack and the hard metal dig diagonally across her shoulder blades. "My sword works better."

He growled. "So do my teeth—but to kill . . ."

"How do you even kill a five-hundred-year-old vampire?"

"What about those stupid fairy tales your people like so much?"

She rolled her eyes. "A kiss? Please."

He nudged her forwards. "Looks like we're going in for the tour."

They joined the group, heading up the gravel path to the mansion. The main drive itself was smooth cement pockmarked by the years. Chandre stepped onto it, and magic jolted up her spine. No one else seemed to notice, but Shi gave her a concerned look.

Wondering if she was going insane, she moved up the steps to the porch, feeling the eyes of several of the unattached males of the group on her. Shi pulled her closer, unconsciously jealous. She had the tingling sensation that something else was watching too, but when she glanced up at the windows, the curtains were still. She shook her head, disconcerted. She must have been imagining it moving earlier.

As Chandre walked through the front door, something boomed overhead, and she flung herself to the ground, Shi next to her. Rain hit the ground in splotchy splatters outside, then began pouring. They realized that it was thunder and laughed, shakily. Luckily everyone else was just as frightened, although they hadn't had such extreme reactions. Even Anie seemed rattled.

"I'm not going out in that," a girl said, and there was nervous laughter.

Chandre shivered again, feeling the air chill about her. The lights flickered briefly, then remained bright, and she took a good look at the entrance hall of the mansion.

The ceiling stretched up before them, the gold paint peeling to reveal grimy, yellowed plaster. Old paintings—actual paintings—huge on the walls; old men and grumpier women stared out at them, dressed in archaic clothing. There were four doors aside from the front, two on each opposing wall, and before them rose a double staircase that intertwined and looped impossibly. Underneath the rich red carpet—probably redone, since it looked newer than the rest of the building—was white marble, dulled a pale yellow by the years.

"Older than any of the castles back home?" Shi asked.

Chandre glared at him. "White Castle was three thousand years old before it was destroyed," she whispered. "Gy'tara Prime is over two thousand. Even Veskia is eight hundred." Shi blinked, impressed.

"Well, this one is warmer," he countered.

Her glare intensified. "Granted."

"And to the right, through first door, is the main hall, where the family and guests ate their meals," Anie said. Chandre followed, moving with the group.

There were ten other people with them of varying ages, but curiously, no children. She was thankful, since these people were driving her nuts. She had had to listen to them babble about nothing on the long bus ride to the mansion, and had had to watch them snap pics of themselves in front of the other attractions they had stopped by. She was completely bored with all of them.

Walking into the main hall, Chandre was confronted with a long table, set with varnished silver placings and a stained white tablecloth. Thick candles, yellowed with age, sat in wax-stained candelabras. It seemed that whoever managed the upkeep of the mansion wasn't doing their job.

"Time to sneak away," she whispered, but Shi shook his head.

"Not yet." He snaked his arm around her waist, drawing her closer.

"And to the back, through the joining door, is the kitchen. This building is riddled with turns and twists, so stay close or you might get lost," the tour guide joked.

"Is it true that this mansion is haunted?" someone asked.

"Of course not," Anie replied. There was another crash of thunder, and everyone jumped. The lights flickered, and someone yelped. "The legend of the Cooper Mansion is just a myth."

"Who was the vampire rumored to be?" another asked.

"Vampires don't exist," their stalwart tour guide explained. Chandre and Shi exchanged knowing glances. "It's just a silly story."

"Then why's there a cemetery outside the mansion?" Chandre muttered. "And why do I feel evil in this place?" Shi elbowed her in the ribs.

"Shut up," he murmured.

They moved on. It was in the servants' floor—the upper basements—that the electricity flickered again, and went out.