The Diary of Lindsey Kate McIntosh
July 15th 2001
It's funny how quickly your life can change. I'm sure you all know that by now, but I wonder how many of the people reading this will be able to relate to what I've been through these last few weeks? I hope for your sake you'll just look on this entry as the scribblings of a mad woman and nothing more. Whilst it has been quite an adventure for me, I'm not blind to the fact that the life I am choosing for myself is one of loss and horror. The enthusiasm I have right now to fight the good fight is probably just a coping mechanism, that will wear off in a few weeks time.
I've already seen good people die at the hands of those monsters, and I doubt they'll be the last I'll lose in this fight. (Assuming I'm lucky enough to not be next myself.) Still I know that I can't go back and I know that there is an entire world out there waiting for me to explore that I simply can't resist.
Writing this down will not only hopefully help me process everything I've been through, but it will also let those of you who do care about me know the truth if anything ever happens to me. Again I don't doubt a lot of you will think I've gone insane, but one day the truth about what's really out there will be known. Perhaps sooner than even I realise. I know that it's not even the same world than when I was a little girl.
Looking back on it, I had a really easy life growing up. Granted I always did feel quite privileged given my job and my family and friends, but considering just how dangerous I've learned the world really is. Even I had no idea I was so well off.
I was born in Wemyss Bay to a fairly upper middle class family in the year 1975. My father was a Dentist and my mother was a Doctor, and we lived in a big fancy house overlooking the bay. Growing up I was taken all around world. Germany, Switzerland, France, Poland, the Netherlands, I'd visited them all with my family by the age of 15. Sadly however as a young un I could never really take in just how rich my experiences truly were. I often marked these holidays more by what videos we watched in the hotel than the beautiful culture and scenery around me. We were among the first people even in Wemyss Bay to have a VHS, and I remember my dad in particular being angry that I only ever remembered my first holiday in Poland for being when I first saw "When Harry Met Sally" that my mum had taped off the tv. Fortunately I've visited Poland many times since and know for sure what a lovely country it is, though "When Harry Met Sally" is still one of my favourite films.
At the very least these holidays began my love of travelling that would carry on to this day. In my early twenties I was fortunate enough to be able to turn that passion into a profession, when I got a job writing for travel logs. I must admit that when I started I hoped It would be a stepping stone to something bigger. I've always wanted to write, though I'm not exactly sure what about? I had such an eclectic range of interests, everything from middle eastern history to Dinosaurs, I could never settle on just one thing! Still I guess I was hoping inspiration would come from visiting so many different parts of the world, but instead I think I just became too cosy and secure.
It was a very comfortable and rewarding life though. I got to see so many wonderful cities and places and meet so many amazing people on my travels, but there would be one quaint little area in my home country of Scotland that would end up becoming my true home away from home. The Galloway regions.
I was there during Wigtown's first book festival in 1999, which they brought back the following year and from what I gather they plan to this year as well. Here's hoping it carries on for a few more years to come. In actual fact I had only arrived to see the book festival, but Wigtown was such a welcoming, beautiful place that I ended up coming back here whenever I could for the next almost two years.
A place like Wigtown, surrounded by the most beautiful scenery, with the friendliest locals and fuelled by a passion for the arts truly did seem too good to be true. I knew there had to be a catch somewhere. Sadly I would have never guessed that would be the undead.
For the past few months according to the locals there had been rumblings of something happening near the beaches of Galloway. A few teenagers going missing, a shark showing up mangled by something in the water. I was shocked to hear of such things happening here of all places, but I foolishly wasn't scared for myself. As tragic as it was I assumed that it was something the authorities could handle and I wasn't going to let any potential danger spoil my visit.
It would be on the 20th of June however when the evil brewing in this seemingly quaint area would reach me. It was late at night, I'd just been enjoying an evening out in my favourite pub, The Smoking Fish with my friend Lucy, a resident of Wigtown I got to know on my very first visit here. On the way home through the long road back to Wigtown, which lay next to a field leading out to a small forest behind. We spotted someone staggering about, seemingly hurt in the distance. Normally I loved the walk back from the Smoking Fish, The countryside was just so beautiful even at night, and I'd hardly have to worry about anything in a place like Wigtown.
