This happened a long time ago, but I can still remember. The calendar marked the year 1657. Father had asked me to fetch water from the towns' well, while he and mother were out to visit an ill cousin. I was six at the time, but father said I needed to contribute to the family already, since I would soon become a grown, responsible man; just like him.

Mother very rarely left home and father was usually watching over me closely, teaching me skills which he said would help me when I grew older; so only in very rare occasions would they leave my twin-sister and me alone. Not wanting to let this opportunity go to waste, I snuck back into our house and quickly reached the room my sister and I shared.

My sister sat on the floor by herself, clothing her poppet. Apparently, mother hadn't asked her to do anything that day. She had light blonde hair, and pale blue eyes just like I did; even if mine didn't look as big as hers. She was wearing a long, yellow dress and her usual white apron.

"Fiona" I called, and took my hat off before entering the room.

"Ethan!" She greeted cheerfully and ran to embrace me, tossing her poppet aside carelessly.

"What are you doing here?" She asked finally letting me go "Didn't papa ask you to fetch water?" She stared at me confused.

"Yes, he did" I smiled sheepishly.

"So?" She placed her hands at her waist looking at me disapprovingly; making her look a lot like mother.

"Well" I crossed my arms "Mother and father left to visit cousin Percival. They both left" I stressed the word both for her to catch the hint.

She gasped and smiled widely.

"You mean...." She clasped her hands together "We can do whatever we want?"

I nodded.

"Not whatever, sister-mine, but something, for I came up with a plan" I raised my chin proudly; feeling very grown up-like.

"What sort of plan?" She eyed me suspiciously and I could clearly see curiosity seeping through.

"Well, have you heard about..."I made a dramatic pause and lowered my voice "...The feaster of the woods?"

She shook her head rapidly and stared at me, silently asking me to explain.

"No?" I faked my surprise "You mean you haven't heard the rumors?" Truthfully, I was sure Fiona didn't know about the rumors, since I've heard them from older boys, which my sister wasn't acquaintance with.

Fiona shook her head yet again "No, I've never heard any about the matter. What is it?"

"The feaster of the woods is a monster" y curled my fingers as claws and hunched slightly "They say it has huge fangs and horrid eyes which would freeze the bravest man on the spot"

Fiona looked surprised but not scared, never scared.

"A monster? Are you sure?" She squinted, not entirely believing my tale.

"As sure as I can be!" I placed my hand over my chest "There's even been witnesses! Todd and Henry said they've seen it with their own eyes"

Fiona rolled her eyes and sighed. "Ethan! How many times do I have to tell you not to listen to Todd and Henry?" She glared "They are always coming up with made-up stories just to scare you!"

Fiona turned her back at me and went to pick her poppet from the floor to place it over her bed.

"Don't fret over lies, brother. Why don't you make better use of your time and actually go to the well as papa told you?"

I stomped my foot on the ground. It pissed me how my sister treated me like a baby even if we were the same age.

"I'm not a child anymore, Fiona! I've been breeched!" I walked towards her and grabbed her arm. "Whether the rumors are true or not, I will go find out" I looked at her sternly "with or without you"

She was quiet for a few moments glaring at me with her poppet still in her hand.

"Fine" She finally said "But we can't take too long, or else mother and father may find out"

I grinned

"Of course"

I took Fiona's hand as we were swaggering through town, getting closer to the outskirts.

"Ethan" She called once we were facing the outer gate leading to the woods.

"Mm-hm?" I crooked my head in confusion.

"Don't let go of my hand" She eyed our laced fingers and looked uneasy.

"Don't worry, my sister" I smiled and tightened my grip on her hand "It'll be fun"

It didn't seem to do much to reassure her, but we kept walking regardless.

We walked through the woods for what seemed like days. We weren't sure how deep inside we were, but we lost sight of the town's gate long ago and the clear path towards it had also faded.

"It's getting darker" Fiona whispered and darted closer to me. "We should head back, Ethan, it's not safe in here"

I bit my bottom lip nervously "But... the feaster only comes out at night"

"What?" She said harshly "You actually meant to drag us here at night to meet the fake monster?"

"Well...." I averted my gaze, unable to tell her neither truth nor lie.

"That's it" She frowned and pulled my hand "We're heading back"

"Fine..." I sighed.

The sky was slowly turning an orange shade as we headed to what we believed was 'back'.

We walked and walked and kept walking, but could never find the path which lead back to the gate.

"I think we turned here..." Fiona whispered to herself, touching the trunk of one of the trees.

"Why do you keep whispering?" I murmured, mimicking.

She turned and looked at me frowning "Because I don't want us to be found by any animal or person or..."

"Monster?" I offered, grinning.

She blushed, ashamed to admit that she actually believed me about the feaster of the woods.

"Fine, I don't want to be caught by that thing either"

She let go of my hand and kept walking forward.

The sky finally grew entirely dark as the night fell. No matter how much we walked, we seemed to be simply going in circles; neither closer nor further away.

"Fiona, can we stop for a bit?" I said, grabbing her by the shoulder "I'm tired" I placed my other hand on top of my belly "and hungry"

She looked at me as if debating whether to do so or not.

