Another body fell, in the murky stream. The little dark eyes of a rat, lifeless staring at his own reflection, on the water mirror.
A deep sigh whispered by a man, close to the tiny carcass. He moved the left edge of his cherry-red mantle, behind his shoulder.
"How long will it take?" he hissed, gazing in front of him.
He then slowly proceeded through the unlit corridor, hearing squeaks and grumblings from the dwellers of that place.

The leaves were pulled by a cold gust. Darkness enfolded the forest, in a moonless night.
A snarl came from a group of trees, welcoming a mounted armored figure.
The horse stopped, and a black cloacked man dismounted. He extended his pale right hand toward a black wolf, who once again growled.
"You can feel what I am." the man said, smiling. "Some creatures of the night can hear the calling, and your kind is one of them, am I right?"
The beast came closer, gnashing his teeth, then stopped.
The pale hand laid on the canid's head. "We like to hunt, to kill. And we must never stop following our nature."
He got on his mount, and resumed his journey through the woods. "Come creature, tonight you will accompany me." the man pronounced looking at the wolf, who silently followed him.

The white snow-clad land was stained with a crimson trail, wich led to a woman. She was a dwarf, her skin almost white as the snow she was laying on, with no trace of life in her eyes.
A man was stainding in fron of her, covered by a brown fur cloak, laughing. "My dear you were delicious, for a dwarf. I was extremely lucky to find you here."
He tittered, moving his red hairs over his shoulder, and got on his horse.
With a winged helmet on his head, he spurred the mount and vanished, engulfed by a group of snowy trees to the north.

The only window was shut, in the small room, and the place unilluminated.
A man with red hairs, and a black robe and mantle, was sitting on the side of the bed; his dark eyes staring at a small table, in front of him. On the wooden surface was laying a severed head, of a creature similar to a wolf, but much bigger from the size of it.
"I told you I would come back for you." said the individual, with a pleased smile on his face. "You were all so determined to kill me, when mi sire died. Now your head is in my room, and I easily slained all your pack." he tittered standing up, and approached the table.
"And I know now, that several new groups spread on the island." Moving aside some red locks, he got down at the same height of the werewolf's head. "I will go back there, and I will kill every single one of them. Again and again, untill I will be bored of the stench of your kind, and their screams when they die."
He grabbed the piece of the shapeshifter, and stuck it inside a bag, placed inside a chest afterward.
"You will be one of the main decorations of my castle, when the construction will be finished." he said, derisively smiling.

A hand was gently knocking on the metal door of a manor, in the middle of the forest.
The caped figure turned around and flinched, looking at the man standing in front. He was like marble statue, in the moonlight, with long red hairs and dark unsettling eyes.
He smiled, with a raised eyebrow. "Who are you, and what are you doing here?" he quickly said. The hooded one revealed her face, with a sweet smile. A girl maybe five and a half feet tall, with a long blonde braid and light green eyes.
"Do you live here? I was travelling to Skara Brae but now it is so dark, and this forest is full of dangerous creatures. I saw the castle, and I thought to ask for shelter for the night. I'm sorry if I..." Sneering, tha man opened the door interrupting her words, and motioned the girl to enter.
The metal doors closed behind them, and the man stared at the guest, hesitantly walking in the main hall. "There is not much illumination here, I can't see very well." she said, with a worried tone in his voice. "This manor has been built recently, I'm still acquiring the necessary fornitures." he replied, and quickly moved behind her, with his right hand reaching for her neck.
He stopped, looking at a small harp hanging from the side of her backpack, and the ferocity in his eyes faded away. She turned around, puzzled, and looked at him standing so close to her. "Are you a minstrel?" he asked, pointing at the small harp. "Oh, yes I'm, a travelling one." she replied with a faint smile. "I usually perform in towns, or inns. Sometimes I'm hired by local lords." The red haired man was silently looking at her, then nodded turning his attention to the stairs, on the other side of the main hall. "Let me show you the guest rooms, only one at the moment has forniture, but you can find what you need." She slightly lowered her head, smiling, and approached the stairs. "Are you looking for work, right now?" asked the man, and she immediately stopped and looked at him. "Yes, I was travelling to Skara Brae to look for some place to perform."
"Very well then." he said, briefly smiling. "The I will hire you. I'm looking for a musician for my manor, and someone that can run some errands for me."
"Are you sure about it?" she asked. "You don't even know my name, and now you're inviting me to stay in your house?"
"Don't worry." he replied. "I'm sure I can trust you" added the man, intensely staring in the girl's eyes. She was standing, in the middle of the stairs, blankly looking at him like a puppet. "You will do as I say, and you will have everything you need in return. You will never question me about what I do." he whispered slowly, always looking into the light green eyes of the young woman. "And now you can go in your room." he added with a smile.
She looked around, like she suddenly awakened, and smiled at the man standing in front of her. "Did you say something?" she asked, smiling.
"I was saying that your room is the one on the right, when you reach the second floor." he responded, grinnig. "Very well then. Oh and my name is..."
"Don't worry." he quickly mentioned, interrupting her. "Get some rest now, tomorrow we will speak."
The girl nodded, and quickly went to her room.

