A thick mist clung to the ground. It seemed to seep from the very pores of the earth itself and offered the place a pale illumination. The tombstones pointed this way and that, drunkards who leaned against doorframes.
The only sounds were their own ragged breaths and their footsteps as they squelched in the mud.
"I don't like this, Sade. It's creepy."
"But have we not sworn an oath to brave the creeps of this world?"
"An oath that you made up."
"An oath is an oath, my fellow guardian. Aren't all oaths made up, at some point or another? At what point do they start to mean something?"
Lisa hesitated. "Fair enough. But I still don't like this."
Sadie turned to face her, a toothy grin on her face. "So you admit that there is something out here tonight? You feel it too!" She clenched a fist. "I knew under my tutelage you'd soon hone your senses."
Lisa pulled her cardigan ever higher around her chest — any further, and she'd risk ripping the damn thing. "I-I don't know. But I know that if we get stabbed and mugged, my mom'll be more pissed than upset. At first, anyway."
"We need not worry about being impaled by the drinker of life, it is he who should worry about us doing so to him!"
Lisa frowned. "Sometimes, Sade, you get so wrapped up in your theatrics that you make no goddamn sense."
Sadie shrugged. "We gon' stab the vampire."
"Much better. But, still, can we go home? This is creepy. And I legit don't wanna get hurt."
Sadie pointed forward with the stake. "Hush, now!" The moss-covered stones — features softened by the weather — gave way to the maze of the vaults. "We draw near to the crypts, my sweet, poor, innocent, Lisa."
Narrow structures with ancient doors, each one of a different design. Pointed rooves adorned with all manner of crucifixes. Steps led up or down to the entrances — all smothered in decayed leaves, wet with moisture. Thin, barely-passable alleys wove between the stone tombs. The way ahead was impossible to see.
"Oh, I hate this place," said Lisa. Her voice rustled like the leaves beneath their feet. Low, quiet.
"Fear not, young padawan, for I am here to guide you through tonight's gauntlet."
Lisa stopped a few steps short of the labyrinth. "Ten minutes. That's all you get, Sade. Ten minutes, and then we're back out and heading home. Deal?"
"But we only just got here!"
"Sadie, this is insane. I wanna be back at home. In bed. With a hot chocolate. And a good book."
Sadie lamented. "All right, Lis. But if the winged bringer of doom takes another life—"
"Mr Moore is still alive and kicking."
"—takes a life, then that blood shall be on our hands!"
Lisa eyed the first row sepulchres and chewed her lip. "Ten minutes, Sade."
Sadie thrust the stake forward. "To the lair of der Vampir!"
