From the darkness it came, and in the darkness it hid. The beast that had been haunting their town, stealing the young women from their beds with no trace only to leave their bloodless bodies to be found three days later.
The sound of mournful wails had become the music of the village. So many daughters lost. So many families destroyed.
The fog that had rolled in to encompass everything made it seem as though the world itself was showing that the village was cursed. There had been no sun for the last seven months. Everyone’s skin had become pale and wan, the despair seeping into their very beings, stealing the joy from life.
Those that tried to leave the village would find their paths blocked. They would reach the woods surrounding the village and it was as though the trees would move and block the way. Shadows writhing amongst the limbs and branches, rattling the leaves, making ghostly hissing sounds that would build a sense of horror.
The few villagers that tried to force their way through the forest… disappeared. Their screams and wails of pain and fear would be in the night’s wind before trailing into horrifying silence. Telling their families and friends that they were gone forever, likely dead.
Hopefully dead.
Because there were things in the darkness. Frightening things that would come in the night. Rattling windows and doors. Scratching at the wood and bricks. Pulling at the roof thatch until pieces of straw and mud would be scattered on the ground below, warning that something had been on the roof, trying to work its way inside.
There were so many empty houses in the village. So many missing–dead–villagers. The fear of what was happening made the air thick and hard to breathe. The scarce food made them thin and weak. The not-knowingness of it all made everything so much worse.
There had been those that had insisted the village had become the food of vampires, but that had turned out to be wrong. And those foolish enough to put their faith into what was known about vampires had quickly discovered the error of their ways when they met whatever it was lurking in the darkness.
It did not require an invitation to come in.
=END=
~Harper Kingsley
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Vampires that don’t require an invitation are a lot scarier.