When The Night Comes (What We Do In The Shadows)

2. The Dinner

At this very moment, as I observe in silence this great grey brick house in front of me, I'm no longer that convinced I want to do this. I've been standing in front of this door for at least five minutes with a mop in one hand and a bucket full of detergents in the other, undecided as to what to do. I mean, there's vampires living in this house. Despite my relationship with Vladislav and my desire to become one of them, well...they're still predators and I don't know why but I guess I'm not gonna find any Pitt or Cruise in here. I even don't know what will happen to me once crossed the threshold: the chances of being torn to pieces and making new friendly friends are, as far as I am concerned, the same. I'm like a delicious italian takeout for them.

I take a deep breath and I'm almost determined to knock when suddenly I hear a voice from above, marked with a very distinctive Romanian accent.

"Come on in, the door is open."

When I raise my head I see Vladislav up there at the window, smiling slightly at me.

Who knows how many are in here. Two? Five? Ten? Aware that this may be the last time my skin is caressed by the light night breeze, I close my eyes for a second and enjoy the moment. Come on, that's what I wanted, right? Well, maybe I didn't just want to be vampire food, but so what.

"I suggest you get in before Petyr gets you, young lady!"

The trees and the darkness behind me were scary enough, now I also feel...predated. I can no longer tell if I'd be safer inside or here on the edge of the door. With a quick gesture I open it and then close it behind me, looking around as fear paralyzes me. I don't really know what to expect. The lobby is that of an old ruined Victorian house. On the walls there are many paintings, mostly portraits, scattered on a turquoise wallpaper ruined by numerous stains of moisture and dirt. In front of me stands the bust of a stuffed ibex is staring at me with his glazing eyes, hanging on the wall just below the long wooden staircase leading to the second floor. I'll probably end up like you tonight, ibex.

"Welcome" Vlad's voice, now louder and clearer from the top of the stairs, makes me jump "...come upstairs."

Step by step, slowly, I climb all the steps reaching Vladislav on the upper floor. The air is full of a strong smell of humidity and it's awfully quiet.

"So, uh...you said there were others." I say as I follow him down the hall, walking slowly behind him.

"That's what I said."

"And how many...where...?"

"Okay, this is the bathroom."

In a second I feel my skin turning white as marble. My heart stopped for a moment. I've never seen anything like this in my life. My eyes wander inside the bathroom and my mouth barely opens in search of oxygen. The walls, the bathtub, the curtains, the floor, the mirror...everything is smeared with blood. Thick, dark and copious blood in a staggering amount. It looks like a slaughterhouse.

"...and you call this 'a bit of a mess'? Are you serious?"

"Yeah, well...like I said, there was a little accident..."

"It'll take me hours to clean up everything!"

"Better start now then. Have fun!"

Vladislav leaves me alone inside the room and walks away while I keep looking around wondering why I stuck myself in this shit-hole situation.

I don't even know where to start.

*     *     *

I've been in here for at least three hours. On my knees, on the floor, I wiped all the blood. Removed it from the bathtub, from the mirror, from the cracks between the tiles...but as for the wallpaper and the fabrics I think there's nothing more to do. For as long as I've been in here I didn't hear any noise, just the wind between the leaves outside the window shaking the trees a little bit...but sometimes I felt watched. Maybe it was just a feeling but it was like someone was watching me in secret. My pink rubber gloves have turned dark red, I take them off carefully before throw them into the bucket. I feel like I'm on a horror movie set.