Lolli's note: Please excuse the lameness of my pics, its extremely hard to stage these scenes as I have no photoshop whatsoever and GIMP refuses to work on my computer.Exiting that room, in which we had been held captive for what felt like forever, was a relief. The aroma of blood was no longer so strong, and the sense of claustrophobia I had been experiencing vanished. Yet, of course, I was not exactly feeling tranquil. Most of the lights in the house had been switched off, and we crept in the darkened trying to find clues on which room Martha was being held in. I would have thought that Victor may have some idea, seeing as this is his home, but he was just as puzzled as the rest of us.
“I have no idea! This isn’t even a big house! Its all one floor, I guess dad must have boarded up rooms or something, he took care of most of the work done on this place when we moved in”. He whispered.
Well, it wouldn’t be surprising if he had. I would imagine that Herman is not a man to question, getting on the wrong side of him clearly is a bad idea. So who knows what he could have done with this place.
What was strange, was how although Herman was completely outnumbered, all of us were still afraid. In a group which included two vampires, we could put up a good fight. Yet, he was in the position of power. Only Herman had any idea to whats going on. The feeling of being completely in the dark, completely helpless to his will, was not a pleasant experience.
Another feature of vampirism is having heightened senses. Because of this, Persephone and I kept our ears alert for any sound, or scent of blood, as if anyone would notice; it would be one of us.
“Huh, gotta say that this beats sitting at home watching television, it’s been a while since I’ve been involved in something like this.”
“I’d take the television over this!”
Persephone shot a joking glance at Victor, her attitude was refreshing. A much appreciated break from the despair that had surrounded us all. And while most of us just felt hopeless, she convinced us to keep going. Like a good leader, better than I could have been.
“You know, if my dad did board up rooms, we might want to check out the walls or something. To see if any are hollow”.
Victor was right, we decided that Persephone should take Prudence with her, as she was most vulnerable having no experience in this kind of situation. I went to search Herman’s bedroom, thinking it would be the most likely place as according to Victor, he has a lot of dates in there…and he doesn’t always see them leave. Victor decided on searching the walls in his own room, by himself. It was worth a try as he didn’t exactly spend much time examining the walls in his bedroom since moving in.
Victor’s bedroom was noticeably different to the rest of the house. While Herman was fond of fine décor and clearly made an effort, Victor’s room was bare, and in bad condition. The small room was basically empty, his desk had nothing on it, and the wallpaper was clearly peeling off.
He looked at the floor sadly, and for some reason thought of me. The feeling of having someone who cares, after having to live alone with his callous father, felt so good. But now isn’t the time to be happy. Victor pressed against the wall, gently knocking and moving round. He didn’t really believe he would find anything, why would Herman build something behind his room of all places? With no vampire strength or additional senses, Victor didn’t really think he was much use here. He carried on knocking gently, hoping that the sound would not draw Herman’s attention or anything. Or else he would stand no chance.
“What am I doing, this is stupid”
He rested his head against the door. And then heard something through the plaster, like something scraping back and forth against the floor. He was startled, he had actually found something! So with quick thinking, he ran to find something he could break away the layer of plaster with. And hoped to god that Herman was out of earshot.
In Herman’s torture chamber, Martha was still awake, still relying on the hope that someone will find her. She dragged her foot slowly across the unclean floor, back and forth, with the little strength she had. Just to make herself subtly noticed. Herman had vanished again, he seemed distracted by something. Martha had no idea how much time had passed now.
Then, the heard a whacking sound, and saw the wall break before her, leaving a hole. Martha didn’t know whether to trust what she was seeing, for all she know it could be hallucinations or something. She squinted, then heard the sound again. It was too vivid to be a figment of her imagination. As several more whacks followed, the hole in the plaster was big enough for Victor to climb through. He had never expected that a place like this was hidden behind his room for all this time. The sight of the big old iron maiden in the corner made him shudder. He moved towards Martha, trying to determine whether she was alive or not.