"Alright, Ethan..." She said not entirely sure "I'm tired as well, but... we can't be out here by ourselves too long; we need to get back home"

I nodded and then walked to a large, strong-looking tree. I sat leaning against it. Fiona quickly did the same.

We sat there in silence for a very long time, listening to the owls and the crickets which sang to the night. I hugged my sister closely and rested my chin over her head.

"I guess I didn't plan all of this thoroughly" I whispered.

"You never plan anything thoroughly, brother" She giggled and I snorted.

"Well, at least we know Todd and Henry were actually lying" said Fiona freeing herself from my arms and standing up "Come on, Ethan. Mother and Father must be worried sick"

"True" I said, propelling myself upwards "Mama will surely be mad at us for dirtying our clothes"

Fiona sighed and nodded "I hadn't thought about it" she raised her mudded dress slightly to look at it. "My stockings are a mess as well..."

We suddenly heard heavy steps crushing the grass and branches.

Fiona looked terrified and turned to see if anyone was behind her.

"Let's go" I said, quickly grabbing her hand and running at the opposite direction from the sound.

We kept running but the sound seemed to be chasing us. We needed to find a place to hide, for how long could we possibly keep running?

"Help!" Fiona yelled suddenly while we were still running. "Somebody please! Help us!" She tried again, her voice breaking as there wasn't enough air in her lungs to run and scream at the same time.

"Help!" I yelled as well in sync with my sister.

Seeing as to how no one could hear us, we opted to just keep running as fast as we could, even if the thing-whatever it was-behind us seemed to keep their steps strong and steady unlike our own.

I suddenly tripped as my shoe got stuck into something.

"Oh, God" I cried desperately, trying to pull my shoe out of the mud. We could hear the quick steps coming closer.

"Just leave it, Ethan!" Fiona shrieked, grabbing me by the arm.

I finally got my foot out but my shoe hadn't been so lucky. Nevermind, we started running again.

We crashed onto a tree, and Fiona collapsed in exhaustion.

"Come on, sister" I begged, trying to get her to her feet.

"I can't..." She panted "Keep going, save yourself" she was breathing heavily and I, too, had only so much strength left.

The steps suddenly stopped. And nothing could be heard for a few seconds but our ragged breathing.

We suddenly heard a deep chuckle and I rose immediately, with shaky legs.

"Who's there?" I asked.

No one answered.

I stood closer to my sister who was still having trouble regaining her breath, but tried to stand anyway. Even if she had always been stronger than me in a sense, I was a man-almost- and had to protect my sister at all costs.

"Ethan..." She murmured feebly.

I looked at her questioningly and she delicately took my hand and intertwined our fingers like we always did.

Tears rolled over my cheeks and I hadn't even noticed I had started crying.

"Don't be scared, I'm here" She smiled as she repeated what she used to tell me whenever I had a nightmare or couldn't sleep at night.

A tall man came out from the shadows. I started trembling uncontrollably, almost convulsing. My eyes were wide and my jaw dropped. It was too dark to see him properly, but something I didn't miss was his sharp eyes and scary fangs.

"Th-the..." I gasped.

Fiona started walking backwards as she stared at the man as well.

"Monster" I managed to say.

He grabbed my collar and jerked me forwards with tremendous strength and then it all went black.

I woke up in a bed at a very fancy room. It had chandeliers in the ceiling, expensive looking rugs here and there, a huge shelf with loads of books, and a desk facing the window. The room wasn't that big, but it wasn't like anything in my village at all.

"How are you feeling?" I heard Fiona's voice and turned my head to the bed across mine.

"Where are we?" I asked, without moving; I didn't have the strength.

"I'm not sure..."

Fiona looked terrible. She looked as thin as a twig, she was extremely pale with a chalky appearance to her skin, she had purple heavy bags under her eyes, and her lips were very chapped.

"I think I heard them calling this place the Montaggio" she said, her voice very weak and tired.

"Them?" I asked.

"There are a lot of people in here. They come to check on us and make sure we're fine. But I don't know who they are or were exactly are we"

I nodded.

"You look terrible" I smiled guiltily.

"So do you" She smiled back at me.

I was feeling very bad. As if I had no strength, my belly hurt, and I had trouble breathing; I wonder what had happened back in the woods. Had these people saved us? Maybe we were at a hospital.

"You've been sleeping for almost two days, Ethan" I heard Fiona mutter with her eyelids closed "I was afraid you weren't going to wake up"

"Two days?" Shock was clear in my voice. How had I been able to sleep for so long?

"Have you had any sleep?" I asked, noticing how she was dozing off.

She shook her head 'no' and then was fast asleep snoring lightly. I then tore my gaze from my very sick sister and looked at the ceiling. What had happened to us? Why were we this ill? What was the thing that found us in the woods?

I had so many questions in my mind and no one to give me the answers.

I heard the door from the room being opened slowly. When I turned my head towards the door I was able to see a sturdy yet slim man with light skin, black, short hair, and sharp hazel eyes.

Those eyes...

