After writing down all the details of this evening, I wasn’t sure what else to do but sleep.
Instead, I just sat on the floor, my adrenaline running wild.
I felt a headache coming on and became keenly aware of the blood in my body. I idly wondered how Karmen experienced blood on a sensory level.
Was blood exciting for her, was it annoying, was it not a bother unless she was hungry, or did she… enjoy spilling it?
I shivered at the thought. But then again, why take on a vampire as a lover if the thought of spilling blood made me queasy?
I considered this for a moment.
Truthfully, I hadn’t thought about it. Karmen seduced me in the middle of the night and I became addicted to her.
I was greedy and needy and could never get enough of her when we saw each other in the night. Was she to me what blood was to her?
It was hard to deny, but at least I didn’t have to kill to keep her. “But would you?” The hideous thought popped into my head.
The thought lingered. “No, I would never do that,” I said and repeated to myself.
It was at that moment I realized I had been so caught up in the moral quandary of whether or not I could be with a killer, that I had forgotten about the events of the night.
I clutched my head again, exhausted. “Well, fuck.”
I crawled onto the bed and groaned. Maybe this was all just a bad dream?
I closed my eyes and quickly faded.
When I opened my eyes, I was standing in the middle of a street. I scratched my head, what was going on?
I walked along an empty sidewalk and felt an eerie sense of discomfort. Something about this… wasn’t right.
I came across a small candy shop and walked inside. “Hello,” I said before noticing that this store, too, was empty.
I looked at the candy on display. I hadn’t noticed initially, but for some reason, all the candy was red.
I hesitantly reached my hand out to grab a piece of hard candy. Once on my palm, it immediately melted. It was thick and smelled of iron; it was blood.
I stared at my hand in shock and ran out the door. I felt panic setting in but kept running.
That’s when I heard a rustling sound.
Initially, I ignored it and continued running, but eventually, it became so unbearable that I had to turn around to see what it was. At first, I saw nothing, but as I turned back around, I noticed a weathered blue sedan following me.
The blood drained from my face and I felt my breath slow.
“You can’t run forever,” a voice said.
I felt myself hyperventilating. What was happening?
“Karmen, are you doing this?”
A moment of silence passed.
“No,” the voice finally said, “though I’m sure you wish it was your lover.”
Adrenaline rushed through me as I stifled tears, what was that? Who was that?
I kept running until the street abruptly ended. When I turned around, the car was gone.
I almost laughed at the absurdity of it all. Nothing that had just happened made any sense but I was too afraid to process it.
I turned back around and what stood before me was a massive wrought iron gate. I was in awe of it and it took me a moment to regain my composure enough to look more closely at my surroundings. In the middle of the gate were the initials “WC.”
That’s when I noticed a gold placard on the brick next to it. “Weissel Town Cemetery,” it read.
The name “Weissel” hit me with a sense of familiarity that I could not place. And just as I thought I had concluded why the name seemed so familiar to me, I heard a low growl.
I looked around and there was nothing. I felt myself sweating. The growl only increased in volume but again, there was nothing in sight.
The growl became deafening and I stood there in terror, nowhere to run, and covered my ears.
Eventually, the noise subsided and instead, I heard a small yip. That’s when I noticed a small black dachshund come into view.
The dog came running up to me, tail wagging eagerly.
I was terrified but my immediate instinct was to embrace the dog.
It was adorable and looked to be no more than a puppy. Despite my better judgment, I picked it up and cradled it like a baby.
The dachshund had a kind face and impossibly big, black eyes. As I rocked it, I realized it was wearing a collar.
“Oh.”
The collar was black and blended in with its fur. On the collar was a small gold tag that read, “property of the Weissel family.”
I looked at the tag and then looked at the dog. The Weissel family, that was-
I awoke in my bed drenched in sweat. I breathed heavily as I took in my surroundings. Everything looked the same. I shook my head, I supposed I had an overactive imagination.
I glanced at my hands for a moment, only to realize they were covered in small, black hairs.
I blinked rapidly. No, this couldn’t be happening.
“Lorelei, sweety, breakfast is ready!”
I could feel my heart rate pulse loudly as I dressed and walked downstairs. Sure enough, there was no blood anywhere.
I was beginning to panic but carefully concealed my fear.
As I entered the kitchen that was horribly bloodied last night, I looked at the floor and walls; they were spotless.
I sat down at the table and gulped.
Mother seemed to be strangely cheery as she sat down across from me. There were two sausages and toast with jam on her plate.
“Someone gifted you about 10 lbs of fresh sausage this morning. I hope you don’t mind that I helped myself, the rest are in the fridge.”
I was at a loss for words.
That’s when I noticed the newspaper on the table. I flipped through it rapidly only to notice the front page headline after I set it back down on the table: “Mayor, police chief and detective found dead in a ditch.”