The Awakening
Frost crept up the dusty window panes of Dracula’s castle as the chilling wind breezed through the jet-black forest. The clouds formed shapes of floating monsters that howled with the wind and covered them in complete darkness as the Children of the Night stood in front of Bran castle, their black cloaks serving as a disguise to blend in, rather than shielding them from the cold.
They waited until their fellow member had come back, blood dripping down her red plum lips as she smirked and nodded, “Paznicii erau ?ngriji?i.”
The guards have been taken care of.
Wasting no time at all, a dark black mist engulfed them as they had all shrunk down, their bodies transforming into bats with their cloaks morphing into wings. They flew around the towering trees that encircled the Victorian castle in one huge flock squealing over the howls of the wolves in the forest.
With speed that was too fast for the human eye to catch, they charged inside the castle, and finding the opening they had been looking for, rushed inside the dark corridors of the dusty castle until they spotted the door they’d been looking for. In a blink of an eye, they all transformed back into their bodies with clouds of black fog surrounding them.
Andrei, the silver-haired gentleman and leader of the group, reached out with his pale hands and knocked on the ancient, wooden door three times. The door immediately flew open and revealed a gaunt man with deep dark circles coating his eyes.
“Is everything ready?” Andrei asked impatiently, his cold blue eyes and unusually pale skin were warmed up by the torches lining the walls.
Preparations for this day have been commencing for months now and the Night creatures have grown impatient. Their thirst for revenge, dominance, and most importantly, their former glory, drove them to near insanity to perfect the ritual.
“Yes, lordul meu,” the man answered, panting from running up the stone stairs with sweat coating his tan skin, “We’ve followed the instructions in the diary and gathered all the sacrifices. They are all waiting for your arrival.”
“Excelent,” Andrei nodded his head at the scrawny man, “You may leave, Jonathan.”
Jonathan almost burst into tears as he took Andrei’s hand and kissed it, “Mul?umesc foarte mult!” he cried out before running away, taking no risks to the group changing their minds.
As quiet as the silent darkness around them, the seven vampires reached the mausoleum at the bottom of the staircase in less than a breath. The only indication of their arrival were the now distinguished candles and torches near them. Humans who were placing finishing touches jumped in surprise at their sudden arrival before remembering themselves and bowed their heads. The Children paid no attention, however, as their gazes were locked on the grand, archaic raven coffin placed on the pedestal under the dome of the open night sky. The tomb was lit by torches on the towering pillars as well as the candles placed on the ritual circle that overtook the stone floors of the mausoleum.
The group acted as one, taking off their cloaks and throwing them at a volunteer who rushed to take them.
“Let us not waste any more time,” Andrei grunted as they all took their positions across the broad circle.
Ancient markings and incantations written in human blood were on the stone floors leading to tubes that were attached to the coffin. Absolutely nothing was out of place as they had followed every single detail of the instructions they found in Stoker’s ancient diary. The only sound audible was of the crackling torches and the breaths of the humans and crossbreeds present.
Andrei flicked his fingers and all the candles on the little pedestals were re-ignited.
The Children of the Night were careful but quick as they lifted the lid of the dark raven coffin to reveal a large body wrapped in spider webs, dust, and a thick slimy-like blanket. They collectively breathed in awe and longing as their master was finally displayed after years in hiding. The other beings in the room held in their whimpers and tears as they collectively held their breaths.
Humans and cross-breeds that followed the Children’s procession had betrayed their kinds to join them. Tempted and manipulated by promises of power, immortality, and eternal pleasure-- their greed had blinded them. Some stood shaking and sweating heavily, as they waited for their next dosage of the venom that came with sharing their blood. The Children had starved them from it for weeks before weakening their minds into submission. Compulsed and entranced into thinking it was an honour to give up their lives to a creature of mass destruction, six of those humans now stood with the six Elder Vampires.
Everyone stood around the massive raven coffin placed precisely in the middle where the full blood moon that was expected to appear tonight would hit it directly.