Sadly however this time would be different. When the figure came into view more clearly, we could see that he was holding his neck, which was bleeding.
He tried to say something to us before collapsing on the road. Lucy instantly went for her phone, but before she could call the emergency service another figure came jumping out of the bushes at the side of the road. He was dressed in similar clothes and carrying a wooden stake. At the time I assumed it had to be something else and I just couldn't see it very clearly in the dark.
He said to the first figure. "I'm sorry brother. You now that I'm sparing you from being with them forever." Before he stabbed the stake into the bleeding mans chest.
Me and Lucy both screamed and instantly ran back the way to the Smoking Fish. Lucy was so scared she couldn't think straight and started shouting at everyone else to call the police even whilst she was actually holding her phone! She'd never been very brave, mind you neither had I. I'd like to think that Lucy like most of us, if faced with no other choice would be brave. If I can, anyone can.
Most of the customers tried to calm her down, whilst one of them, a large burly man named Kent went outside to look.
"There's no one there." Kent said.
"I'm telling you there's a psychopath with a wooden knife!" Lucy shouted, only to be met with some mild sniggering from some of the patrons.
"Well wherever he was he's" Before Kent could even finish he was suddenly pulled up by something above. I didn't know it at the time, but it was one of them. The undead demons, that feast on human blood that we know as, vampires.
Kent's corpse dropped to the floor in front of us less than a minute later. His neck had been cut open just like the man on the street and there was blood everywhere. I didn't know Kent that well. He was a lot older than me and generally tended to just stick to his own little group whenever he went to the pub, but I still can't believe that his entire life and identity were just taken so quickly and so easily. His friends didn't even have a chance to try and fight to save him, not that there would have been anything they could have done anyway. The whole bar started to panic, but as the patrons all got out of their seats and headed to the back door, they were suddenly stopped by two ghoulish figures that dropped from above just outside the back.
The one that killed Kent meanwhile also dropped just outside the front door. Standing roughly six feet tall, he was dressed in ratty, filthy clothes, and looked human from a distance. When he walked slowly through the door and into the light of the pub however, we could all see the monsters grotesque face more clearly. Its skin had a greenish tint to it, whilst the ridges above its eyes were thick and scaly like a reptiles. It also had bright red eyes, with a small black pupil and long, thick blood stained fangs in its mouth.
The creature screamed at us, with its roar sounding more like a lion's than a person. We were all so transfixed and repulsed by this monster we failed to notice that several more of them had gathered by the windows with the others by the back door slowly advancing too. There was still only five of the bloodsuckers in total, but that was more than enough to take care of all us. The demons started ripping as many people as they could apart. A few of them fed on their victims, but most either just tore their limbs off, or punched their fists through their stomachs and heads. Fortunately I didn't get a good look at the gruesome spectacle for long, as I just ran as fast as I could through the slaughter, as did Lucy. I felt like a coward, I still do for not trying to help anyone there. I even left Lucy on her own, as she did me. Still I know that if I'd stayed those blood thirsty monsters would have ripped me to pieces too. They were more like sharks at a feeding frenzy than people. Me and Lucy only managed to just slip out of the slaughter and no more, but once we were outside we saw a dozen or so more of the monsters walking through the fields slowly towards the pub.
In an act of panic I ran as fast as I could down the road towards Wigtown, whilst Lucy was too scared to even move. Several of the vampires however cut me off and with nowhere to go but into the open field where another six of them were waiting, I ran that way hoping I could run past them in time.
Lucy meanwhile took her chance and ran up the road and back to Wigtown whilst the vampires were distracted with me. I don't blame her. I had done the same thing after all. Fortunately the bloodsuckers were so preoccupied with me and the slaughter in the Smoking Fish, which they eventually burned to the ground, that they didn't chase her down. She managed to make it home safely and alert the authorities, though by the time they arrived everyone else in the pub was dead and the vampires were gone.
