Brushing his fingers lightly over his upper lip, Roman studied his sister. “Alisha, I know you pride yourself on your Celtic Second Sight, but the uneasiness you feel has to do with the simple fact that today we dealt with death. We were both reminded of our own mortality today. I was thinking of Dad and Carys just before you came in.”
“I know you think I am just a hysterical artist with a wild imagination, but trust me when I say something isn’t right. You’re Romanian. Can’t you believe in the Second Sight?”
Roman chuckled lightly. “I believe in what I can see.”
Alisha gave him a frustrated look, then flung up her hands. “Fine. I’m going to bed.”
“Alisha, I don’t want to demean your opinion or upset you. It’s just that they’re dead and buried. There’s no way on this earth they can hurt you.”
“My mind tells me the same thing, but a voice within me is crying out that something is horribly, terribly wrong.” Alisha kissed her brother’s cheek goodnight and opened the door.
“Good night, Alisha,” Roman responded, returning his gaze to the view beyond the window. He saw his sister’s worried expression reflected in the panes of the window.
“Roman, are you ever afraid?”
Roman shook his head. “Should I be?”
“Maybe we all should be,” Alisha responded before closing the door behind her as she left.
She’s getting stranger every day, Roman mused.
Sometimes his sister mystified him nearly as much as Carys had when he was a child. Alisha had not only inherited Carys’s flowing golden hair and blue eyes, but her artistic talent and a strong belief in the supernatural. Roman was more like their father: pragmatic and even-tempered. This evening, Alisha was acting odder than usual, but Roman simply couldn’t put any faith in her feelings. There was no way he could believe the dead could harm them. They were dead and buried safely in the mausoleum.
“The dead are dead,” he muttered.
A shadow flickered across the lawn and before Roman could fully catch a glimpse of it, it vanished.
* * *
An hour later, Alisha gave up on reading herself to sleep and glanced warily at the French doors that opened to her balcony. The darkness of the night pressed against the panes, and the glass reflected her anxious expression.
Something was out there watching her.
Tossing back the covers, she slid out of bed and slowly advanced on the doors. Her skin was on fire with thousands of hot pinpricks and her breath became increasingly shallow as fear clawed its way through her mind. The notion of being watched overwhelmed her so strongly that her hands quivered when she drew the curtains, deftly shutting out the darkness of the night. Backing away from the windows slowly, she was too afraid to look away.
The doorknob of her bedroom door began to turn and Alisha whirled about.
“Who’s there?” Alisha demanded in a rough voice.
“It’s me,” Roman said, slightly embarrassed as he poked his head in around the door. “I’m sorry I frightened you. I was just checking up on you. I thought you’d be asleep.”
Alisha was flushed with relief. “I couldn’t sleep and when I did, I had these horrible nightmares.”
“After what you said earlier, I was worried about you. I didn’t mean to sound like such a jerk about dismissing your worries.”
“Eh, you’re always a jerk. You’re my brother.” Alisha forced a small smile. “I’m okay now, I think.”
“Good.”
Alisha climbed into her bed and pulled the blanket over her. Roman strode over and tucked her in, acting as though she were twelve instead of twenty-two. Being ten years older than Alisha, Roman had always played the role of surrogate father when their father had been traveling abroad. As she grew older, they had realized that he could no longer be a surrogate parent to her and their relationship had changed. In many ways, Roman was a muddled combination of an older brother, father, and dearest friend in Alisha’s mind. She smiled at him wistfully. Roman had sacrificed so much to raise her and their little sister in the wake of their parents’ deaths.
“Roman, thank you for being here for me and Vanora.”
He looked a little startled by her words. “Where else would I be? It was my duty to take care of you. Besides, I love both of you, even if you’re both obsessed with monsters from the grave,” Roman said briskly but with a smile.
Alisha glanced warily at the French doors. Roman’s gaze followed hers.
“Alisha, nothing is out there.”