They waited until Andrei, the eldest of them, took out his pocket watch from his suit jacket and waited for the clock to hit exactly three a.m, before nodding.
One by one, all six of the vampires slit their wrists and dripped their black blood onto the lines of markings. The six humans and cross-breeds had then followed suit and slit their wrists dropping their red blood on parallel lines next to them. Andrei muttered a short incantation, and as if the blood had taken on a life of its own, the carved markings around them were traced by black and red blood, dancing around each other in spirals. To the humans, a strong scent of copper engulfed the room, and some tried hard not to cover their noses. To the vampires, however, an aroma of wine and an intoxicatingly sweet, fruity scent took over their senses, and they all tilted their heads back with their eyes closed, breathing it in.
As the first few drops of blood began to enter the tubes and into the coffin, the Elders in the room started to chant in unison continuously the words:
“Regele Dracula, te rog s? te ridici
ne ?mp?rt??im sangele ?i sufletele
c?tre cel care ne va conduce pe to?i”
The cold wind of the night suddenly grew crisper. Years of dust accumulated in the corners escaped and trundled on the floor past the markings. A lock of Andrei’s silver-white hair escaped his ponytail as the cool breeze pushed it to the side, before pushing past everyone else in a strong whirlwind that shook the room, causing coats, jackets, and shirts to flutter.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Regele Dracula, te rog s? te ridici
ne ?mp?rt??im sangele ?i sufletele
c?tre cel care ne va conduce pe to?i”
The air around them grew stronger and stronger with each chant before a whirlpool of wind took over the dark, candlelit room. The Elders began to chant even louder over the tornado now surrounding them. The blood moon above had begun to take place and as it hit Dracula’s coffin and swirling clouds of darkness started to appear, mixing in with the windy tornado.
“Regele Dracula, te rog s? te ridici
ne ?mp?rt??im sangele ?i sufletele
c?tre cel care ne va conduce pe to?i”
A swirling smoke of darkness had begun to take shape with the wind, closing Dracula’s raven coffin shut and blowing out all the candles and torches in the room; and engulfing the room in utter blackness. The clouds of darkness scattered above to the open dome where the blood moon cast a dark red light before disappearing into dark clouds.
Everyone grew silent with the darkness. No one dared make a sound or make any sort of movement, as moments passed with the cool air turning frosty and a thin layer of ice engulfed the walls and floors. The humans were shaking uncontrollably, too afraid to whimper or breathe. The vampires stood still and stoic, staring at the coffin with hunger.
Suddenly, the candles lit up again with more vibrance causing most to jump, but no one spoke just yet as the wind grew calm to a slight but icy breeze that crawled into all the humans’ skins.
The swirls of darkness returned and relaxed into calm clouds encircling the coffin.
They seemed to whisper in a collision.
Beware of the master.
Everyone in the room was stunned into a terrifying silence.
Beware of his rage.
The darkness hissed with uncanny acrimony.
Beware of his malice.
The clouds of darkness began to encircle the coffin before they abruptly stopped and were sucked inside.
All was quiet.
Minutes passed as everyone in the room looked on with fear, horror, excitement, hope, and regret. However, no one even dared to step out of their positions; not even those who wanted to flee.
All of a sudden, the wide coffin broke free so quickly no one had time to register their shock as a tall and massive figure arose so slowly.
Uncongealed slime engulfed and stuck to the body, trapping him in like a mummy wrapped in layers of linen cloth. Ever so slowly, clawed fingers tore through the mucus-like mire and broke it apart.
Dracula broke free and took in a long, harsh breath.
Stepping out of the coffin with his head covered by long wet grey hair, the slime fell to his bare clawed feet.
Stretching his back and to his full height, he opened his eyes to reveal crimson glowing pupils roaming frantically around the room, suddenly on alert. Dracula walked down the steps of where his coffin stood with a grace that was unexpected from a creature sleeping for centuries. His greyed white hair reached the floor, and his frail, pale body was naked and wrinkled-- excluding the numerous scars covering it.