My mind immediately remembered the creature in the woods and I grew scared. I tried to move away, but found myself too weak to do so.

"Easy" He said, raising his palm. "I brought you food" He gestured towards a bowl of soup in his other hand. He walked towards my bed and put the bowl on the nightstand.

"Make sure to eat it all, you haven't had anything to eat in a while" He then took a crystal bottle out of one of his pockets and poured some odd burgundy liquid into the soup.

"What is that?" I asked mechanically.

He looked at me in a serious, stern way. "Medicine"

And then he quickly left.

These same routine repeated every single day for weeks. Every day, the same man came and handed my sister and I bowls of soup and then added the so called medicine. He never said anything other than "I brought you food and your medicine" and "Rest well, I shall see you tomorrow"

My sister and I were currently sitting on our beds, wearing white gowns which they had given us here, with the bowls of soup in our laps. I didn't know about Fiona, but sitting like this, even eating, required a lot of effort to do.

"Ethan?" I heard Fiona call from her bed, the bowl of soup forgotten on the nightstand.

"Are you feeling better?"

I looked at her eyes and the light that was usually there was slowly fading, her eyes looked drowsy and with some sort of gloss over the pupils.

"Not really, sister" I hung my head defeated. Then I also placed the bowl of soup on the nightstand next to my bed.

"I don't think the medicine is working" She murmured and snuggled into the blankets.

"Agreed" I said, imitating her and got more comfortable under the covers.

I saw her close her eyes and fall asleep. Without noticing, I did the same.

I woke up until the next day, by the sound of the door opening and the same man entered the room.

I looked at him through half-lidded eyes, not having enough strength to fully open them.

He eyed both of us suspiciously and placed the bowls on the nightstand next to the ones of the day before which we barely touched.

He crept closer to me and examined my face for a few moments. He then turned to Fiona.

"Ah... finally" He exclaimed sounding very pleased. He took her in his arms and walked to the door. I saw her lay limp against his body.

'Where are you taking her? Leave her alone!' was what I wanted to say, but couldn't manage to say anything. It was as though I couldn't control my body anymore; it almost felt completely numb.

I closed my eyes again.

I woke up abruptly; too abruptly. It was as tough I had collided against something, or like getting punched in the face.

I sat up and found I was in a whole different room; this one not as fancy as the other one, but rather small and cramped. It looked plain but still I could tell right away we were nowhere near our town.

"At last" I heard Fiona's voice and I quickly looked at her. She was sitting in a chair that was near to a messy desk full of papers and open books. She looked beautiful! She looked very healthy, perhaps a bit pale still but her eyes shone with awareness; not that drowsy, almost dead look she had last time I saw her. Still, something was amiss. Something was lacking in her gaze; but I couldn't tell what it was, so I just shrugged it off.

"Fiona!" I smiled and stood up to meet her.

"Glad you woke up, sleepy head" She smiled as well, and ruffled my hair "This is the second time you sleep for days!"

My eyes grew wide "Again?" Come to think of it, Mama always had to wake me up, or else I was likely to sleep in. Maybe my body loved slumber.

"Yes! I've been sitting here all alone for the past few days. I tried to open the door but it seems we are locked in here"

She walked to the door and tried to open it to prove her point.

"I'm starving..." I whined, placing a hand over my belly.

"I'm hungry as well, but..."

And as if on cue, the door opened and the same man who had been feeding us came in, dragging a burlap sack behind him. He promptly closed the door.

He smiled and nodded seeming satisfied.

"I was hoping you would both be awake by now" He eyed us from head to toe and his smile widened.

"You're looking well, indeed." He patted Fiona's head "I'm sorry I had to bring you to this small warehouse, but if the experiment had failed back at the Montaggio I would think of it as a bad omen for my future projects" He walked to the center of the room, still dragging the sack which contained God-knows-what.

Fiona and I stood close together looking at him in distrust.

"There is no need to be scared"

Our suspicion must have been so obvious, that the man sensed it immediately.

"Look" He started untying the cord which closed the sack. "As always, I have brought you..." He finally managed to get rid of the cord and the sack fell off entirely revealing its content "...Food"

It was a young, frail looking woman. She had curly strawberry blonde hair and freckles all over her face. I didn't know how old she was, but I could assume around sixteen. She lay on the floor, not moving at all.

"What....what is going on?" Asked Fiona perplexed.

I wanted to ask the same exact thing, but something about the scent of the woman was actually.... Alluring; but I couldn't tell why.

"Don't worry, she's not dead. Never eat from the dead or else you might end up dead yourselves" The man looked at her and then at us with the same stern look in his eyes he always seemed to have.

"You actually want us to....to eat her?" Fiona sounded horrified.

I couldn't seem to be able to tear my gaze from the woman in the floor, my stomach growled unceasingly. There was just something odd, which hit my nostrils and only increased my thirst and hunger.

"Her blood, yes" He explained calmly.

Fiona grabbed my hand tightly and then I finally snapped out of my trance-like state to look at the man in front of us.

"My name is Fergus" He placed a hand on his chest "And just like me, you are now, both of you..."

He came closer to us.

"...Vampires"

I gasped.

FIN