The House of Vampire

Chapter 2

Someone screamed, but Anie was prepared with a flashlight, and Chandre and Shi whipped out their red moonbeams. Not that Chandre needed much light with her genetically enhanced eyesight, but the others would.

"Let's go back to the main hall," Anie said. "This happens sometimes."

They all trooped up the narrow stairs, Anie in the front, with Chandre and Shi spaced apart, and reached the front hall with a minimum of stumbling and shrieks. In the entrance hall, Anie radioed the bus, only to find that the driver was standing just inside the door, dripping wet.

"What's wrong?" she asked him.

"Bolt of lightening hit a tree. It landed on the bus," he replied. "It ain't working. I tried to radio for help, but the line's down. This storm's disrupting everything."

Anie tried on her radio, and then her phone, but nothing worked. Others tried with theirs, some even having satellite phones, but nothing worked. Shi twitched, and Chandre began to feel his unease.

Anie managed a smile, and faced the rest of them. "Well, this has happened before, and so the company has come prepared. We'll just bunk in the main hall for the night. Sleeping bags are on the third story, so if I can get some volunteers—" Chandre and Shi raised their hands. So did another couple—the ones who had first been whispering about the place being haunted.

They wandered up. Past the second story, the stairs branched off, becoming dark and secluded.

"What about food?" the girl asked as they walked up.

"There's some stuff in the kitchen, enough to last a group for over a week," Anie said. "Like I said, this has happened before."

"So close to the Blood Moon?" Shi asked. Anie twitched, but didn't reply. So she had heard that part of the legend too.

"I'm Lana," the girl said, turning to the other two. "This is Greg."

"Shi. This is Chandre," Shi said. They had decided to use first names on this one, although the last names were faked.

They wandered down the surprisingly dustless hall and entered the fifth room on the left. A stack of sleeping bags was piled neatly against one wall, next to a huge bed that still had covers and everything. It didn't even look dusty, although the hangings were drooping. Chandre didn't even have to look at Shi to know that he was wondering just how many beds were in the mansion, and how much time they had. He never got his mind out of the gutter—or the bedroom.

Gathering up as many sleeping bags as they could carry, they trooped back down the stairs. As Chandre passed one of the paintings on the wall, she could have sworn the eyes shifted to stare at her. Easing closer to the group, she practically skittered down the stairs. The sooner they got this job done, the better.

Someone had lit one of the huge fireplaces, and the rest of the group was gathered around it, shivering in the sudden cool. Another person had closed the door, so the thundering of the rain and the storm was dulled.

"I found more flashlights," someone said as they dropped the sleeping bags on the ground. "So we can explore."

"No," Anie said firmly. "No exploring. We're all staying right here so no one gets lost."

Chandre fingered the dagger she had hidden in her sleeve. She had five more plus a pistol about her person, but something about this house really gave her the creeps. Whoever paid two assassins forty thousand credits to kill a vampire was really off their rocker, she thought. She had seen more than her fair share of the undead, but never one rumored to be this old, and she was getting nervous. Not scared, just pre-jitters. She refused to be scared.

Shi looked unperturbed, but then, he didn't let his emotions show.

"We'll go in groups," Lana said. "That way, if we get lost, we'll still have someone with us."

"No!" Anie protested. She was looking more nervous by the second. Unfortunately, she had little actual control and no authority, and everyone began drifting off, flashlights in hand, to explore.

Shi touched her fingers. "Let's go."

He slipped away and she followed closely, still carrying her backpack, him carrying his. They moved up silently ahead of the first group and darted through the parlor into the kitchen where the servant's stair was. It led to all five stories, so that was the one they would take.

The first step creaked under her foot, but Chandre hugged the walls and the creaking eased. Shi bounded up the stairs silently, a dark blur. They had turned off their flashlights so their eyes would adjust to the dark.

On the second floor they heard one of the exploring parties, and saw another couple tip-toe into one of the bedrooms, giggling softly. Shi shook his head and moved up to the third floor.

They beat everyone else there, but the rooms weren't grand enough to be what they were looking for, so to the fourth floor they went.

There were five bedrooms on that floor, huge and with a bathroom and parlor each. Thick carpeting wrapped itself about her ankles sensuously, but she moved ahead. Shi had paused at that floor to sniff something, but the evil wasn't strong here. It came from the fifth floor. She wished she had a floor plan of the mansion, but none existed.

There was a door in front of the entrance to the floor. Chandre tried it, but it was locked. Pulling out a pick, she inserted it in the lock, and a bolt of energy scorched through her, knocking her back into Shi with a soft cry. He managed to catch her and the wall, and his grip bruised her arm.

"What the hell was that?" he hissed.

"No clue," she murmured back, blinking to clear the spots from her eyes.

He took the pick from her numb fingers and after several minutes of fiddling, opened the door without fuss. His glare, when he glanced back, was of irritation.

She followed him inside, but they were confronted with another door five feet later. This door wasn't wooden, but steel encased, with spikes protruding from the door.

Shi sensed the trap moments before she did, and whirled around to fly towards the opposite door, which also had spikes and was beginning to close.

Chandre flung herself onto the stairway as the door slammed closed and Shi caught her, gripping her tightly before releasing her. That door had been moving fast enough to catch a normal human. It was a good thing neither of them were quite human.

"Let's try the main stair," she gasped. The creature was in the fifth floor—she knew it.

Shi nodded and they backtracked, quickly. No one had yet made it up to the fourth story, so they ventured to the fifth once again, only to find this entrance also blocked by a locked door.

As they walked down that stair, Chandre thought she stepped on something hollow, and paused. Shi, who had been leading, turned and glanced at her as she bent down and discovered that the step was a fake. Picking it open, she eased the hatch up and stared down into a coffin-like space. Cloth cushioning lined the interior, but it was a coffin nonetheless. And it was empty.

"Its resting place?" Shi asked, crouching on the step above.

She shook her head. "A place to put its prey," she whispered, and closed the cage, locking it firmly. "Like a spider."

"There was an indention of a body. Certain he doesn't sleep there?"

"Yes." Chandre had no reason to be certain, but she could feel it. This was not the vampire's resting place.

Shi sniffed, and stared down at her. "Fear. Sweat. Piss. Not vampire."

"Did you doubt me?"

"Never."

A scream split the mansion.