When they reached the top, Danny shined the light around, and the beam revealed black marble floors, bare walls, and a closed wood door with a solid gold handle.
Brian turned the handle and pushed it inward, hoping the owner of the house wouldn’t be in there when it opened. The room was empty, its black marble floors continuing down a set of stairs, leading to a circular space filled with photos.
They rummaged through the pictures (scattered all around the room) and found that most of them were of the local countryside and the surrounding mountains. It didn’t escape them that the photos all took place at night. There wasn’t a single picture with an image of a morning sunrise, an evening sunset, or any kind of daytime light.
“I wonder who took these pictures?” Danny asked, not realizing Brian was still recording. He silently said the words “sorry” when Brian gave him a disgruntled look, and then he turned his attention back to the pictures.
Brian re-focused and returned back to the investigation. “Any trapped souls in here that want to talk? Why do you haunt this tower? How did you die? Do you know what year it is?” He asked, as he walked over to a camera sitting on a tripod in front of the stained glass window, which he could now see held an image of an upside down cross.
Danny stepped up beside him and noticed the window had hinges attached to it. He pushed it forward and it swung open without a squeak, exposing the nighttime world and a sky filled with stars.
Brian took a seat in a nearby chair (a cushy recliner), and turned off the audio recorder. He rewound the machine backwards for a bit before playing it.
“I don’t think I have ever seen a sky so beautiful, or so full of stars,” Danny replied, as he looked out the window. He sucked in the cool mountain air and let it calm his nerves.
“Nothing,” Brian replied after listening to what he had recorded.
“Come over here,” Danny replied. “You’ll never get a view like this back home.”
“I’m good. Let’s go check out another tower.”
“Why don’t you go? I’m tired. We can meet up outside in about ten or fifteen minutes. Grab the extra flashlight in my bag.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay.” Brian grabbed the flashlight and turned it on. “See you in a bit.”
“Be careful.” Danny replied without turning away from the window.
“Will do,” Brian replied, and made his way out of the room. He hurried down the stairs to the ground floor, and made his way outside. He paused there for a moment and debated about which tower to enter. He decided on the tower closest to the one he had just exited. He flipped on the flashlight and hurried on over to it, his hiking boots crunching softly underneath his feet.
He opened the door (identical to the door on the other tower), and stepped inside. He shined his light around for a moment. The floor, the walls, the stairs, all of it looked just like the other tower.
“Is there anyone in here who wants to talk to me?” Brian asked when he turned the audio recorder on. “Why do you remain in this tower?” “Who are you?” Can you tell me your name?”
He shined the flashlight towards the railless stairs, and started to ascend with cautious ease. Half way up, he stopped and shined the light around for a moment or two. The flashlight beam cut the dark the best it could, but it was struggling in the murky black.
“If you are trapped. Please talk to me. I can help,” he replied, and then started to climb again, thankful this tower was as cool on the inside as the other one.
When he reached the top, he stopped on the landing and looked at the door. It (like the floor) were a carbon copy of the area on top of the other tower. He tried the door knob and found it unlocked. He pushed the door open onto an empty room.
He walked into the round space, and descended down the two tier steps. He shined his light around for a moment, and saw that this room was covered in books from floor to ceiling. These books not only flowed nice and neat in rows upon rows of shelves, but they stood high and tall on top of the four tables placed strategically around the room.
“Is there anybody in here that wants to talk to me?” Brian asked, sitting down in the big comfy chair beside a table full of books. “I’m here for you. Don’t be afraid. I’m not going to disturb you. I just need to know who you are.”
He waited a minute or two in the silence, and then turned off the audio recorder. He rewound the tape back, stopped it, and then pushed play while he scanned the room with his light. He was amazed at how clean everything was. Like the other tower room, there wasn’t a speck of dust or dirt to be found.
“Welcome, Brian and Danny.”
He stopped the machine when he heard the voice. It was ghostly and disembodied, but it also seemed to be full of life.
Reluctantly, Brian hit play again. It wasn’t like him to get easily spooked, but something about that voice unnerved him.
“You are my guest. Please, let me take care of you for the night,” the voice replied, surprisingly soothing.
Brian listened to the machine for a few more minutes, but the voice never returned. He stopped the machine and sat there for a moment or two. He suddenly wanted to be back with Danny again. He got up, and quickly made his way back outside.
Danny was waiting for him in the court yard, rubbing his arms, trying to stay warm. “Find anything?”
“We should probably jet,” Brian replied.
“What?” Danny noticed the look of terror in his partner’s eyes. “Are you okay?”
“No,” Brian replied, almost shaking, and it wasn’t the cold causing it.
“This isn’t like you.”
“I know, but I caught something on the tape.”
“So, we’ve caught lots of things,” Danny replied. “Why has this one gotten you so stirred?”
Brian rewound the tape and hit play.
Silence.
Confused, Brian tried to rewind and then go forward again.
Still, silence.
“It was here a minute ago.”
“You’re scaring me,” Danny replied, gripping Brian’s shoulders.
Brian broke the grip, and tossed the machine on the ground when he couldn’t find the voice. He stomped on it until it was nothing but scattered pieces of debris.