“Martha?” he whispered, although if Herman was to come he would have been alerted by the sound of the wall being broken. “Martha? Are you awake?”
She nodded slightly.
“Ok, were gonna get you out of here ok?”
With the knife Persephone had given him, Victor began to carve at the ropes which bound Martha to her seat. With her arms freed, Martha rubbed the sore rope burns around her wrists, before slumping back into the seat. She needed help.
“Hey Martha, try to stay awake, just for a little longer, its gonna be ok I promise.”
He hurriedly continued to free Martha. Till he heard the cold voice of his father to one side of him.
“And I was worried that my plan had been flawed, Victor, you never learn do you?”
About five to ten minutes earlier, I had been searching the master bedroom. Herman’s room disgusted me. It was not anything about the room itself, for it just looked like an ordinary bedroom…with a very tacky bed cover. But it was the knowledge that this is where he brought his drunken, unsuspecting dates, had his fun with them...then took them away for a different kind of fun. But, despite this, nothing about this place seemed unusual.
I heard the sound of whacking, and something crumbling. The cause of this was unknown to me; I thought the worst and guessed it could be Herman. Yet I didn’t even want to think what he was doing. Startled by the unexpected noise I searched for a place to hide, for although I am a vampire, I am not so strong that I can take on a fully grown armed man who was very experienced with killing, at least not on my own. And I would not be able to help anyone if I was dead. With little places to hide, I hurriedly opened the large wardrobe and clambered inside, shutting the door leaving a gap just wide enough for me to peer through.
The house seemed to be silent again, so I assumed it was a false alarm or something. Half relieved, half worried about what that noise was, I reached my hands out to the back to pull myself up…my hand felt nothing.
“Huh? Where’s the back of this thing?”
I pushed the doors open, and it turned out that there was no back to this wardrobe at all; it was to hide a big hole in the wall. It dawned on me; this could be what we had been searching for. Looking back now, it makes sense; Herman must have had a proper way to enter his slaughter rooms. As I slowly crept forward, I did not know what I was to find. For all I knew I could emerge into an empty space...or Narnia!
Herman and Victor were both silent. Victor filled with a deep hatred, Herman feeling nothing, but glee at his son’s behaviour.
“I truly cannot believe you are my son Victor, do you have no sense at all? A pathetic teenage boy thinking he can save the day, you didn’t even bring your little girlfriend to protect you.”
“I hate you! So much! WHAT THE **** IS ALL THIS?”
Herman laughed slightly, but not much, he was not one for showing emotions.
“You don’t need to use such an impolite tone with me. It’s just a place where I like to entertain my guests.”
“ENTERTAIN? DON’T YOU MEAN MURDER? YOU PSYCOTIC *******!”
“Its still entertainment. And I am tired of correcting your bad language. You should not speak in such vulgar language around your parents.”
Victor did not know what that was supposed to mean. Parents? His mother is defiantly dead; he saw her body and everything. He went to her funeral, and regularly visited her grave. Then Herman gestured to the far wall, where a skeleton hung from the wall.
“Larissa, so precious, I could never quite let her go.”
Victor’s stomach turned. The sight of his mother’s skeleton on the wall made him sick.
“Y-YOU DUG MUM UP FROM HER GRAVE? YOU ARE…SICK! I-I WENT TO HER GRAVE EVERY DAY! AND SHE WASN’T REALLY THERE?”
He saw his dad snigger again. “Hehe no, it was quite amusing actually, how you’d sit for hours next to an empty grave. Ahh. Oh! my dear son don’t feel too sad, you can be with her again soon. Although to be honest, you’ll stay in the dank hole they throw your pathetic corpse in…I don’t care enough to have you back with me.”
Poor Victor, he was filled with a rage so intense. He felt disgusted and ashamed to be related by blood to this man. He could not let him live with his crimes. Victor decided on that moment, to go back to the plan he’d promised me he wouldn’t go through with…to put an official end to Herman.
And this is the moment when I entered, to see Victor and Herman gripping knives tightly in their fists. It was clear what was going on.