“Roman, do me a favor. Lock your bedroom door and windows,” Alisha said abruptly.
Roman gave her a sharp look, then smiled and nodded. “I will. For you.”
“I know you think I’m paranoid and all that, but I’m worried.”
Roman nodded somberly. “I understand. I think about all we’ve lost and I feel afraid, too. I can’t imagine life without you and Vanora.”
Resting her hand on Roman’s, Alisha said, “And we can’t imagine life without you.”
Her older brother smiled, then departed, turning off the overhead light and plunging into darkness. Alisha reached out with a trembling hand and turned on the lamp next to her bed. Straining to see in the dim light, she examined every shadow lurking in the bedroom.
“Oh, please, God, let Roman be right. Don’t let there be anything out there,” she prayed fervently.
* * *
Vanora sleepily fumbled with the lock on her window, then felt it open. A cool gentle breeze flowed into her bedroom, alleviating the stuffiness. Still burdened with sleep, she stumbled to her large canopy bed. Her sleep-laden eyelids gently closed and she felt the sweetness of a coming dream. Abruptly, the comforting sensation was gone and she felt as though she were falling into a deep black pit. Vanora tried to waken, but sleep was engulfing her.
Fighting upward toward the surface of her dreams, she tossed about in her bed. Sleep was a dragon consuming her and she fought it valiantly. Her eyes flicked open and for an instant, she saw a lean, gaunt figure silhouetted in the window before she was swallowed by darkness again.
Frantic, Vanora forced her eyes open again. The room was dark and ominous. Fear embraced her so tightly, she could scarcely draw a breath. She attempted to move, but her limbs failed her. Eyes wide and staring, she tried to discern the familiar shapes of her bedroom furniture and toys. Gradually, the awful realization that something or someone was crouched on her toy chest swept over her.
Deliberately, the eerie gaunt figure climbed off the toy chest and walked erratically toward the bed. The moonlight streaming through the window fell upon a gnarled, skeletal hand when it grasped the bedpost. Vanora struggled to call out, but every word strangled in her throat.
The creature moved again, climbing onto her bed. It crept into a moonbeam, and Vanora saw a skull-like face, bulging hunger-filled eyes, and a gaping mouth with long sharp teeth protruding from dry, shriveled lips.
Whimpering, Vanora felt the creature’s body climb over her, its gross head blocking the view of her room. Its claw-like hand pulled the covers away from her chest. With terrifying deliberateness, its grotesque head began to lower.
Unexpectedly, a glowing, luminescent light began to shimmer in the night, causing the creature to hesitate. Vanora saw the source of the light at the same moment the creature did. The silvery, glowing light expanded, spreading out over her body.
The thing rasped furiously in a foreign tongue, then flung itself from the bed. With a shriek of rage, it hurtled through the window.
Vanora pressed her tiny hands against the tiny silver Celtic cross hanging about her neck. It was very warm to her touch, and Vanora watched with fascination as the light emanating from the cross slowly dissipated. Afraid to be alone in the dark of her room, Vanora scrambled from her bed.
3
Alisha awoke with a start when Vanora pounded on the bedroom door.
“Alisha, it’s me,” her little sister’s voice called out urgently.
; Alisha rushed across her room and opened the door immediately. Vanora scurried in and leaped onto the bed. Alisha quickly shut and locked the door.
“What’s wrong? What happened?” Alisha demanded anxiously.
Vanora peeked out at her sister from behind the comforter she was clutching to her face. “There was something in my room!”
“What do you mean, Snow Pea?” Alisha knew that she had lost all color in her face as her hands began to tremble.
“A monster, Alisha! It was in my room! It came to get me, but it went away!” Vanora wailed and flung her arms about Alisha.
Immediately, Alisha crawled onto the bed and wrapped her sister in her arms. “It’s okay, sweetie. You’re safe now.”
“It tried to hurt me!”
The older sister stroked her sister’s white-blond hair distractedly. Her mind was whirling with thoughts that just couldn’t be true. “What did it look like?”
