HEY GUYS, THIS CHAPTER IS KIND OF LIKE A FILLER CHAPTER, BUT IT DOES HAVE SOME INFORMATION THAT COULD COME TO PLAY LATER ON. BUT IT IS LESS IMPORTANT THAN OTHER CHAPTERS.  

SO I WILL MAKE THIS A FILLER CHAPTER.

John had held Nathaniel in a lock. Nathaniel had reluctantly yielded and verbally acknowledged John's superiority in cooking.

Nathaniel immediately rushed over to the fire and groaned, loudly.

He turned back to face John." See what you have done! It will take forever to make the meat evenly cooked now!"

John laughed and sat beside Nathaniel, patting him on the back as he did."You haven't changed. Always wanting the things you most like to be perfect, and not caring for the concerns of others."

Nathaniel gave a glare and continued to rotate the meat.

"How long have you known him?" asked Adar, sounding truly curious.

John looked past Nathaniel, to Adar.

"Since he was born, which was 29 years ago. It has been a pain watching over him all these years."

"Since he was born?" said Melanie, raising a brow.

"He and I are brothers." smiled John.

Nathaniel sighed and continued to try to fix the meat's uneven cooked areas.

Adar suddenly realized how alike they looked. John and Nathaniel had the same face structure. Though, Nathaniel had a slimer face. John was more built, while Nathaniel was leaner, and their hair were different colors. John was taller, from what Adar had seen, and their smiles were very similar, a smile that showed only the top row of teeth.

Melanie laughed." I guessed it never occurred to me."

Adar nodded," Me neither."

***

Nathaniel had taken forever, according to John, to cook the meat.

At last Nathaniel had taken the meat off the stick and distributed it equally among the group.

"I must say, Nathaniel." Smiled John, looking at his piece of meat that was was on his cloth." Maybe that 'perfection' method of yours did pay off."

"Of course it did." retorted Nathaniel.

Melanie looked down at the meat, that was partially wrapped in a cloth.

"Aren't you going to eat it?" Asked Adar, looking at Melanie sideways.

"Well..." began Melanie. I've never really had raccoon meat before! I'm sure John, Nathaniel, and Adar have had it, thought Melanie, I'm not used to this at all. I almost miss the days of waking up to eat tarts and that amazing pourage.

Melanie put both hands under the meat and steadily brought it up to her mouth. She lowered her head and fearfully took a bite into it.

This is actually good.. thought Melanie.

She took another bite and then another.

Soon there was no more meat to take a bite out of.

Nathaniel smiled." I'm glad that the both of you enjoyed it."

Melanie smiled, "I was a bit hesitant, but I was surprised to have enjoyed it."

John wiped his mouth with his cloth and leaned back, lying on the ground.

Nathaniel pulled his stool closer to the fire.

He looked at Adar and Melanie, a grin starting at the end of his lips.

"Would you like to hear a story?" asked Nathaniel.

Melanie looked at Adar, who nodded and then nodded as well.

Nathaniel had mischievous smile.

"I must warn you it does contain horror, or shall I say it is a horror story."

Adar looked at Melanie, smiling." Are you sure you will be able to hear this, Melanie? You do scare easily after all."

Melanie rolled her eyes." If I was brave enough to follow you on a crazy escape plan, then I believe I can handle this 'horror' story quite nicely."

John sat up immediately." Nathaniel, I believe it would be best not to tell them a horror story, especialy now."

Nathanile smirked," Hear that? John doesn't want me to tell you the story, for fear that he may overhear it and have nightmares."

John shook his head and laid back down.

Nathaniel looked back into the fire and began to recount his story.

"Back when I and John were both Mercenaries, we were sent by some British diplomats. A town in one of the colonies was said to be filled with reports of killings, disappearances, and witch craft. Our mission was to kill a psychotic killer who was mercilessly killing people in the town.

"We arrived in the town at noon time, but surprisingly not to many people were out. Only people selling at the market were out, so that is where we began our hunt. The market men were reluctant to talk, even with the bribery of money. For awhile we thought we would end up failing, but unexpectedly an elderly man spoke. He informed us on many of the details and rumors of the past weeks. Things had started to pick up those past few weeks, according to his testimony."