Another night had almost reached the end. A man was sitting on a stone chair, his eyes wandering aimlessly in the darkness that filled the room, if not for the timid light coming from the candelabrum on the desk.
Suddenly a raised eyebrow, his stare gleaming with a sudden thought. His bleached face, devoided of any trace of emotions until now, contorting in some sort of concern.
The left hand reached for one of the parchments, scattered on his desk, while the right one went for a pen.
"How can I have been so blind all this time." he muttered in anger, while the hand was hastily writing on the scroll. "The answer may have been in front of me all this time."

The heavy breath, her eyes full of fear. The woman was lying in the grass, shaking, staring at the sky. A man approached her, a red mantle covering his shoulders, and a long tunic, red too. He stared at her, the pale and dispassionate face like an unconcerned statue, coldly observing a too well known scene. The woman sobbed.
"Cry woman, cry!" said he. "For I will not lie, you are about to die." he knelt, bringing the bleached visage close to her. "But you will in a way, that most creatures can only dream of. Not in pain, but in pleasure."
He was on top of her, his arms pressed against hers, his dark eyes captivated by the petrified look of the woman. "It will be painful, in the beginning, but then you will fear nothing anymore." His lips close to her neck, the sound of pierced flesh, and her eyes wide and vacant.

The vampire was standing, his eyes closed, deeply exhaling with blood trickling on his chin. He glanced at the fields, to the north, farmer corpses lying on them. In an istant, he was gone.

Yes, darkness. Yes, silence.
The confined space, segregating not only the body but also the mind, eating away the sounds, the colors, the shapes, the lights. Yes, take them all away, engulf all the lands and all the seas, all the people, all the monsters. Yes engulf them too, those empty husks, their whitened faces and mocking smiles. Engulf me too, I do not care, a fiend like them. Nothing more is capable to ignite my very being, only the hunger and the desire for the the very thing we cannot have, life.
So yes, close the lid and leave me, with the emptiness I am made of too.

It won't last, I'm aware of that, just for hours or maybe days. The ivory hand will move, raise the lid, and let everything flow once again into me. Sounds and colors, shapes and scents, like no mortal will ever experience, and the calling. Awakening me, from my eternal slumber, moving my corpse like a puppeteer.

Then the skulking in the shadows, the inhuman and wicked movement to the only thing we long for, and the warm gush. Heated, lecherous, fulfilling, the drumming of the heart, so abruptly impatient to reach that very last moment. The gasp, the last breath that for an istant becomes yours, the flowing that reheats the tissues. Then nothing, emptiness again, just a dim sentiment, extinguishing so fast that you can hardly call to mind.
And again the devil leaves, dissatisfied, deprived, wanting.

Several scrolls were scattered on the hardwood table, with several notes and drawings filling the old and yellowed paper.
Some of the content was written in the common language, some in ancient and maybe forgotten ones. Several body parts, organs, herbs and vials were depicted on some of the parchments. The black ink fading, and almost unreadable in several passages of the documents.
The red haired man, sitting at the table, uttered a sigh and grabbed one of the pages.
"Its here. Something is here, I just need to be patient and focus."

A drop of wax fell on the table, from one of the almost liquefied candles on the small candelabrum, timidly illuminatiing the scrolls and the man studying them.
He leant back, against his chair, and tossed one of the papers on the table.
"Those liches knew something after all." he whispered with a grin on his pale marble-like face, one hand running through his hair, pushing them over his shoulders.
"I will have interesting news for the others."

"I appreciated your blood."
A men opened his eyes, staring into the darkness surrounding him, the darkness of the coffin he was inside.
"Who are you?" he whispered.
"Apparently, a sword."
The man reached for the hilt of his sword, sheathed on his side. "Just a sword? Are you kidding me? You are the ancient we killed."
"I know about him. I know what he knew, and I can tell you if you want. Just give me something in return."
"I did." replied the man, tightening his grip on the weapon. "But you decided to reveal yourself just now. Why?"
"I don't really have to reveal myself, I'm just a sword after all."
"You may joke all you want, but there must be something more. You must be something more." the man murmured.
"You will learn that to you, I can be much more, if you grant me what I want."
"And what that is?" asked the man, pursing in lips with an annoyed expression.
"You used the blood, you channeled its power inside this sword, you thought that was the essence. But think, there is something else regarding the blood of a vampire, that defines what that creature really is."

From inside the coffin came no sound, the man was silent.

"I am the thirst. And I am insatiable."