“All ugly and thin and gross!” Vanora whimpered. “It saw Mama’s cross and ran away!”
“Thank God!”
“You believe me?” Vanora questioned in an awed voice.
Alisha gently wiped tears from her sister’s face and nodded. “I do. There is evil out there. I felt it earlier. How did it get in?”
“I opened my window because it was hot,” Vanora reported, sniffling.
Alisha thought this over. “I thought they had to be invited in,” she said under her breath and walked over to the large oak bookcase lining one wall. She plucked Bram Stoker’s Dracula off a shelf and flipped through it.
“What has to be invited in, Alisha? What is it? I’m scared!” Vanora whispered.
“You’re wearing your cross. It can’t touch you. The windows are locked and so is the door. It can’t get in unless we let it in,” Alisha responded.
“You mean it’s a vampire! Like Dracula!” Vanora sounded both terrified and a little thrilled. “You said monsters aren’t real!”
“You have your cross! You’re safe! It was scared off once already.” She touched her neck gently then looked confused. “Where’s mine?”
“What is it?”
Vanora’s wail was not helping her nerves.
“My cross,” Alisha responded and walked toward her vanity. “I must have taken it off.”
“Mama told us to always wear them. She said we always had to have our crosses on! It’s very important!” Vanora scolded, hugging a pillow to her body and rocking back and forth.
“I know, I know!” Alisha opened her jewelry box and searched about for the small silver cross.
A tree branch tapped rhythmically against the window. Alisha grew more frightened with every passing moment. The vanity was directly in front of the windows and Alisha felt too close to whatever was out there. And she was very much convinced that something was out there.
“Find it!” Vanora ordered, holding her cross tightly in one of her tiny hands.
“I’m trying!” Alisha’s body tensed, every nerve terrifyingly alert. Hands trembling, she searched through the drawers of her jewelry box.
Unnervingly, the sound of the branch brushing against the window abruptly ceased. Alisha stopped and listened. Silence. Fearfully, she looked at the drawn curtains. Cold, tangible waves of evil pulsated against the panes of the French doors, trying to force them open. Alisha sensed a malevolent presence beyond the doors and it terrified her to the very depth of her soul. Yet, the temptation to pull back the curtains and see what had escaped from the rotting coffin gripped her. Trembling, she reached out toward the drapes.
“No!” Vanora screamed.
Alisha hesitated.
Something struck the balcony door with great force. Both sisters screamed. Alisha fully expected a hideous creature to leap through the French doors into the room, but the doors held fast.
Alisha ran and leaped onto the bed, Vanora throwing her arms about her. They both held onto the tiny cross, holding it up in the direction of the French doors.
“Go away!” Alisha ordered in a shaking voice.
“Yeah, go away!”
“We don’t want you! Go away! We won’t let you in!” Alisha shouted, her confidence swelling slightly. The cross burned with power in her hand.
The doors trembled.
“It’s trying to unlock the doors,” Vanora whispered.
A soft scratching noise emanated from beyond the curtains.
Anger overcoming fear, Alisha climbed off the bed and grabbed her sketch pad off her desk. Grabbing her charcoal pencil, she drew in long, swift strokes. The scratching at the doors continued, again the doors were tried, then the scratching started again. Alisha showed her sister the enormous cross she had drawn then started toward the doors.
“Alisha, don’t! It’ll get you!”
“No, it won’t!”
Grasping the sketch pad firmly, Alisha viciously yanked the curtain back and slammed the drawing against the glass panes. She only saw the emaciated form, with the shrunken features, and gaping mouth, for an instant, then an unholy scream rent the night air and it threw itself over the balcony railing to the ground below.
“It’s gone!” Relief and confidence swelled within her. She wrenched the doors open and shakily stepped onto the balcony holding the pad firmly. To her horror, she saw it climbing up the wall toward her.
“Where is it?” Vanora’s voice was a terrified wail.