Melanie had leaned towards Adar and was now grabbing onto his arm. Adar grimmaced. Melanie doesn't realize that she is holding onto my wounded forearm, thought Adar, And the story hasn't really gotten scary yet.

Nathaniel continued his story.

"The elderly man directed us to a house that was well out of the jurisdiction of the town. We decided to explore this so called 'forbidden location.' It was rumored that all who journeyed there went insane or missing.

"We eventually found this house. It was only a one story house, surrounded by trees and brush. Moss covered most of the house and the door was ripped off from the leather hinges. John suggested that we stay there for a few days, camping near the house. I would stand watch for a few hours, letting John sleep and he did the same for me. As I stood watch, I kept getting the odd feeling that someone or something was watching me. I felt it so strong that I immediately pulled out my bow and knocked my arrow, the feeling then vanished. It was not to long before we started to search the areas near the house. We had split up, hoping to cover more ground. I found a pair of tracks that had led out the back door of the house. They seemed smudged as though they were not properly done and they seemed inconsistent. The odd thing was they had not been the day before. I followed them and they went deeper into the woods. After a bit of following these odd tracks, boot prints appeared and I knew that they were fresh.

"The odd tracks would disappear altogether, then reappear again right behind the boot prints. Eventually the boot prints led back to house from another direction and I saw John standing there. The boot prints, I realized, were his. The odd tracks had stopped about 10 yards from where he was standing. A chill went up my spine. Something had been following John."

Melanie was seemingly frightened. She was glancing around frantically. Adar only stared at Nathaniel. Adar had heard scary stories from his adoptive father, who was Indian. He had told the stories of the spirits that had become angered when the white settlers had come into their land. These spirits were malicious and scary. But Nathaniel's story was different from what Adar was used to.

"After confronting John about it, he stated there was something eerie about the noises behind him.

"It had been half a week since our arrival at this 'forbidden location' before we decided to give up on this hunt. It was surely the mothers telling bed time stories to their children and children swearing that they had seen those men from the stories. That's all it was, stories, and for Adults it had a more suitable name, Rumors.

"The day we had decided to leave, I stopped dead in my tracks. A trail of blood led across the front yard of the house and into the house. We had never really explored the house to much, only keeping an eye on it.

"John entered the house first, both his swords drawn. I followed after him, my bow ready and loaded with an arrow. I felt it was very dangerous. We has stepped over the broken down door and entered a hallway. A repugnant smell immediately hit me. It was a mixture of feces and rotted meats. Tears stung my eyes and I gagged. The hallway led to a fairly large sized living room. There was a small table in the middle of the room, one of the legs had been torn off and it leaned downwards where the missing leg should have been. A few chairs laid in a corner, most of them upside down.

"That is when we saw a trap door. It was underneath the broken table. There was a small rope attached to a small hole to pull it up. I put my arrow back in my quiver and held my bow at side. I pushed the table aside and pulled the rope. It led to a small set of stairs. It was very dark and that is where I guessed the smell was emanating from.

"We entered into the small under ground basement and made our way cautiously down the steps. John had lit a candle for a clearer view of things. Once we reached the end of the steps I was shocked almost beyond recovery. I had not expected the scene that I saw."

A noise came from the woods, or so thought Melanie and she jumped. Adar felt the pain of her gripping his arm tightly.

Please let this story be over soon...thought Adar. This story does intrigue me, though, is he telling the truth? That would only make it worse for Melanie.

Nathaniel smiled. "No need to be frightened, Melanie."

Melanie eased her grip on Adar's right arm and sat straight."I was not frightened."

Adar looked over at Melanie, her face had a concerned expression. She had her hands back in her lap, fidgeting with her fingers.

It is obvious she is not frightened, thought Adar, while trying to stop a chuckle from escaping.

"I hadn't realized you were going to tell this story. " Said John. His hands were cupped together, fingers interlaced and supporting his head as he lied on his back. "I know this will not end well, Nathaniel. If they are scared beyond their minds then you will answer to me. I advise you to stop now."

Nathaniel looked at both Melanie and Adar.

" Do you wish for me to continue? This may get out of hand. The choice is yours."

