When Darkness Descends.

It begins......... Then ends

Audrey began making her journey home from her field trip. It had been a trying day and she was exhausted. Eight sodding hours in a field... She had to get off the bus about a mile before she normally would as the roads were blocked. In these situations, she would take the tube but surprise, surprise; there was a strike. "So much for a Better, Brighter Britain." She muttered to herself. she didn't have a clue where she was and her Nokia brick had no GPS. She glanced anxiously at her watch. It was three O'clock. She pressed on, following the few landmarks that she recognised.

As she was coming up to the town centre, an icy chill filled the air. She shivered in her thin hoodie and slipped her hands in her pockets to prevent them from seizing up. She muttered in annoyance; she'd forgotten her gloves. As the wind picked up, she pulled up her hood. Her ears were one shade of red away from the first signs of frostbite. As she continued walking, it began to get dark. She still didn't have a clue where she was. Day began to fall as darkness made its alarmingly rapid decent over London. The streetlamps flickered feebly, dimly lighting the roads. Her legs were beginning to ache and she was starting to feel hungry. She looked at her watch again and squinted to make out what it said. 6:00!!! How on Earth had three hours passed so quickly?

She picked up her pace in an effort to get home quicker. She noticed that something was wrong. Something was different; missing. She turned towards the road. "That's odd," She said to no one in particular. "The road is completely empty." She was right. There wasn't another car, or person for that matter in sight. At last, she reached her bus-stop. It was a twenty minute-or-so walk from here. she let out a sigh of relief; she was nearly home.

The darkness quickly turned to night as what was left of the day abruptly drew to a close. She felt unsettled at the lack of lighting guiding her home. She suddenly felt as if she was being followed. She had a feeling of it in the back of her mind. She turned around to see that no one was behind her. She turned back to where she was originally facing. As she did so, she noticed an alleyway. It was cut into the block that she was about to walk around and seemed to knock quite a distance off her journey. Her mother had always warned her against walking down alleyways but she was cold, tired, and desperately needed a piss. Against her better judgement, she began to walk down the poorly lit alleyway. It stank of urine, cheap beer, and sex. The stench made her retch and gag. Breaking the already deafening silence was the mewling of cats and scuttling of vermin. Further along, there was a burst water pipe. Fetid water was spraying out all over the road. She shrieked loudly, as the unbelievably cold water hit her ankles and legs.

Audrey swallowed with fear. She stumbled on some loose tarmac falling flat on her face. She breathed heavily, regaining her balance and dusted herself off. She leant up against the wall breathing heavily again and shut her eyes. It was too late to turn back now. The high walls of the alleyway acted like a wind tunnel making it unbearably cold. She bitterly regretted her poor choice of clothing. The clouds, that had been gathering water for the past week now, finally gave in thrusting rain towards her. The air frosted up and the rain turned to sleet. This was getting ridiculous now. She once again looked at her watch. 8:00!!!

The alleyway now seemed like a terrible idea. The journey was twice as long as it should have been. A smell of blocked sewers caught her unawares and she doubled over in her struggle to keep her lunch down. As she exhaled, she saw her breath become water vapour in the ice-cold air in front of her. she shivered again. One of the streetlamps was on the verge of cutting out and out of nowhere exploded, scattering glass everywhere. Audrey jumped in surprise and desperately tried to dodge the shards of shattered streetlamp that was fell like confetti around her.

As she caught her breath, she decided check her phone. She had about 20 missed calls from her parents and twice as many texts. She was about to reply when she noticed that her phone had 1% battery left. Her stupid, only-needs-to-be-charged-once-a-month phone was as good as dead. She tried to calm herself down as reality finally made an appearance. She was stranded in a never ending alleyway with a useless phone and no means of warmth, food or shelter. Trying to rationalise every remaining thought, she slipped her now blue fingers in her pocket again. she clutched them tightly in a feeble attempt to keep them warm.