“The bastard doesn’t learn!” Alisha exclaimed and moved toward it, the drawn cross between her and the creature.
It howled as if in pain, then averting its face, muttered something in a foreign tongue.
Alisha retreated to her room and locked the doors quickly.
“Bring me the tape,” Alisha said in a hushed, hurried voice.
Vanora didn’t move.
“Bring it!”
The youngster ran to the desk and grabbed the roll of tape. Alisha tore the drawn cross from the pad and pressed it against the window. Vanora joined her and pulled pieces of the sticky tape off the roll. Alisha secured the cross to the window with feverish intensity.
“I can see it! Vanora sobbed.
“Don’t look at it! Don’t look at its eyes,” Alisha ordered.
Another scream rent the night, then the thing appeared to disappear into the darkness. But Alisha knew better. She’d looked into the glowing eyes and had seen the centuries-old hunger. It would return again and again, for it was desperate to feed on the blood of the living.
Finally finished, the sisters crawled onto the bed and covered themselves up.
“It’s still out there!” Vanora whispered.
“I know, Vanora,” Alisha responded.
“Can we call the police?”
“They can’t help us with this.”
“What is it?”
“It is one of the old ones. The one from the coffin that was chained. Roman set him free. It can roam the grounds and probably get into the house because we descended from him.” Alisha pressed her cold, trembling fingers to her forehead. “I knew bringing those coffins here was a really bad idea.”
“But if we are his family, why does he want to hurt us?”
“Because he is insane with the hunger. Vampires crave blood and after being locked in that coffin for a hundred years or more, he’s insane with the desire to feed.”
Vanora’s little body was shaking so hard, Alisha regretted being so honest with her. “You have your cross, Snow Pea. It will protect us.”
“But what about Roman?” Vanora asked.
Vanora was so white, her skin flushed a bright pink when she was upset. Her purple eyes were swollen and filled with tears and it broke Alisha’s heart. Gently, she stroked her sister’s snowy blond hair.
“I wouldn’t worry about him. He has that giant mother-of-pearl cross in his window and he always wears his cross around his neck. Right now he’s sleeping and is perfectly safe. And so are we,” Alisha said, trying to convince herself as well as Vanora.
Vanora glanced toward the door
that opened into the hallway, pressing her lips tightly together. “Maybe we could go knock on his door?”
“I don’t want us to risk leaving the room. We know it’s safe in here.”
“Call him?”
“Okay, we’ll do that. Though he’s probably just going to be cranky.” She was almost afraid to call and not have him answer. Then she would have to risk running down the hallway to his room. Alisha picked up the phone and dialed Roman’s extension.
“What is it?” he sleepily answered.
“Uh, is everything okay?” Alisha’s fingers played with the telephone cord.
Vanora’s big eyes watched Alisha anxiously.
“What?” Roman sounded more asleep than awake.
“Are you okay?”
“Go back to sleep, Alisha,” Roman mumbled and hung up.
“He’s fine,” Alisha assured Vanora. “And cranky.”
“I wish morning would come,” Vanora whispered.
“So do I, Snow Pea. So do I.”
4
“Get up, you have to go to school,” Roman said, shaking Vanora awake. “What’re you doing in here anyway? You gave me such a fright when I found your bed empty.”
Alisha stood next to the bed, nervously tugging on her robe as she watched Vanora’s eyes focus sluggishly on Roman as he leaned over her.
“Is it morning?” her little sister asked.
“Of course. What sort of a question is that? Hurry up! I’m already running late as it is,” Roman said, knotting the red tie that hung about his neck.
Vanora gazed at her older sister questioningly, and Alisha nodded, urging her to obey.
Reluctantly, Vanora crawled out of bed. “I don’t feel well.”
“I know you have a spelling test today. You’re not getting out of it. Now, hurry up!” Roman ordered.
Vanora groaned, scowled, and then reluctantly left the room.
Vampire in the Night: In Darkness We Must Abide, #1 Page 2