I would speak with Lucy a few days after all of this was over. Sadly she wasn't ready to face the truth yet. When I tried to tell her what I saw after, and what those men really were, she just assumed I was in a state of shock. Even though she saw them, their inhuman faces, the way they tossed fully grown men around like babies, the way they acted like animals rather than people. Deep down she knows what they are, but she just isn't ready to face it. I'm certainly not going to push her into this life. I just hope that she is able to cope with it in the best way for her. Maybe denying it is for the best after all. I'd imagine more than a few people have done that throughout history and gotten away with it. Still if more didn't then maybe those people at the Smoking Fish would be alive.
Whatever the case, I managed to make it a short distance into the field before the vampires caught up to me again. They had superhuman speed as well as strength.
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They soon gathered around me in a circle, some of them baring their fangs and hissing at me, others cackling like Hyenas at my plight. I genuinely couldn't believe I was even in this situation. I had no idea what the hell these things were at this point, if they were really monsters, or just gangsters on some really weird shit. Either way for it to happen in Wigtown of all places seemed even more insane. I even tried pinching myself to make sure it wasn't some horrific nightmare, though I'd hardly need too as I'd soon be in enough pain to let me know I wasn't dreaming. The largest of the vampires reached out and grabbed me by the arm. It's strength was unlike anything I'd ever felt before. My arm would be covered in bruises afterwards just from its grip, though I know that bloodsucker could have either snapped my arm in half or ripped it out of the socket if it wanted! It's grip was also freezing to the touch and a little bit slimy too. It reminded me of holding a slug or a snail. Not that I have ever held either animal. They give me the creeps almost as much as vampires, but if I were for some reason then I'd imagine it would be like touching a vampires skin.
Before the vampire could begin feeding on me, another one of the crazed bloodsuckers snatched me by the other arm with just as much force. The two monsters pulled so hard I thought I was going to be ripped in two until another one of the Demons grabbed my hair from behind and nearly sunk its fangs into my throat, but it was stopped by yet another, that struck me across the face in its effort to get at my neck. I was briefly knocked out, and when I came too just a few seconds later I was on the ground, covered in mud, cuts and bruises made by the vampires trying to get at me. All of the bloodsuckers in fact were fighting over me again like a group of crazed animals in a feeding frenzy, and I tried to crawl along the field in the commotion, until one of them noticed and mounted itself on me, pinning me to the ground.
I tried to scream to alert the others, but they were so caught up in their blood lust it didn't do any good. The monster smiled as it sat atop me. Up close it was even more disgusting, with slime and blood dribbling from its mouth and into my face which stung as much as it stunk. In fact the monster stank badly overall. I closed my eyes and prepared for the brute to sink its teeth into my neck, when suddenly the monster let out a scream and fell off me. I got up and saw him lying on the floor, with a wooden stake straight through his heart. Within a few seconds my attacker exploded into a cloud of dust before me. I couldn't believe it. I almost fainted again, but fortunately my rescuer helped me to my feet. It was the same man who had stabbed the figure on the road earlier who looked even more beat up than I was. The other vampires meanwhile were soon drawn by the sound of their comrade dying. Though from what I've read when they are that close they can feel one of their own kind dying as its soul is dragged to the other side, that is the other side for them.
The monsters charged at us, and I tried to run away again, but my rescuer held me with one hand and whipped out a crucifix with the other which caused the demons to instantly cower. I had by this point already put all the pieces together in figuring out what these things were. I think anyone could a this stage, but even then I was still having trouble taking it in. Not that it was uppermost on my mind. I was more concerned with just getting the hell out of there!
As I tried to pull free from my former rescuer however I saw that several more, similar creatures were emerging from the pub that was now in flames.
With no other choice, the man who has just saved me ran the other way into the country side and woods ahead, whilst still holding my hand. I didn't fight him this time as well I'd have been stupid too. Even if he was a psychopath, fighting off one guy with a cross would definitely be easier than taking on 10 guys with super strength and fangs!