“Victor STOP! PLEASE YOU’RE GOING TO GET YOURSELF KILLED!”
I attempted to help, but it was too late. The two of them froze, Herman pulled back his knife, stained red with blood, and Victor fell to the ground. Motionless.
In that moment I almost forgot that Herman was there. Victor’s blood began to spill out of the violent stab wound. How could a man do that to his own son? Victor was innocent. Now, I wasn’t sure if he was alive or dead. I noticed Martha, also bleeding.
I don’t know what was wrong with me, whether it was the sight of those two who had been wounded so badly? Or perhaps even the aroma of blood itself. But, I felt myself losing it again, like when I was in my weakest state...and my eyes were fixed on the sick psychopath, who was still smiling cruelly at me.
“Oh I am so sorry Serene, I thought you’d like the carnage? Perhaps not the carnage of your friends, but blood is blood right? And that what matters to you guys in the end isn’t it.”
I was almost speechless.
“I can see your emotions my dear. I can see how you feel. Well, you are the one who wanted to be difficult. Now, a vampire in a fit of rage. A prime suspect indeed. See, I told you there was no way out.”
I felt someone move behind me, I turned to see Persephone and Prudence. Prudence immediately saw her daughter, and rushed over. Persephone, like me, fixed her eyes on Victor’s body, and Herman.
“Woah! Is he dead?”
“I-I don’t know”
Herman’s malicious smile faded, at the sight of Persephone. He never expected two vampires to be in the plan. The plan was seriously flawed now, for he was now in a room filled with torture devices...and two seriously p****d off vampires.
“Wait! How is there two of you? This isn’t right.”
For the first time, Herman felt that he had lost control. He wasn’t in the position of power anymore, and he didn’t like it one bit. And despite putting up a front, I could see that this troubled him…even scared him!
He didn’t like the fully grown vampire, who must have great strength. Yet, it was I who struck first. If Victor was dead, he would defiantly be Herman’s last ever victim. It was over now.
All the work I had put into staying clear of violence, to trying to be a good person was undone. Persephone, Prudence and me were the last left standing. Now that Herman was out of the way, I could go and see Victor.
I knelt before him, his skin had turned pale. Yet when I checked his pulse, I saw he was still alive. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t be for much longer at this rate.
“I don’t think he’s going to make it Serene.”
Persephone crouched down beside me. I felt my eyes well up with tears.
“I-I-I can’t lose him, he’s always been here for me, I just can’t lose him now.”
Persephone called over to Prudence, who was fussing over Martha.
“How is she?”
“Well, how do you think?! That sick creature laid his foul hand on my daughter to inflict pain! Ooooh has judgement day come upon us? Is the devil punishing my daughter for her sins?”
“No, Martha is innocent. Can’t you just quit all this crazy stuff for one moment? Go and call an ambulance or something!”
I couldn’t believe that Victor was dieing, just a few days ago we were so happy. I cared about him so much, and losing him would hurt more than I could bear. Persephone stood up and sighed.
“Two vampires, alone at the scene of the crime. Maybe Herman will get his way after all…it doesn’t look good for us.”
Prudence turned round.
“I am a witness aren’t I?”
“Oh yeah, you can tell the nice policemen how all the demons started fighting and people got hurt, that’s going to help.”
“No, this man hurt my daughter, and as sinful as she is, and as demonic as you are, I would rather see Mr Anderson take the blame he deserves.”
So, maybe we would not get arrested. But Victor was all I could focus on. I watched him breathing slowly, almost praying that he would not stop.
“Is there nothing I can do to save him? Nothing?”
Persephone faced me. “Well, there is one thing, you won’t like it. But…someone like us could probably survive that you know. If he was a vampire, he could live. I don’t want him to die, but the choice is yours Serene.”
Now I was left with my final tough choice of the night. Resort to the vampiric action I had always considered as cannibalism? (for I had not bitten Herman), Or let the only person who was truly there for me during my troubles die?
A tough choice indeed.
