Phantoms and Fangs

Four

Reyna shoved the iron gate open, its hinges screaming in protest. Scanning the small building with her flashlight didn't reveal the stranger. The structure was practically empty; the only thing in it was a marble sarcophagus in the center, and dozens of roses. The roses were scattered over every inch of the floor, they were incredibly old. Each one Reyna stepped on crumbled to dust immediately.

"What the fuck?" Reyna mumbled. The mausoleum being empty was disappointing, but something was special about it. Reyna stepped toward the sarcophagus running her fingers over the epitaph carved into the lid, reading it out loud. "Rhoswyn. Gone from the realm of mortals, lingering now in immortal twilight." It was a beautiful sentiment, the only thing that bothered Reyna was the words that followed it. "Entombed 1721."

Sure the research Reyna did in 5 minutes before coming wouldn't make her an expert on Crown Hill Cemetery, but she did know the first recorded burial here was in 1792. "There's no way this is right. Hey chat can someone look up when the first burial in the Crown Hill Cemetery took place. I'm really hoping I'm wrong here, but there's no way a mausoleum could be built and used before the graveyard was established."

Within seconds the chat filled with the number 1792. "Shit, I really wanted to be wrong about that." Reyna kept running her hand over the sarcophagus, her fingers caught on the edge partially dropping into a small gap between the lid and carved marble walls. "Huh, that's weird." Reyna stepped back from the stone box debating in her head. Someone went in here before I did, and they're clearly a massive creep. Maybe they're enough of a weirdo to crawl into a gross sarcophagus.

"Hey chat, you know how I said that going into this building was the stupidest decision I've ever made? Well I take that back, this is going to be so much worse." Reyna placed her phone on the lid, angling it to show her face making sure the lid of the coffin or anything below it couldn't be seen. She moved the small flashlight from her hand into her mouth so she could see whatever was under the lid.

Reyna pushed her whole body weight into moving the lid. It was far easier than she was expecting. Her phone flew onto the ground on the opposite side of the coffin, while she was bent over the opening barely avoiding falling into the tomb herself. Looking down forced a scream out of Reyna's throat. The flashlight dropped out of her mouth directly onto the dry flaking corpse of Conner McDaniels.

She pushed herself back barely avoiding falling flat on her ass. She needed to get away from there immediately. She stumbled out of the mausoleum deciding the seconds it would take to pick up her phone weren't worth it.

"What's wrong? Didn't you find what you were looking for?" The voice was gentle and calm. Reyna stopped dead in her tracks. There was a woman standing on the pathway Reyna mistakenly followed earlier. The dim light from the moon obscured most of her face and body but Reyna could tell she was smiling. A tattered gown hung off her gaunt body, long tangled hair draped on top of the ruined fabric. Reyna's heartbeat thudded through her ears, her blood coursed through her body urging her to run away as fast as she could.

"Who, who are you?" Reyna's voice squeaked. She knew she needed to run, every cell in her body was begging her too, but she couldn't. The woman's smile fell, "And here I was, thinking someone had finally come to visit my tomb. What a shame."

The adrenaline in Reyna's body finally got put to use. Her feet thudded on the ground as she sprinted away from the woman who claimed the tomb belonged to her. She wasn't fast enough, leaves crunched too close behind her. Reyna shucked her backpack off her body, tossing it behind her, praying that losing the extra weight would help her run faster. It didn't matter. Reyna's foot caught on a root, slamming her face first into the dirt.

She scrambled to get back up making it to her knees, before a solid mass pushed her back onto the ground. Reyna clawed her fingers into the ground attempting to crawl away from the woman. She looked over her shoulder, tears stung her eyes, a small trickle of blood leaked out of Reyna's nose. "Please let me go, please please please please please." She sobbed out each word, her breath hitching when the woman took one step closer.

Moonlight shone through the parting clouds. The woman claiming to be the should-be long dead Rhoswyn was smiling down at Reyna. Her face was beautiful, angular and delicate. Her mahogany lips parted revealing elongated sharpened canines. The moonlight caught her eyes, they glowed bright red. Reyna stopped begging. She wasn't going to make it out of this one. Salty tears rolled down her cheeks, Rhoswyn inched closer.

Reyna choked down a scream when Rhoswyn flipped her over. She was so much larger than her, easily overpowering Reyna when she tried to fight back. Reyna's arms were pinned by her head, her strength waning with every second.

Rhoswyn gave Reyna a sad close lipped smile before lunging for her throat. The fangs entering Reyna's neck felt like shards of ice, her body felt like it was burning. She felt the blood being drawn from her body in deep gulps. Her eyes swam with black spots, the burning sensation faded. She was cold, and tired. Reyna's last thought before she fell into unconsciousness floated lazily through her brain. I was right, tonight was different.