We made our way across the field and were soon lost in the forest, but the vampires hadn't given up just yet. They could see in the dark just as well as we could in the light, but my new friends cross would always ward them off when they got too close.
Unfortunately just as we were nearing the end of the patch of woods, which ended in a cliff leading to the ocean, one of the vampires descended from the trees above. It knocked us both down, sending the cross flying through the air and over the edge of the cliff. The monster then picked up my former rescuer by the lapels of his ratty, torn coat and smiled as it prepared to bite him.
Rather than simply run, which I'll admit I was tempted too, this time I was able to muster up the courage to try and fight the monster, though fight might be somewhat of an exaggeration. I simply threw myself at the bloodsucker. I obviously didn't have any fancy moves, and I'm pretty sure that one of my "punches" would have hurt me more than it would it, so I hoped that if I rugby tackled the vampire I'd knock it off its feet. All of the vampires were insanely thin. They almost looked like skeletons, with some of the bones almost poking through the skin and muscle. That didn't mean they were weak, but hopefully they'd be easy to topple because they were so slight. Sadly my gambit didn't work and I simply bounced off of the vampire that remained as sturdy as a rock. The monster simply turned round at me and sniggered, but little did he know I'd bought my new friend a few precious seconds to pull out a bottle of holy water from his pocket which he used to splash in the vampires face. The bloodsucker let out a scream that spread throughout the entire forest as he sank to his knees, clutching his smoking face. The other vampires meanwhile had now caught up with us and with nowhere else to run, the vampire hunter grabbed me by my arm again, and pulled me off the edge of the cliff with him. We both fell about 30 feet into the water below.
For the record I can swim. In fact on my travels I've swam in some of the most exotic oceans around the world. However the panic and shock I was in from, well everything meant that when I hit the water I flailed around wildly until the vampire hunter pulled me into a nearby cave inside the cliff. There I took refuge on a rock whilst the hunter sprinkled the holy water into the ocean leading into the cave.
"Don't worry. It'll affect the water for the next few hours until the sun comes up." He said as he pulled out another stake.
I meanwhile was so scared I honestly felt like jumping back into the water and just swimming. I didn't even know where, just anywhere away from here. Wigtown had suddenly dropped in my estimation.
Fortunately however I knew that wouldn't get me anywhere and after a few minutes I mustered up the courage to talk to the vampire hunter I owed my life too, who was still constantly on the look out.
"I think I know what those things were, but just for confirmation." I said, trying to sound as cool as possible and not like I wanted to scream to the high heavens.
"They were vampires. Of the Dehona breed. Not common around these parts. They're here for something big. Me and my friends. We tried to stop them, but it was, well as you can see above. They were feral, desperate. We also underestimated just how many of them there were. It was a massacre." He said without even looking back at me."
"Lucy" I suddenly thought to myself. In all the panic I didn't even think about what could have happened to her, I'm ashamed to admit. I tried to push past the vampire hunter but he stopped me. I tried to explain frantically to him, but he warned me that the vampires might not be away yet. They were tenacious and above all else vindictive, hateful creatures who would never let prey escape from them if they could.
We argued for about five or so minutes before we were interrupted by a hand reaching out of the water which soon pulled the vampire hunter below the waves. I screamed for all the good it did, but within a few seconds the water started to turn red. Soon after the culprit emerged. It was the vampire that had been burned with holy water at the cliff edge. The other vampires were smart enough not to jump into the ocean, knowing the hunter would have come prepared with holy water, but this vamp clearly didn't care. He was so enraged that he wanted to tear the hunters heart out no mater what. However the pain of the burning holy water was too much even for him and he soon crawled onto the rock next to me. His skin was burnt to a crisp, whilst his hair had almost been completely singed off. One of his eyes even appeared to have melted out of its socket, whilst his nose was nothing but a stump. He also had a stake embedded in his right shoulder, yet in spite of this he still jumped straight onto my rock and tried to bite me. I was told later that human blood can help a vampire of his breed heal from almost any injury, besides a wooden stake through the heart, decapitation and direct sunlight. As he tried to bite me however I managed to twist the stake in his shoulder before pulling it out which made him wince in pain. I then dug my nails into the wound which made him scream. I can't deny feeling just a twinge of satisfaction at finally turning the tables on the monster and with a further slash to his face from the stake, I sent the undead abomination tumbling back into the water.