He took in his surroundings with a curiously intense gaze and smelled the fear of every being in the room who were all frozen in their places staring in awe, horror, and shock.
But most importantly, he smelled the instant regret.
Looking over all the beings in the room, he registered the shock of everyone before they all bent to their knees. A human at the corner of his eye was shaking vigorously, the leg of his trouser wet from where he’d urinated in fright. The small man had so confidently slashed his wrist only moments before, now looking abhorrent at the Master he had helped awaken. Dracula stared the tiny man down and started chuckling.
The Master of the Night laughed mockingly putting everyone in shock, his chilling laugh echoing through the night in a deep rumble. All of a sudden and so swiftly, he sped to that petrified man, holding him by the throat with his claws digging in.
Leaning close to his ear, Dracula murmured, his voice thick with an accent, “Isn’t it a shame that the very last memory of yourself is this?”
The human man began to whimper in fear and beg for his life, but Dracula had just laughed before sinking his teeth into his neck, sucking the very life out of him. The man screamed in agony at first before his cries turned into a light soft whimper. His eyes fluttered closed as the venom entered his system. He moaned at the enormous loss of blood, and the euphoric dizziness came into place as death slowly took him away. As Dracula drank the last few drops of blood in his body, the man sighed in relief before Dracula threw him on the ground as if he was no more than an insect.
“Jalnic. Pathetic,” Dracula hissed through his fangs.
His naked body was now covered with the blood dripping down from his mouth. Taking a look around the room he moved on to his next victim. The Elders had only watched their Master, still in shock. They waited patiently and closed their eyes to the pleasurable scent of blood that now encircled the room and drowned the floors, covering the markings.
The room was drowned in noises of anguish, fear, pain, and moans of pleasure as Dracula sped to each human and half-breed, one by one sucking their blood from their necks, wrists, legs; he met their horrified but eager gazes with a pleasurable hunger-- and satiated his excruciating starvation and emptiness. Dracula sighed heavily and tilted his head back at the sweetness of the blood and the satisfaction he felt. He felt his body regain its strength with every feeding, as veins that were popping out only minutes before, vanished and seeped back into his skin; and bones that were sticking out only moments before had been filled out with muscle. His white hair slowly faded into a raven black with each feeding
Once he was down to the last human in the room, Andrei approached him with a long black robe.
“Welcome back, m?re?ie,” he said, reaching out.
Dracula turned and took the robe with long bloodied clawed hands and put it on, all eyes were on him-- his hair and body were now entirely covered in blood.
However, he still had another sacrifice to take.
He was still feeling rather… empty.
Dracula patted Andrei fondly on the cheek with his clawed fingers as he moved to the other six who were all bowing down now.
“Andrei,” Dracula said, tilting his head towards him, “You haven’t told them, have you?”
Smirking, Andrei replied, “They have no idea, my lord.”
“Mmm, interesting,” Dracula purred, as the six vampires all looked up with confusion and fear. He waited to see the realisation take place on all their faces, before grinning at their rage, “You always did make things a lot more fun, prietene.”
Raising his bloodied clawed hand, he muttered an incantation under his breath that caused his crimson, blood-red eyes to gleam, and then glow. The skins of the six vampires started to clench and tighten to their skeletons. Black veins began to pop out as they all started crawling and screaming for mercy. Dracula smirked as he began to suck the spirits of all six of them, and they all looked on in absolute horror and disbelief as they watched their half-souls leave their bodies.
Dracula had only chuckled.
Andrei, who expected this, merely looked on at the six others with indifference, his icy blue eyes piercing every one of them as they took their last breaths and fell to the pool of blood. Waiting till it was done, he took out a golden match lighter and threw it to the ground.
They both stood and watched the bodies burn before Andrei cut the silence, “The others are waiting.”
Dracula nodded, an empty look on his face as he turned around.
He rolled his shoulders back, closed his red eyes, and took in a large deep breath. Walking towards the door with Andrei, he murmured, “Shall we begin?” and wreaked havoc in an already chaotic and destroyed world.
