01

Prologue

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"Sear my soul with your words,

Light as a feather, swift as a bird,

Cutting deep, you know no bounds,

I cry out, make a helpless sound,

No humanity, no mercy left, I can take no more, your swings are too deft.

Cracking, breaking, shake me down.

I look to you as you let me drown. In this world where weakness is a curse,

My heart will be leaving in a lonely hearse.

I have nothing left, nothing more to give.

No strength, no fight, nor reason to live.

So shake me, break me, take me down.

Because in the end, you'll come around.

You bleed me dry, yet here I stand

Ready today to be a better man.

I'm not leaving unless you take me out.

Let that fill your mind with doubt.

Because you can strike me, try to wear me down,

I'll just give you a disapproving frown."

~ Chuggs3y

Transylvania, Romania

The darkened hills of Transylvania thrived with untamed wilderness. The earth beneath him trembled in forebode as swift winds merged with greenery cluttered the air. A pale, fickle moon provided seemingly deficient strays of light that projected moonlight paths throughout the turf.

He had traveled so far, had risked so much, tonight he could not fail.

In his peripheral, he barely caught the semblance of a shadow, moving with undetectable speed, through obscurity that seem to mold and blend in union with the unworldly.

His heart beat at an irregular pace; he could feel the anticipation creep through his veins as his eyes sought a flutter of motion; a slight rustling of shrubbery, anything to betray the beast.

He smirked inwardly at the contrariness. The creature he sought was the ideal monstrosity of a child's nightmare but he was tracking it, hunting it down like the prey it so maliciously ripped apart to feed its ravenous thirst.

The night seemed to unfold in the creature's wake, coming alive with fear as the presence of an insidious form moved with incredible stealth in a circulating route.

The creature was toying with him. He could feel it. The beast could smell his fear just beneath his shaky confidence. This only fueled his determination.

It was ridiculous, but he swore in that moment, he could hear a vague resonance of laughter, so deep and laced with deadliness, answering to his solid thought.

The men around him grew alarmed, jarring at every twitch and snap of earth, alerting them to pending danger, but their concerns would not deter him, and lifting a hand to motion them into stance, he readied them for his signal.

The creature was hungry. It would detect the tang of blood scented in the air and unable to resist its lulling copper sweetness, would seek the bait and fall directly in their hands.

They waited.

Though the night was lofty and subtle, he felt beads of sweat dot his forehead and bathe his back. His men were restless and uneasy as they gripped a net construed of wire and sturdy rope. He paid little heed to their fears. The creature needed to be trapped. Once ensnared, he would inject it with an anesthetic and draw a sample of its blood.

He didn't know quite what he was dealing with and held tightly onto his belief that this would work. If the creature proved to be immune to the drug, then they were in a great deal of trouble.

If he had any inkling as to what creature awaited them, perhaps he could have anticipated the unfolding events.

All fell to an uncanny stillness and a deep sense of peril filled the air. His body tensed with a combination of mixed emotions-uneasiness, apprehension, but most of all, determination that can only be defined as relentless.

The silence was unexpectedly shattered by a fierce and violent shriek. The men yelped and scattered like broken shards of glass as the wind resurfaced with newfound gust.

"Hold your positions!" he bellowed, feeling a sudden panic as chaos unfolded.

The harrowing shrieks grew frighteningly close, he spun around and all the blood drained rapidly from his face.

The moon favored the beast, illuminating the creature in silvery brightness, as its eyes shimmered in the night. He was motionless, caught in the creature's allure. An ominous growl crept from its throat, with skin as pallid as the moon stretched taunt over sculpted bone.

As if compelled, he stepped toward the creature and its lean frame tensed in anticipation, its lip curled upward, baring a full set of razor-tipped fangs.

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