To Kiss a Killer | boyxman | (OLD VERSION)

Chapter XXI - The Vampire

The clicks of my heels against the brink-like walkway echoed down the long abandoned hall. The walls were granite and chipping from age, the stench of death and rust filled the air. I knew I was dreaming when I entered this place, having fallen asleep after a while. I touched the wall with my fingers, gliding them across the roughness as I continued on. Did I recognize where I was? Not at all. I couldn't even recall stepping into the building... I was just there.

"Dominick..." that same foreign voice said. It sounded as if the person was speaking directly into my ear, but whenever I checked, no one was there.

Darkness engulfed the hallway beyond the point of the last light fixture bolted to the wall. If I went on, I wouldn't be able to see a thing even with my vampiric sight; however, I continued my journey.

Stepping passed the only source of light left, I prolonged my stride, keeping a hand on the wall to guide me. After a moment, a sodden part of the granite caught my fingers. I stopped in the pitch blackness and rubbed my fingers together, the scent of blood identified. AB negative to be specific. Wiping my hand on my pants, I moved onward, unable to be stopped by not knowing what would come next as I took unknowing steps.

"Dominick..." the voice called again, "Please, keep going. I'm here."

Though I felt like an idiot for speaking to a person not there, I said, "Who are you? Are you in danger?"

The light voice answered my second question with a beseech. "I've become trapped here... please, don't leave me like this. You must help me."

"If I can find you, I will."

"You're close, just a little further."

This was all starting to become silly to me. I'm a vampire... dreaming, hallucinating, and even if I found this person... whoever they may be... what would happen when I find them? This is what it was... a dream. I wouldn't be able to assist even if I wanted to. I'll be waking up any moment now.

As I moved on, my fingers fell into an empty space on the wall, another hall perhaps. Testing my luck, I guided myself through the darkness and rounded the corner. "Dominick, hurry. They're coming."

They? "I'm coming. Am I almost there?"

"Dominick, please; don't let them do this to me."

I picked up my pace into a run, but tripped over something I couldn't see. I stumbled over and toppled to the ground, catching myself on my hands before totally collapsing on the hard ground. I back tracked, feeling the floor for whatever it was that tripped me, and when I could feel the indication of... flesh... damp... blood stained flesh, I caught the feel of fingers beneath mine.

I had tripped over a dead body: a dead woman.

"What the—."

"Dominick, where are you!?"

I rose and bound in the direction the panicked voice was coming from again. Down the hall I barreled as fast as my legs would take me, almost falling over a badly decaying corpse. "Ahh!" the voice screamed in sheer agony. "Get away from me. Help me, Dominick!"

I could see a light from a far, a low light coming from what came off as the bottom of a door. It flickered like wind threatened to blow it out, and when it began to fade, I approached a large heavy aged metal door. Thrusting my hands against the cold front, I shoved the grave weight, pushing with all my might until it would budge.

The screaming was coming from the inside. I was close, but by the time I got the door open... I woke up.

I shot up in bed, the iron shields over my windows up and showing the moonless sky. The blanket was tangled around my legs and I tugged it off with frustration. Sweat ran down my forehead, heat dampening my body with panic and a sense of being afraid. I sat with my head hung, wishing these wretched visions would just go away. I haven't had a peaceful sleep since I met Raeden. Could these hallucinations be caused by him, or am I really on the brink of losing my mind?