Lydia

•Part: 3•

Lily's POV:
I stared at the cat's body. "How did it happen?" I wondered. The cat probably sneak inside the house to steal some food and turned into food itself. But who could possibly do this to the poor animal? I could not come to any conclusion. So I decided to tell Lydia and ask her opinion about this.
I went to the guest room to find the door opened. My heart skipped a bit. There was a stranger wandering around in our house the previous night and a cat was found dead on the corridor floor. Why was Lydia's door opened? I panicked. I got inside the room, hoping she was okay. To my relief, Lydia was sleeping. I walked towards the window and pulled the curtains back, letting sunlight to come in.
"NO!" Lydia shrieked. I was shocked and looked at the bed. Lydia was not there anymore. "Shut the curtains!" She shouted from under the bed. I followed her order without delaying. She started to scare me. But I did not let her understand that.
"Are you okay Lydia?" I asked. She did not reply. I understood she was not eager to have a conversation with me at that moment. So I took my leave.
Lydia did not join me for breakfast. She stayed in her room and refused to eat anything. It was Sunday, so I got ready to go to the church for morning prayer. Lydia did not accompany me. After prayer, I stood up to return home but was stopped by father Francis.
"Lily my child!" He called. "How are you doing at home by your own?"
"Quiet alright father." I said. "Thank you for your concern."
"I believe your cousin is staying with you. Why did she not come?" Father Francis asked.
I told father Francis every detail about the unusual occurrences. He listened patiently. Then said "Your cousin, Lydia. Something is bothering the poor child."
"I know father." I said. "But she would not tell me."
"Hmm." Father Francis thought for a moment. "The cat, my child. You said you found it dead in the corridor. And there was no blood. Are you certain?" He asked.
"Yes father." I replied. "I am."
"It is suggesting there is a blood sucking creature roaming around in your house." Father Francis looked extremely worried. "You must be very careful, dear Lily."
I was not sure if I had heard him right. "Blood sucking creature?" I asked. "Do you mean a vampire?"
"I am afraid so." He said.
"But father, it is a myth." I said, though my voice was shaking. "Vampires do not exist."
"There are so many dark creatures that live in this Earth, my child." said father Francis, handing me a cross. "But we believe what we want to believe."

I came back home with a heavy head. "Is there any chance Father Francis might be wrong?" I thought to myself and placed the cross on a table in my room. My father had a book based on vampires, I remembered. It was somewhere in his study room. I decided to go and look for it. It took me more than an hour to find that. I had searched everywhere in my father's study room and finally found it behind some fat books in the bookshelf. The book was old and dusty, with some torn pages. I was about to start reading it when I heard someone humming. Lydia was singing. I went to the guest room to find her lying down on the floor. "Are you okay?" I asked. She looked at me with her blood-red eyes. "Never been better." She smirked. There was something terrifying in her look. But I avoided. "Go Lydia. Freshen up." I said. "We shall have lunch together." Lydia stood up and went to the bathroom. I sighed and headed to the kitchen.
In the evening, I showed Lydia my art works. She did not say anything, just stared at those quietly. "Maybe she is missing her home." I thought. So I tried to cheer her up. "Let us play hide and seek, like we used to in childhood." I said.
Lydia seemed irritated. "Not now. I am feeling dizzy." She replied.
"Would you like some tea?" I asked.
"No!" She refused at once and went back to the guest room, leaving me alone in the hall.
The night was so chilly. I wrapped a shawl around me and was reading the book about vampires, with a candle. The church bell rang twice, notifying me it was 2 o'clock in the morning. There were creepy sketches of vampires in the book and some suggested ways to kill those nocturnal creatures. I closed the book and went to the kitchen to take a sip of water. But someone was already there. I understood from the chewing noise that the person was eating. And then I saw something I wished I have not seen. It was Lydia. She was eating the bloody intestines of a chicken I threw earlier in the kitchen bin before cooking. I screamed so loud. Lydia looked at me. In the moonlight I saw two sharp teeth in her mouth. She was the vampire.
I ran as fast as I could. Lydia followed me. I almost got inside my parents room when she grabbed my right leg and tried to bite it. "No!" I shouted and kicked her. It was a real struggle to get out of her grips. I locked the door of my parent's bedroom. Lydia was thumping it so hard. Then she stopped. After a moment the banging noise started again. It became louder. She was trying to break the door by striking it with a sharp object. I was horrified and started to find a way to escape. Then I saw the opened window. I went out of the house through the window and ran towards Gibbs's residence. I got into their backyard and knocked the window of Simon's bedroom. Simon opened the window after a minute but each second felt like an hour to me.
"Lily? What are you doing at this time?" Asked Simon, rubbing his eyes.
I was panting. "Lydia is a vampire." I said.
Simon was dumbfounded. I explained him everything from the beginning, in one breath. "If she really is a vampire, we must find and kill her." Said Simon.
We headed to my house. "If we are lucky, she will still be there." I said.
"Wait Lily." Simon stopped me.
"What is it?" I asked him.
"We can not go there barehanded." He said, breaking two wooden stems from a nearby tree. Then he took out his pocket-knife and started to sharp the edges of the stems. I waited.
When we reached my place, Lydia was nowhere to be seen. We kept searching for her. In the guest room, we suddenly heard a scratching sound behind us. We looked back and saw Lydia crawling on the floor. It all happened so fast. Lydia stood up and jumped on Simon. The wooden stems flew out of his hand and landed far away. I took a flower vase and hit Lydia on her head. She looked at me, angrily. "Run Lily!" Said Simon. I rushed towards the hall, without wasting a moment. All of a sudden, Lydia grabbed me. I fell down, shouting. "Leave me!" I said. She was trying to bite me when Simon appeared. He stabbed Lydia in her back with a wooden stem. She screamed and looked me in the eye.
"I am your sister." She said.
"You are a monster." I replied, plunging the other wooden stem into her chest.
******