Run

I can’t, Tristan said in his head. I can’t move.

Judging by his sister’s frozen body beside him, she was in the same boat.

You’ll be dead if you don’t.

Maybe I’m already dead, he thought. Maybe this is hell.

That’s what he felt like as he looked up at the man before him. He was so different now, his kind face absent in the place of one belonging to a monster.

That’s what he was, Tristan realized, as he began moving towards them. His youth was the only thing that remained- the awkward mannerisms, the face all too frail, the human- it had all given way to an almost handsome beast.

More than handsome, the way his cheekbones were now set beneath his eyes, burning and beautiful at once, the way he was slowly gliding towards them as if he had all the time in the world, it was mesmerizing as much as it was a thing of ancient horror.

Maybe this is what I deserve, he wondered. Maybe I’m being punished, for lying, for sneaking out, wanting to run away and be free.

Perhaps there was no freedom in this world.

The vampire staked closer.

Perhaps he was never meant to explore it, never meant to leave this little village he’d spent his life in, no- the house he’d spent his life in.

Perhaps the world was no bigger than that.

The vampire dived at them just as Tristan threw himself and Mari out of the way, his limbs searing at the sudden movement.

Why? Why was he still putting up a worthless fight? To save a sister he never got to really know?

It would be better to just get it over with.

He glanced at Mari, her face covered with dust from the stone she’d landed on, her arm shielding her head. She looked up at him.

Tristan was used to seeing his sister’s fear-stricken eyes. Every time their mother warned them to never go outside, to never bleed, whenever she read one of her books on the creatures that lurked within the darkness- she had that same look on her face every time.

And now, in the shadows that still danced atop it, he realized that her nightmares had come true.

His eyes widened with another realization.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to kill you,” the vampire taunted, inching closer. “I’m just going to take you back to my home.”

“Y-you mean the shadowlands,” Mari stammered.

He said, with lethal calm, ”You’re a smart girl, smart and pretty. Perhaps I’ll take you as well, I’d bet anything you have the same blood. Oh, the rewards I’ll receive for such a find…”

“Don’t touch her!” Tristan spat, tucking his fists beneath his chin and running at the vampire. He took his fear and plunged it far, far below, pushing it into the deepest crevices of his mind. Just for a little while, just to save Mari, even if it was the last thing he did.

The vampire blinked in surprise, allowing Tristan the few seconds he needed to close the gap between them and-

He had only extended his arm, but Tristan was flung across the square, landing right into the side of a house and collapsing to the ground.

He’s so damn fast.

If he thought the pain was bad before, it was utterly blinding now. He was pretty sure his arm, and maybe his leg, and maybe his whole damn body was broken. There was a loud ringing in his ears, and Tristan could barely tell if he was still even alive or not.

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Until he vomited his own blood onto the floor, a dark puddle of gold.

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Marcella

“How disappointing,” the vampire sighed. “And here I was expecting something a little more challenging, given all the legends.”

He turned to Mari, who was now staring at her brother’s limp body across the village square. The fear in hers had numbed her to everything but complete shock, yet the gravity of the situation was starting to hit her full force, and her tears finally fell.

“Don’t worry, he’ll be fine. As for you…”

The words did little to comfort her.

Beginning to make his way towards her, his eyes shining with an insanity even brighter than before, the vampire continued, “I can smell it now, your blood- and your fear. I’m sure the king wouldn’t mind if I just took a small bite, would he?”

Mari crawled back until she hit a wall, her head frantically bobbing side to side as she looked for a way out.

“Go ahead and run. It’s no use, but I certainly won’t turn down a chase.”

No, this can’t be it.

Mari thought that all this time, it was Tristan who was locked up in a cage, Tristan who begged their mother to go outside, who wanted to leave Frostwood behind and see the world.

But he wasn’t the only one.

How could she be so blind? All the reading, all the daydreaming- she’d wanted to see the world, too.

Yet she had let it erase her.

A scholar, living in some grand manor by the shores of Rhovandy with her peers, perhaps studying botany or astronomy or maybe even philosophy…perhaps she’d know it all.

Maybe she could have, if she agreed to run away with Tristan, if they left before the vampire could catch up with them. Or maybe even before, if she’d made a better effort to get to know him. Or if she had successfully stopped him from sneaking out, they wouldn’t be in this mess.

Mari had failed, and now she was probably about to die or suffer a worse fate, and Tristan wasn’t even with her.

The vampire was finally upon her. His smirk sent faint waves of panic over her, but she didn’t care any longer.

She had lived all her life in fear- dying with it was a mercy in comparison.

She looked over to her brother, wanting to see him one last time.

But he wasn’t there, the ground where he’d fallen still covered in his blood.

No, he was in the air- a burning plank of wood in hand, his eyes laced with bloodlust, and releasing a terrible, terrible scream as he set the vampire alight.

He was fast, and would likely have been able to dodge Tristan if he’d turned his head just a moment earlier. But he’d been staring at Mari with a hunger that seemed to possess his entire being, as though the smell and sight of her blood overpowered every other sense.

And now, he was burning.

Mari watched the vampire as he howled in pain, flailing his arms in an effort to put the flames out.

But it was useless. Even creatures who could kill you with a single gesture had weaknesses, apparently.

She glanced at her brother and expected to find at least some remnant of fear within him, but it had entirely vanished- the look in his eyes was what terrified her instead. They seemed to burn with hatred.

The vampire finally went still, and only a breeze wept amongst the smoke-filled air as he disappeared like a piece of parchment, leaving nothing but a pile of ashes behind.

Mari rushed to her brother. He was still covered in his own blood, but he didn’t seem to be actively bleeding as much now. “Are you okay?”

Tristan seemed to snap out of his trance, giving her a smile. “I should be asking you that.”

“I’m fine. I can’t believe you…how did you know to…”

“Because of you, Mari,” he said. “You told me that fire is the only weapon we have against monsters. Who knew that being a huge nerd would actually pay off?”

“I suppose I was just repeating an old folktale…well, not really a folktale now, I guess,” she mumbled, trying to steady her breathing. “You saved my life, Tristan.”

He shook his head. “No, you saved mine.”

To her puzzled expression, he clarified, “I was ready to give up, Mar. I was ready give it all up- my dreams, my life, all of it. You gave me a reason not to- you were a reason not to. You and mom.”

Mari felt a little awkward at this sudden display of affection that she’d never expected from her brother, but settled for saying, “Does that mean you’re not going to run away and join the army?”

“Only if you become an evildoer and I have to bring you down.”

She grinned, but the edge in his voice betrayed him. “You’ve got a deal.”

She wondered if there was anything or anyone strong enough in this world to hold him back.

“That I do, although I’m not sure you can get any worse than that.”

They both looked to the pile of ashes.

“I can’t believe they really exist. Should we get rid of it?” Tristan suggested.

Mari thought for a second. “No, I say we just run home and wait for mom to get back. Then she’ll have to explain what all…this is,” she said, gesturing at the blood stained on his clothes. “Do you think I have it, too?”

“Don’t say that like it’s a disease. But yeah, she’s just as overprotective of you.”

“And the vampire seemed to think so,” Mari added.

Tristan’s face recoiled in disgust. “Don’t tell me you hold any weight in that monster’s words.”

“He clearly knows something we don’t. We’ll just have to tell mom all about it, she might be mad but she’ll be glad we’re ok.” She wondered if their mother knew about the existence of vampires, too. Not believed like everybody else, but knew. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

They only got a few steps in before multiple doors of the houses around them bursted open and out came the people of the village.