Alcingeria

Chapter Seven: An Unfortunate Fate

Chapter Seven An Unfortunate Fate:

Tuesday June 22nd 1690

I was stunned.

"What?" I asked in utter disbelief.

Upon hearing the word 'vampire' I automatically thought back to when I had seen Ignacio staring at my bloodstained shirt. I also thought of the lack of windows in this house and how there were candles instead. In the horror stories about vampires that my father told me as a young boy, vampires hated sunlight. Could it be true that vampires actually exist? No, the thought was insane! I looked around to the jars of blood that lined the shelves around the room. I started to have second thoughts. A grim sensation created a pit in my stomach.

"You heard me. I'm a vampire."

There was a brief silence. This couldn't be true. It was insane, vampires were creatures of fiction, stories to scare children! They couldn't exist! Could they...?

"Ask your friend here. He'll tell you the truth." He smirked. "From a firsthand experience."

"Ignacio... Why did you save us if you're a bloodthirsty vampire?" Macalister asked, slight fear was audible in his voice.

"Oh, I believe that the answer to your question lies within the question."

What did he mean by that? A silence occurred that lasted a few seconds.

"Anyone? No? Well then, I will tell you the real reason that I saved you four. I saved you because I wanted your blood. It's what I do. I come across strangers in the forest who need help, I take them in, earn their trust, feed them the poisoned food and drink, render them unconscious, bring them down here, and slaughter them for their blood. Of course, the fact that you four were carrying a rather large sum of money was merely a coincidence. A pleasant one."

My friends and I stared at Ignacio in utter bewilderment. We were prepared for a lot of things; ambushes set up by law enforcement, direct conflict when faced with opposition, sting operations, the like. We were only just realizing that we had fallen right into a trap we had no idea was possible.

"What are you going to do with us?" I asked, fearing that I already knew the answer and decided to rephrase the question. "Why are you prolonging this?"

"I already told you. Thanks to your friend, my thirst is satisfied. For now. When the urge for blood hits me next, I'll kill you all, one by one and I'll feast upon your blood. As for the so called 'prolonging', I simply want to be as efficient as possible in terms of the freshness of the blood. If I were to butcher you all at once and jar it, it would lose the bulk of its flavor within the time it would take to kill the last one of you in consecutive order."

My fear was confirmed. We were to be used as stored rations until we died. I didn't know how long it'd take, but I knew I didn't want to stay down here any longer than we had to. I also noticed that Ignacio had spoken about killing a little awkwardly, as though he found it somewhat distasteful at the very least. Why?

"Until then." Ignacio waved, eerily seeming to read my thoughts.

He left, locking the door behind him. My eyes had adjusted to the darkness by then and I could see Don still on the ground, blood was dripping down his shoulder and onto his chest from the bite mark on his neck.

"Shadow, are you alright?" I asked, kneeling down to help him up.

"Yes, I'm fine, I just feel a little faint." Came the sleepy remark.