To Love in the Darkness

Moments passed and the strange energy did not dissipate, instead it intensified, causing a humming sensation in the air that filled the small booth. A sense of dread began to take over. Something was wrong. Alden shivered as the lamp overhead began to flicker. His eyes searched in all directions, trying to see that danger that his other senses had already detected. From across the street, he could see darkness leaching out from around the nooks of surrounding structure and starting to pool on the sidewalk. Something was defiantly wrong.

Alden could hardly breath as he watched a form began to take shape from the mass of darkness. Run. He should run. But terror had taken over. He could only watch. The mass became the rough figure of a man, a silhouette that blended ever so barely with the darkness behind it. Two points of red light started to emerge on the face and faded to become glowing red eyes. Eyes that focused on Alden.

A flight response took over; it was time to run. He flung himself from the shelter and bolted from the bus stop. Alden had no thoughts of where he was going, just the urgent need to put as much distance between himself and that thing. His feet pounded the sidewalk for what seemed like an hour before he stopped.

He swung his head around to see if it had followed him. Nothing. He was alone again on the desolate streets of the outer-city. The eerie quite returned.

Head still turned he took a deep breath of relief. Immediately, his lungs filled with a painful, burring gas. He turned forward again and looked into glowing red eyes. Before he could move, the dark mass was upon him, knocking him to the ground. It reared back, silver fangs bursting from what would have been a mouth, and then latched onto his chest, to rip at the soft flesh right above his heart.

He was beyond terrified, in too much shock to struggle or even feel pain. He remained silent and still under the creature, hoping it would take its fill and leave him to bleed out. It dug sharp claws into his sides, tearing through flesh and bone.

At least an hour had past, he should have died by now. He was wishing for death. Every pump of his heart gushed more blood from his wounds and into the creature’s mouth.

Suddenly, the creature stilled. Alden could sense a type of alertness coming from it. As if it was somehow afraid.

“Virtillius, my old friend, how far you have fallen.” A voice spoke from the darkness. The creature retreated to the center of the street, and began to spin around madly looking for the source. “I have no choice but to send you to Hell.” From the corner of his eye, Alden watched as a man appeared from the darkness. Tired and struggling with blood-loss, he was unable to catch the particulars of the following events. The newcomer seemed to reach into the black creature and began to burn it from the inside out. Dark red flames rose into the air as the man steped away from the withering creature and approached Alden. He placed his hand over the wound in the dying man’s chest and then lifted him from the sidewalk. The quick motion was too much for Alden to handle. The world grew dark and he blacked-out in the stranger’s arms.