Adar nodded. Melanie looked down at her hands and was hesitant, before answering yes.

"Well as I said." continued Nathaniel. " The scene before me was one I was not expecting. Rotted animal parts lay in front of the steps. The acrid smell burned my eyes. John and I had covered our noses with our collars. John raised his candle as high as he could, and I wished he hadn't. Beyond the animal parts, feet away and laying against the wall were human body parts. Blood was all over the walls as though some one had dipped a paint brush in blood and randomly stroked everywhere. I was horrified. Hands and feet were piled up, the bones protruding from the red, already rotting flesh. What looked like a human torso was smashed up against a wall. Blood streaks covered the wall above and behind it. I had never seen anything so gory in my entire life.

"A noise came from above the stairs. A low growl. My bow was already in my hand once again and an arrow ready to fly at anything within sight and reach. John unsheathed one sword and made his way up the stairs. I followed after, sure to kill anything that attacked him.

"I closed the small trap door, happy to be out of that horrible place. When I looked up, John had blown out the candle, placing it back into his coat pocket and had both of his swords unsheathed once again. I followed after him. The noise was coming from around the wall, in the kitchen. John looked around the corner and he swore turning back to look at me. 'What is it?' I asked. John had a fearful expression. He sheathed one of his swords and replaced it with a the flintlock pistol, that he had pulled out from within his internal pocket. I braved a glance and looked around the corner. A creature of some sort was hunched over, its back toward us, and eating something. It looked eerily human. The spine was bony and stood out, almost looking spiky. The creature's skin was pale, white as chalk.

"I was taken aback by what I had seen. The creature then turned around to look at me straight in the eye. The meat it had been eating slid out of its mouth with a mixture of blood and saliva. Its eyes where white and pupil-less. It immediately dropped the meat it had in its hands and spun around quickly, going on all fours. It crawled toward us at alarming rate, it's crawl very much like a spiders. I was motionless, frozen in my mind as well. The creature was feet before me when I heard John's pistol go off, loudly near my ear. The creature screamed as the bullet landed in its chest, sending it back to the floor.

"John cursed and ran forward, driving his swords toward the creature. It jumped up and crawled, upside down, on the ceiling and jumped through a window and breaking it, and ultimately escaping.

"John looked at me, anger clear on his face. 'Nathaniel! Have you no sense, you could have died! What if I had not been here? You surely would have been food!'

"What was it?' I asked.

'Its a vampire' said John, doubting his own words. 'I never once considered their existence. It seems this is what we would call an 'Insane' vampire. I read an account that suits the creature similiar to what we just encountered.'

"We went into town, that very day, to retrieve some items necessary to kill this 'vampire' swiftly.

"I asked the father of a nearby church for some holy water, cans of oil as well. Next we purchased a sturdy harpoon, then we even brought a bible along with us. I also purchased a few arrows from an archer who lived in town. On that trip I only had a bow that was given to me to by an Indian friend who had made it. My English long bow would have been much more suited for that hunt and I regretted not brining it. I was very nervous when we returned to the house the next day. It was in the afternoon when we arrived.

"We hid among the bushes and trees that were about 20 yards in front of the house. The creature came out as though it was expecting us. It was no longer hunched, but erect like a man now.

"I immediately pulled back my bow string, my arrow pointed straight at the vampire's chest. John was 10 yards to the left of me, hiding behind a large round tree, his flintlock pistol at the ready.

"I now had a clear view of the vampire. It was very thin, its ribs showing in detail, but it's muscles were ripped to the most allowable for such a slim creature. It veins stood out, branching throughout its body. It grinned, showing the fangs were about 3-1/2 inches long. The long claw like, finger nails were the color of a dark yellow. Unlike before, it was wearing clothes now, only trousers and no shoes, shirtless as well. It had no hair and its ears were a bit pointed.

"The creature gave a loud sniff, then looked directly were John was and took a step forward. I Instantly let the bow string go and the arrow was sent flying at its chest. The vampire was a blur as it moved and my arrow had missed and hit the front wall of the house.