It was then and there that they heard the front door open and saw light spill forth onto the bare ground. There was a guy standing there in the open doorway. He was dressed in casual clothes, red pants, black shirt, and shoes. He had his hair pulled back and it revealed a face so white it almost glowed.
“Gentlemen, welcome. Have you enjoyed your small tour?”
Brian looked at Danny, and Danny looked at Brian. They turned to run, but they couldn’t. Their feet were frozen in place.
“Please, gentleman. We all want to keep things civil. Come now, dinner’s getting cold,” Lothar replied.
He raised his white hand up, and the two men started floating. Lothar then guided their floating bodies into the house, and over to a large table. Two chairs slid out, and both men were planted firmly into them. The chairs then slid back underneath the table, pinning the men there.
Danny looked down at the table in front of him, and he saw a solid gold plate filled with meat, vegetables, and bread. On the side of the dish were gold utensils, and a wine glass filled with white wine. He looked from the wine glass to the candelabra on the table to the roaring fire in the gigantic fireplace.
From there, his eyes scanned the room. There were tapestries on the walls, a chandelier filled with candles above them, a stone floor, throw rugs, and windows with the shades wide open revealing the night.
“Come on gentlemen. You must say something or at least eat something,” Lothar replied. “I’ve frozen you in place, but you’re not paralyzed.”
“Let us go. We won’t tell anyone about you,” Danny replied.
“Mortals. Always in such a hurry to go nowhere.”
“What do you want?” Brian asked.
&nb
sp; “I’ve offered you a fine last meal, and all you have is questions,” Lothar replied.
“Last meal?” Danny asked, swallowing hard.
“I think you know from my appearance that I am a Vampire, and that I am the one the legend talks about. I am the one you heard about in the bar. I feed on the living, and I plan to feed on you tonight,” Lothar replied, sliding in close to Brian. He sniffed his neck, and watched the blood run through his veins.
“Please, don’t hurt him,” Danny replied.
“Last chance to eat, Brian. Last chance for a last meal. Last chance to tell your partner you love him.”
“Fuck you,” Brian replied, and spit in his face.
Lothar calmly wiped himself clean, and then yanked Brian’s head violently to the side. It was such a hard yank that his neck nearly snapped. Lothar opened his mouth, white fangs gleamed in the light, and then he slammed them into Brian’s neck. He gnawed and chewed, and tore open the skin letting the blood fly free. He took a bath in it, as Danny screamed until he passed out.
Lothar pulled away from Brian’s neck, and licked his lips a few minutes later.
“Delicious,” he replied, as he moved down the table to Danny’s lifeless body. He pulled Danny’s head to the side, and devoured his neck like a dog with a chew toy.
When he was finished feeding, he wiped the blood from his mouth and face with a towel. “Better than expected, gentleman,” Lothar replied, as he felt a stirring in the room.
“The devil still plays his games,” a voice replied from the shadows.
Lothar turned in the direction of the voice, as Talan Gawayn stepped up to the table and looked at the two dead men. It had been a long time since he had killed someone innocent. He lived and feasted on the evil doer, and one of the reasons why was for moments like this. He hated the look of mortals in death’s embrace when they didn’t deserve their fate.
“My first child. Still upset with my eternal gift,” Lothar replied.
“I would have preferred to die back then, but I’ve since come to terms with it. I’ve since found a way to make amends for my sins.”
“Yes, the Christmas thing. How is that going?”
“We are both condemned to Hell. I’m just trying to do some good before I get there.”
“Pish posh and tish tosh. You should go back to the innocent ones. It might loosen you up a bit,” Lothar replied.
“I needed a place to stay for the day, and that’s all I needed from you. Now, I will be on my way.”
“Did you find another place to perform your Christmas miracles?”
“I did. Somewhere close, so I might have to keep an eye on you for a while.”
“It won’t change who you are.”
“Good night,” Talan replied, and then with his quick speed, vanished.
“Such a loss,” Lothar replied, and turned back to the glassy eyed men. He slid their chairs out from the table, and lifted their bodies up into the air. He pushed forward with his hands until the men were outside. He opened the gate that led into the courtyard, and placed the men on the ground. He whistled, and waited. His dogs appeared a few minutes later and quickly consumed the men’s bodies, clothes and all.
He closed the door, and then returned to his favorite tower. He loved to read, and he loved to read after a satisfying meal. In that tower room, he would sit until just before the sun found the horizon. He would then slip down to his crypt and sleep until he was hungry again.
THE END
2
Bonus Short Story: The Living Sand
1
The old man sat on his wooden porch, rocking slowly back and forth in his rocking chair. He watched the waves of the ocean, crashing salty onto the nearby shore as the sun’s light started to die and fade into night. His two grandkids were sitting on the wooden steps of this porch, waiting patiently for his latest tale. He lit his pipe again, and then turned his eyes on them. Ryan and Alex smiled with child-like glee. They loved their granddad’s stories, and to them he was everything.
“This story I am going to tell you boys. I call it The Living Sand. It is a true tale about two boys, both about your age,” he replied, with his old gruff voice, which sounded like sandpaper being rubbed softly across wood.