She continued to walk and once again had the strange feeling that she was being followed. she turned around nervously not quite sure what to expect. There was no one there. She laughed humourlessly despite herself. he was going mad. The further she walked, the stronger the feeling got until she could almost feel a deathly chill creeping down her neck. She shivered in fear and spun around. She could have sworn that she saw something move. She merely shrugged her shoulders and turned back around for a third time. No sooner as she thought that she was safe, she let out a shrill shriek of terror.

An ice-cold hand clamped itself around her mouth. A second wrapped itself around her neck and gripped her shoulder tightly. Audrey's eyes widened in terror. She looked down in the puddle in front of her. She saw to her horror that she was the only one there...

Her assailant had no refection...

Her gaze fell to the hand that was now frozen to her lips. From what she could see in the dim light, The hand was paper white with long, thin, bony fingers. "This cannot be happening," She thought to herself. She felt the ice-cold breath move from the back of her neck and down to her ear. "Oh, but its can," He whispered, as if he could read her thoughts. "Oh God!!!" She squeaked. He loosened his grip and pivoted to face her. His grip tightened once more.

"Not quite," He snarled. His face was as pale as his hands but very handsome. He had yellows-green that drew you in. His cheekbones were like glass shards. He blinked and Audrey's gaze fell upon his lips. They were ghostly pale but well defined. She looked up to the top of his head. His hair fell in straight spikes and hung over his face. It was white but not with age, he didn't look much older than her. She let out another shriek of fear. He unclasped his hand from her mouth and placed a single bony finger over her lips and shushed her softly.

She felt her knees go weak and begin to buckle. She had no idea about what was going to happen to her. She slipped her hands in her rucksack and frantically dug around. She finally found a pencil. It was blunt. How the Hell was she supposed to sharpen it without 'Him' realising? With what little remained of her rapidly decreasing energy, she snapped the pencil in half and pocketed the pieces.

No sooner had she done this, her worse fear came true. Much like ink spreading in water, his eyes slowly turned jet black. She gasped. His mouth opened to reveal two razor sharp fangs where his canines should be.

Her final question had been answered. He was a vampire! The hand, that was clamped tightly around her shoulder, loosened and crept slowly just below her neck. She breathed rapidly, gasping and wheezing. She was having a panic attack. The other ice-cold hand gripped her neck tightly and tilted it back. He licked slowly and repeatedly sending multiple shivers down her spine. After what seemed like ages, he dug his fangs deep into her neck. She let out a sharp gasp of agony as she felt her life being drained from her.

Blood began to trickle down her neck sticking her hair together. Her blood drained faster and faster out of her. 7 pints. 6 pints. 5 pints. 4 pints. 3 pints. 2 pints. 1 pint. He stopped and pulled his mouth away from her neck. He lifted Audrey's head up to see her lifeless face. Her mouth was open and nearly all of the colour had drained from her lips as well as the rest of her face. Her eyes had rolled into the back of her head so only the whites of them were visible. He saw for the first time how beautiful she was. Even with congealed blood sticking her hair together and no life left in her face, she was still really pretty. With a sudden urge to save her, he raised his wrist up to his mouth piercing the flesh with his fangs. Dark red blood dripped down his wrist clashing dramatically with is paper-coloured skin. He pushed his wrist up against Audrey's mouth, making sure that some of his blood was on her lips. "Drink!" He ordered, with a note of urgency in his voice.

With what was left of her strength and energy, she plunged the shard of broken pencil into what she hoped was his heart. She looked up, straining to keep her head in place. She had missed. He looked down at her. "You shouldn't have done that," He hissed menacingly. With a roar of anger, he snapped her neck in half. medical professionals would say that she was dead before she even hit the ground. She was still alive. Just. With a spine shattering crunch, she collided with the pavement. Her eyes struggled to stay open and her vision faded to nothingness. She saw the light at the end of the tunnel, the men with sticks and rope. She knew that it was over. Over.