He instantly rose back up, his flesh boiling and reached out for me, and before I could get away, he got me in that iron, slimy grip of his, but with my stake I kept slashing and slashing blindly until he eventually sank back beneath the water and swam out of the cave. A few seconds later the hunter emerged from the bloody pool beside me, though I almost stabbed him at first in panic. The vampire had managed to bite him, but the wound wasn't serious. He assured me that he wouldn't turn either. In order for this breed of vampire to make someone into one of their one, they had to drain a substantial amount of the victims blood and then force them to drink the vampires blood, which is what happened to his friend above.
Though as I said to him at the time that is what someone who would have been infected would say and the next few hours were rather tense, not just in waiting for any of the vampires to attack, but also for the hunter to potentially change.
He was also waiting for me to constantly try and run out to save my friend too. Though deep down now that I had time to think about it, I hate to say that I wasn't as eager to go out there and look for Lucy whilst those monsters were running around.
The hunter tried all night to contact other members of his team on his phone, but he either got no response or they were preoccupied. Vampire attacks were happening all over Galloway it seemed. One of the hunters allies, a woman named Sophia was holed up in a resturant a group of the bloodsuckers were trying to tear apart near Stranraer, whilst another was holed up in a cinema.
The hunter who saved me, who spoke in an Irish accent revealed to me that his name was O'Brien and he explained that Scotland was something of a hotspot for demons and vampires. Apparently it was all to do with the Roman empire. Centuries ago, Trajan, the most celebrated of the great Roman emperors led a crusade against vampires and other supernatural creatures to the point where they were forced to flee to the one place in Europe that Rome hadn't conquered yet. Scotland. The monsters soon built a unified force there that lasted for many centuries, even after the Empire collapsed. O'Brien meanwhile belonged to a organisation founded by Saint Columba. You might know him as that priest who famously fought off the Loch Ness Monster in the old legend? At least that's all I knew him for before this. Anyway apparently that wasn't the only monster he fought off. Saint Columba had been sent here from his home in Ireland to try and clean up Scotland's monster problem. Needless to say despite his skill, Columba knew it would be too much for one person to accomplish and so he set up a secret order known as Scathach, named after the famous warrior woman who had taught him everything he needed to know about the supernatural and had served as his mentor, before she was called back to Scotland and died in battle with the Turok Han. It was her death that motivated Columba to desperately try and save her homeland of Scotland in the first place.
O'Brien also however explained to me that the number of demons from the Galloway and other regions of Scotland had dropped dramatically. Round about the same time these vampires had first arrived. He didn't know why. Demon and vampire communities were known to fight over resources, namely people and vampires were shunned by many other demon species and communities, being viewed as too evil and corrupt even for them. However this was again an organised massacre of many different demon species, even those who didn't compete for humans.
In a few hours dawn broke and O'Brien assured me that the vampires would be gone now. This breed like most would die in direct sunlight.
Sadly however the hunter still didn't let me go. He explained to me that this wasn't just a random vampire hunt, hence why the monsters had been so bold. These bloodsuckers were preparing something huge and that until they were dealt with, I couldn't simply go back to my old life. I had been marked by them now. and the monsters didn't like to leave loose ends. I protested, telling him I could just leave Wigtown, but he told me that he didn't know how wide this vampire cult's reach spread, and that there was no guarantee that there weren't humans secretly in league with them all throughout Galloway.
I soon came to see he was right. I'd only survived because of his knowledge. At the very least there was clearly more I needed to know about these bloodsuckers that were apparently all over Galloway.