"I turned and saw John point the Pistol at the Vampires' chest, pulling the trigger. The vampire had managed to move to where John was in such a short time, how incredulous I thought its speed was. The vampire roared and hit John in the chest and I heard a thud as he was sent flying into bushes. I nocked my arrow and let another arrow fly loose. The vampire was gone and I had missed once again. I felt a shudder of cold behind me and let my bow drop. I unsheathed my sword and turned around delivering an over hand cut.

"The vampire had caught my sword. Blood dripped from the palm of the hand that had my sword. It was standing in front of me, its eyes were now fully red, instead of white, and pupil-less. It opened its mouth and its sulfurous breath made me nearly gag. I felt a hit to my gut and I was sent flying. A tree abruptly stopped my fall. I slid to the ground, in excruciating pain and winded.

"I looked forward, my vision blurred, and saw it walk towards me, taking its time. It smiled showing its long and thin fangs. This thing was not that seductive Dracula that I had read about. This was a monster, a demon, a true vampire.

"I was sure that I was done for, then I heard a booming noise. It had come from John's pistol. Next I saw blood spurt from the vampire's neck. John had shot the vampire. It halted and hissed, turning to look toward the direction of the sound.

"I looked and saw John charging towards the vampire. He had both his swords wielded. They were a set of rapier swords. The vampire crouched and leaped at John. John met it head on, driving his swords through the vampires' chest. I saw the swords go out the back of the vampire. The flesh quickly reddened around the area of the blades, then it began to sizzle. A shriek came from the vampire and it lurched backwards.

"John pulled his swords back out and delivered a horizontal slash to its chest. I saw arcs of blood follow behind both swords. The vampire was gone in an instant, again. John ran towards me, cursing. 'Nathaniel, dam you! You could have been killed!'

"My breathe came back in and I shouted,'John! It will come back!'

"John kneeled beside me and checked my ribs. 'I think one of you lower ribs might be broken. Do not worry about the vampire. I poured the holy water onto the swords. The vampire is to wounded right now. It most likely went back to the house to consume some blood to repair its wounds.'

"I cursed and stood up. 'Let's slay it now, while it is still weak!'

John gave a grin,'Enthusiastic as usual. I agree.'

He offered me his arm and I clasped his forearm. I felt a bit of pain when he pulled me up. I ignored the pain and quickly ran to get my bow.

"We made our way to the house and entered like an invasion. It was all or nothing. I saw a blood trail lead to the living room The table, that had been in the middle, was against the wall in pieces. The trap door had been ripped off from its hinges and was lying against the wall as well. I heard a spine tingling noise from down in the basement. It sounded like bones being crunched.

"The acrid smell quickly returned. John opened the cans of oil and threw them down into the basement. He quickly lit the torch, we had bought, and threw it in after. Fire immediately lit up the stairs, blocking the path upwards. A shriek came from below. John smiled and pulled out a tightly packed bag of gun powder. He threw it as hard as he could, rocks had been in the bag as well. A blast followed by a wailing noise filled the house.

"I heard the scratching of nails against wood, and saw the vampire bolt upwards towards us. I was ready this time. I had already let two arrows fly and had my third arrow nocked. The first arrow had missed, but the second landed in its left eye. It screamed in pain, blood gushing from the hole of its left eye. I let the third arrow fly and it drove into the monster's chest.

" It lunged out and landed on John, gripping his wrist. It was ready to bite him, before it gave a hiss and jumped off of him and came at me. I drew my sword and swung at it, but it was too fast and I missed.

"The vampire grabbed me by my neck and lifted me upwards. I slammed the tip of my blade upwards through its lower jaw. It screamed and dropped me. In an instant, John had driven his harpoon into the vampire's back and rammed it, chest first, into the wall. The vampire was now stuck to the wall, dark red blood dripping from the harpoon. I got up and helped John drive the harpoon deeper. It began lashing out, and John pulled out a stake and drove it through the back, aiming for its heart. Blood oozed out and the vampire gave a violent twitch, then shrieked loudly, sounding frustrated almost afraid.

"Most of the house was already on fire, by then. I turned and went for the door. The vampire was clawing madly at the wall. John stood there muttering something under his breathe before following me out.

