Fangs and Other Fairy Tales (A Camren Fanfic)

Chapter 1

I forced my eyes open only to be met with blurriness. I could make out a few vivid shapes of what looked like bedroom furniture, a lot of oak, maybe a wardrobe, a desk, the smell of pine is so prominent it's almost sickening. After a few minutes my vision became a lot clearer, I was definitely in a room of some sorts, maybe even in a house, although where, I have no idea. There's an awful metallic taste in my mouth that no amount of swallowing can seem to get rid of, and with a stroke of my palm against the surface beneath me I realise I'm lying on a bed. I take a few deep breaths while trying to hold back the sickness in the back of my throat and notice that the air is cool and crisp, there is definitely water nearby; a stream maybe or a lake. I take another deep breath and from what I can tell I'm alone, although there is an undeniable foul stench in the air that I can't quite place.

After a few minutes more, I switch from my nose to my ears, and just listened. I was right. There is a lake nearby, not ten metres from the window on my right. It's windy outside; I can hear it run across the strong timber walls which don't even creak at the contact. This place is very well kept; whoever lives here must take good care of it. That's when it hit me; someone lives here and just because I was in a bed doesn't necessarily mean I was safe. A wave of worry hit me as I listened closely again, I was still alone but for how long, what if they came home and decided I had been loitering in their house for long enough. Then again, they're the ones who brought me here, the question is why? I knew I wouldn't get my answers just by lying around, and I wasn't going to wait for them to come home. No, I was going to be ready.

I sat up when I felt a tug on my arm, it hurt and the pain rippled throughout my body. When I looked down to find the source I noticed there was a needle in my inner forearm connected to a drip, at a closer look the bag read 'Morphine'. Was I in pain? At the moment I felt quite numb so I couldn't be sure, but then again they could have disposed of the original contents, and this might not even be morphine at all. I made a move to pull it out when I brought my other arm across my body and noticed it had been placed in a cast with its own wire protruding out of it leading to another bag labelled 'Nutrients'. That one made sense. I pulled them out one after the other and swung my legs over the side of the bed. I was shaking slightly, but then again I was just being pumped full of drugs so I shook it off, at the same time causing another scent to invade my senses. This one was unfamiliar, it could have been human, but again there was something off about it, something I couldn't quite place.

I looked down, and noticed the smell was wafting from my attire. I had a pair of sweats on that I'm sure aren't mine, and a plain black shirt; they must belong to whoever brought me here. A kindness you wouldn't have shown to someone you were planning on hurting which made me feel a little better. I pushed myself up firmly and was fine for a moment until I took a step and a striking pain shot through my leg like a bullet, I collapsed onto the floor and clutched at the source of the pain. I pulled up the fabric of my bottoms and discovered my right leg had been bandaged also; it wasn't in a cast like my arm so I guessed it wasn't broken but it hurt like hell. That's what the morphine was for. Uneasily I pulled myself up, listening closely again to see if my fall had alerted anyone, but thankfully it was still silent. I limped across the closest wall, and cautiously opened the bedroom door; it creaked ever so slightly but not enough to deter me.

I stepped out from between the doorway and leant against the wall once more while attempting to hop on the other uninjured leg. Once I had regained my balance, I looked around and found myself in a wide hallway, and by the sound of the running water outside, I was on the bottom floor. I analysed my options, studying the hallway closely but it seemed no matter which way I went I would end up in the same place and hopefully at the front door. As much as my curiosity was screaming at me to look around I didn't want to be caught off guard just because I was snooping. Plus by now, my survival instincts were on overdrive, everyone knows once you leave the killers bedroom you're asking for trouble. So, I made my difficult walk down the hallway and round the corner, I passed a kitchen on my slow escape but something about it made my skin crawl so as much as it pained me I kept going. My curiosity wasn't the only thing screaming at me, my stomach was having its own little temper tantrum as well but now was not the time.

To my utter relief I stumbled across what looked like a living area, with a leather sofa and another oak something or other, and just across from that was the front door. This hopping on one leg thing was becoming insanely difficult by now, and I almost crashed against what felt like a banister, a large banister... a huge banister attached to a majestic grand staircase? This isn't your run of the mill lumber mill, that's for sure. I finally reached the front door, and to my complete surprise it was unlocked, serial killer 101 – you always lock the door, so either this guys an amateur or they're really not trying to kill me. Let's hope it's the latter. Now outside, I could see the river with my own eyes, a stream to be exact connected a giant waterfall a few miles upstream. There were trees as far as you could see, and despite the brisk wind, it was actually rather sunny. Not that the cold had any effect on me anyway, but I take the sun being out as a good sign. Were it raining, a black cat might as well of crossed my path.

Everything about the area screamed nature, I'm sure the nearest town was several miles away. And I was way off about the whole lumber mill thing, looking at the house from the outside, it was actually ginormous. Sure there were logs and things lying around or piled up, but this was more like a resort than anything else. I saw a few broken branches off to the left of me and picked one up, breaking off some of the smaller branches and used it as a walking stick, at least I wouldn't have to hop around anymore. However, I now needed a new plan, if the nearest town was a good distance away, it would take me days and in the condition I was in probably weeks to get there. If I wasn't freaking out before, I definitely am now. I have no other choice than to wait and find out for myself whether my captor is in a good mood. I say captor loosely considering I'm standing outside of their house and they didn't lock me in my room either. The least I could do was find a road, or a road sign, or maybe I should have searched the house for a map, or a phone, or something. I don't even know what time it is, although by the looks of things it's probably about midday.

I was just about to turn around and walk back inside when I heard it. For a minute it sounded like a stampede, but that was ridiculous why would there be a stampede in the woods of – wherever the hell we are; plus a stampede of what? That's when it hit me. As the quickening stomps got closer and closer my heart sank and the nerves wracking through my body almost brought me to my knees. That's why something felt off about being in that house, why I couldn't bring myself to go in the kitchen, and why the scent on these clothes didn't seem quite right. I should have gone with my gut feeling, I knew something was wrong and now I was probably going to pay for it. One by one a different figure came barreling out of the woods at breakneck speed, a gust of wind showing the sound barrier they just tore through with ease. The moment I felt my tail stand on end, my ears fully appear, and my teeth shift, I knew exactly what they were.

'Vampires'