The boys’ eyes lit up with surprise and fear, as their granddad took a puff on his pipe. The smell of cherries permeated the warm autumn air, as he continued.
“These two adventurous boys had found a hidden cave.” He took another puff on the small brown pipe with the ivory bowl on the end of it, paused, and went back to the story. “The youngest boy, let’s call him Seth and the oldest boy we will call him Junior. They began to dare one another to go in first, each one as scared as the other. Junior, tiring of the chicken game, finally decided to take the flashlight and step into the moss covered entrance to the cave . . .”
2
Seth waited a moment outside of the cave, as he checked his scared nerves, and looked into the darkness in front of him. He could hear the drips and drops, the wet squishy sounds that only the interior of a cave can make while he stood there. He could also hear Junior’s tennis shoes smacking the hard surfaced floor, echoing throughout the cave as he explored. Suddenly and without warning, the flashlight Junior had been holding went out; and Junior evaporated into the black.
“Junior!” Seth screamed. Nothing, just his own ghostly echo screaming back at him. He bit his lip, and trying not to think about Vampire Crypts or Werewolf Lairs or the Hammer Horror movies he and Junior liked to watch every Saturday, he stepped into the cool dark cave.
Junior launched out of the darkness in front of him the second Seth made his way inside. The flashlight was back on, the light pointed upwards making Junior’s face look like a creepy goblin at Halloween.
“Boo!” Junior screamed as Seth jumped backward, farting as he did. It was a fart that echoed throughout the cave. “Shit your pants. Frady cat. Bet you did. Hope mama packed some extra shorts for you,” he replied, laughing hysterically.
“Junior, you bastard, don’t you ever do that to me again! You just about gave me a heart attack.”
“Sorry man. I just couldn’t help it. You know how I get around little frady cats like you.” He punched Seth on the shoulder.
Seth came back with a punch of his own. “Just don’t do it again!”
“Come on.” Junior moved on into the cave, flashlight leading the way in the thick darkness, as Seth reluctantly tagged along.
As the boys explored, they rousted a few bats from slumber, found a few animal bones, various kinds of rocks, lots of tiny creatures (crickets and worms mostly), and sea shells, lots and lots of sea shells. Like the rocks inside this cave, these shells were not one continuous color.
“What is that all about Junior?” Seth asked, pausing his search, startled by what he was seeing, staring at it with his eyes wide.
“What’s is what all about?” Junior asked, dropping the blue rock he was looking at, turning to see what Seth was seeing. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t seen it himself. “I don’t know, let’s go check it out,” he replied, as he walked over to the hole in the wall.
This hole was completely filled with light, but this light for some reason did not enter the cave like it should have. The cave was just as dark in front of the hole, as it was everywhere else.
Junior looked back at Seth. “Are you coming?” He asked, and without hesitation stepped through the strange portal.
Seth watched Junior disappear, no that’s not the right way to say it. He watched as Junior was swallowed up, like the strange portal just ate him whole, bones and all.
Seth kicked a few yellow rocks, found his courage and once again, followed along.
A white sand beach greeted his tennis shoes when Seth stepped through to the other side. He looked over at Junior, who was standing there looking out across the pristine blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean, eyes wide and staring.
Waves with white foamy breakers were crashing hard onto the shore, splashi
ng water, breaking up the sand, as a bright orange sun hung high in a deep blue cloudless sky. The sky though, like the water, was richer in color on this side of the cave, so was the sand underneath their feet.
“Where are the people?” Seth asked, looking around, taking the flashlight from Junior. He turned it off, and put it into his back pack, the one they always used when they went exploring. The flashlight rested inside the bag with some beef jerky, candy, water, fake vomit and fake pee. “Should be lots of them here for such a nice day.”
Junior didn’t respond, as he eyeballed the area, and made a mental map of what he was seeing.
This beach was small and crescent shaped, tucked into three tall rock walls, one behind them, two on either side of them. These slick bare rock walls ran up into the sky, ending in sharp ledges filled with creepy overhanging trees, gnarled and leafless. Their limbs, like arms, reached down towards the boys.
“Isn’t it great?” Junior asked.
“What’s so great about it? It’s just an empty beach. A creepy, empty beach for that matter.”
“There’s nobody here. It’s all ours. Enjoy something for once, would you?” Junior did a little dance when he said this, kicking up the white powdery sand.
“This place feels weird,” Seth replied, blinking twice. He thought he saw the sand Junior had just kicked up smooth itself back into place.
“Don’t be a frady cat.”
“I’m not a frady cat! I’m getting a little tired of you saying that,” Seth replied.
“Frady cat, frady cat, frady cat,” Junior replied, repeating it over and over again, as he hopped and bopped along the beach, kicking sand, throwing sand into the air, and just doing anything he could to be obnoxious.
Seth rolled his eyes, and tried to ignore his friend. He tried to zone into the happiness he should have been feeling, and that’s when something caught his eye, something behind him, something on the wall beside the entrance to this beach. “Junior! Get over here! Get over here now!”
It Sleeps at Dawn Page 3