" We had stood out of the house for an hour, listening to the screams, shrieks, and wails of the vampire. After the house had burned down completely, we rummaged through the ashes looking for remnants of the vampire.

"We looked for remains of the creature, but we found it hard, considering there were many other bones there as well.

"It could still be out there! " Shouted Nathaniel, turning and giving Melanie a sudden surprise.

Melanie fell off of her stool and felt tears border the rims of her eyes.

"Nathaniel!" Shouted John, standing up and hitting Nathaniel in the abdomen. Nathaniel collapsed to his knees, cursing.

Adar had been scared at the sudden shout as well, but not as nearly as scared as Melanie.

He saw Melanie turn and run towards the cart. She was crying. Adar stood up and followed after her. He had a slow walk because of his soreness, taking a minute to get to there. When he got there, Melanie was sitting with her back against the cart, her head resting on her knees.

"Melanie are you ok?" asked Adar, confused as to what to say.

Melanie raised her head and looked up. She wiped her tears away with her sleeve ."Have you come to mock me? Say that you were right and that I do scare easily?"

Adar gave an awkward smile and kneeled in front of Melanie, placing a hand on her shoulder."No. But I do have to ask, if you were scared of the story, then why run out here? Wouldn't you be afraid of coming out here, away from the fire light? Are you crying from the fear or the embarrassment of being scared by Nathaniel's sudden shout?"

"Both." replied Melanie.

Adar froze for a second. He was the one helping her out, now.

His mind went to the image of Melanie kneeling in front of him, when she treated his wound while he was still a prisoner.

Here they were again, places switched.

"You know I was scared too, no need to be embarrassed Melanie." Said Adar, giving a broader grin.

"Then why didn't you fall off of your stool?" asked Melanie, frustration still in her voice.

"How could I? It hurts to just move with this wound and all."

Melanie smirked,"That doesn't make any sense."

"You're not scared any more are you?" Asked Adar, giving a cheesy smile.

Melanie giggled."Surprisingly no, considering how scary that smile is."

"That's good to hear." Said Adar standing up. He offered his hand to Melanie.

She looked at his hand for a second then grabbed it. He helped her to her feet, grunting as he did.

Melanie stood up and raised a brow at Adar. " Were you really scared by the story? "

Adar thought for a second, I wouldn't exactly use the word 'scared.' Taken by surprise would be the best way to say it.

"Terrified." Replied Adar." I was actually afraid to come to the cart to talk to you."

Melanie sounded doubtful. "Really?"

"You came here all alone. I would not have come here if you hadn't been here. Like I said, Melanie, you are a brave girl."

Adar saw Melanie lower her head a bit and blush. A tight feeling, all of a sudden, was in his chest. This was the second time that alien sensation had coursed through his body.

Melanie looked up at Adar and smiled. "Thank You, Adar. "

Adar was surprised by her smile. He had seen her smile plenty of times before, it hadn't changed. It was as though he was seeing it all over again. He felt a new feeling now, as she smiled.

"I-" began Adar, but he was cut off as John spoke loudly.

"Nathaniel is here to apologize!"

Nathaniel walked to Melanie and began to apologize. John was standing behind Nathaniel, arms crossed.

Adar walked over to John.

"So was the story real? " Asked Adar.

John smiled," You shouldn't believe half of the gibberish that comes out of Nathaniel's mouth."

"Do I assume the other half of the gibberish is real? " questioned Adar.

John smiled,"Maybe."

Adar looked at Melanie, who was nodding and talking to Nathaniel.

"I wouldn't say anything to Melanie, though." Said John before turning back to the fire. " No need to scare her further."

Vampires real? thought Adar, Could the stories of the other monsters be real? How many creatures of the dark are out there?

Adar looked up at the dark clouded sky, suddenly realizing how much more cruel the world could possibly be.

                    End Of Chapter

HEY I KNOW THIS IS NOT WHAT I USUALLY WRITE. BUT AS I STATED IN MY BIO, 'ADAR' WAS AN EXPERIMENT ON WRITING. I HOPE IT WAS STILL A GOOD CHAPTER, CONSIDERING IT WAS A FILLER CHAPTER. VOTE/COMMENT IF YOU LIKED IT!