Alesco:

The wooden door behind us closes with a thud. The white walls have wooden panels on the lower half. The ceiling is high and decorated with black, intricate chandeliers hanging with lit candles. The flickering light casts dancing shadows that swirl around us. The carpet is soft and thick. The hallway we have entered is sparcely furnished.

I look at Wynn and he gazes back, saying nothing. The silence is pressing. There's something else wrong, but I can't place it. Something about this place. It feels like there's something missing.

"Alesco..." The voice drifts through the house. It's familiar. Quiet and hissing. "Alesco... come..."

I shudder. A feeling I am unaccustomed to. Fear is a human emotion. Though we run from humans, we do not feel fear. We run only to preserve our lives.

There's an open doorway up ahead. There are other rooms at either side of the hallway, but they are closed, shut off from view. The voice is drifting from the open door. I sniff the air, but smell nothing. That's what's missing. I can't smell anything. I listen but I hear no sound. Not even the flickering flames.

"Do you hear anything?" I ask Wynn. No sound comes from my lips. I can feel my lips moving, but hear nothing at all. What's happening? I can't hear, I can't smell, I can't speak. The feeling of fear grows in the pit of my stomach, like twisting snakes. I reach out to Wynn and grab his arm. He looks at me and then nods his head towards the room ahead, the source of the voice. I see my fear echoed in his eyes.

"Alesco..." the hissing voice says again. "Come..."

We step forward, side by side, towards the room.

The room is square, and decorated as the hallway. It's all in perfect condition, clean and well-kept. A fire is blazing at the opposite side of the room beneath a marble mantel. A large mirror hangs above. The flickering shadows dance more intensely like a puppet show of ghostly creatures morphing and changing.

There are heavy, black curtains hanging. Two sets. I imagine there must be windows behind them but they are pulled shut and held tight, masking what lies behind.

My eyes are drawn to the armchair set in the middle of the room, against the curtained wall. It is the black of the curtains. It is thronelike and high backed.

The shape is almost is invisble, the black cloak is lost in the fabric of the chair. Only the hands give it away. They are deep ebony, only fractionally lighter then the cloak. Within the hood is nothing. I look, focusing my vision, but there's nothing there. A black hole.

"Who are you?" I say to the cloaked figure. Again, no sound escapes my mouth.

I'm trapped. It's like I'm wrapped in something. Something that is blocking my senses. My powerful, far-reaching senses. Senses I've always had. Gone. It feels like a part of me is lost, or dead.

"Alesco. Welcome." The voice says. "Come, sit."

I don't know what this creature is. The hand moves in a waving motion and a chair appears in front of it. A hard-looking, wooden chair.

I step forward, drawn to the chair, drawn to the spot by some unseen force. Wynn places a hand on my shoulder, stopping me, holding me back. From the corner of my eye I see one of the arms move again and Wynn is pushed backwards, forced to let me go. I turn, baring my fangs at the creature, ready to pounce, to attack. I step forward.

Wynn steps back to my side. His eyes are blazing, his fangs bared. We move slowly toward the creature, watchful, cautious, but otherwise blinded by our lack of senses.

The hooded robe turns slightly and I'm staring into the black hole, the abyss, the nothingness. There is no face. The snake pit in my stomach comes more alive, uncoiling tendrils of fear and spreading throughout my body.

"Sit." It hisses at me. I take a step back, but the hand waves again and I feel myself pushed forward. I fight the urge but the pressure increases and I'm forced onto the hard, wooden chair.

I bare my fangs still, hissing. Wynn pounces forward towards the shape, hands outstretched to strike.

The thing's other hand waves and he stops in mid-air.

"Stop." It says. We have no choice, I can't move and Wynn is suspended, motionless in the air, fangs bared and eyes glowing.

"Who are you?" I ask. But there is still no sound. What is this creature? This power that can trap me in this chair? I've never heard of this. Never experienced anything like it. It's not human. It can't be a vampire.

"I am the master." It says. The black hole where the face should be has turned to me. I can feel its stare, I feel x-rayed. I feel its intensity. And yet there is no face, no eyes looking.

"You have come to my village. You have come to me." It says. "I have been waiting for you."

"Free us!" I try to shout, but only silence bursts from my lips once again.

The hand moves and rope appears coiling its way around Wynn's body. From his shoulders to his feet he is tied. He drops to the ground. His eyes are glowing brighter than ever and his fangs remain bared but he cannot move. He cannot fight. He lets out a hiss of rage. Through the fear and anger, I feel relief that I can hear it. His hiss is welcome, breaking the wrapping silence.

I can move. Whatever was binding me to the chair has been released. Instinct kicks in and I launch myself from the chair towards the creature. I'm ready to strike, to kill, to pull off that hood and reveal the blackness beneath.

"Alesco, No!" Wynn calls from the ground. It's too late for that. I'm almost upon the creature.

It lifts both its hands into position, as though to protect itself. It seems like such a weak defense, two small hands won't stop the drive which carries me forward.

I'm hit with immense force. The shock of it disorients me, my vision becomes clouded as I fly backward, fast.

I collide with the chair again, but despite the force it does not move. I'm pinned back into the wood. Invisible bonds hold me in place again. I struggle against them, but I'm stuck. Hopelessness is setting in. My strength dies, my fight stops and I glare at the creature.

"What do you want?" I say. More relief mixes with my fear and rage. Relief that I can speak, that the sound of my own voice is carried.

"I want to help you." It says. "To help you all. The vampires."

It waves its hand again, my chair turns to face the fireplace. The mirror above changes. The reflection of the room disappears and white fog appears within the glass. My eyes are drawn to the swirling mass of grey, drawn to the image now appearing.

The fog fades and a new scene appears. A forest, tall trees swaying in the wind. Branches reaching, leaves rustling.

Beneath the center tree stands a man. A tall man with black hair. He wears a cloak of midnight black. He's facing away, so I cannot see his face. He stands perfectly still.

I'm transfixed. He turns on the spot, slowly, and gazes at me through the mirror. Father's face shocks me, but I cannot speak, the image is hypnotic.

I see someone behind the image of my father, in the distance through the trees. They are walking forward, towards me. As the image grows larger I recognise the face. But it's different. Her hair is red, her face pink from exertion, eyes green. She's alive, she's human.

My mother approaches through the trees and father turns. There is no sound, but I see their moving mouths, showing conversation. There is no fear in her living face, no anger, no hate.

The human version of my mother moves round. She cannot be my mother, yet she is. My thoughts boil in confusion.

As he comes around I see her full body. Her stomach. The rounded bulge pushing out from her abdomen. She's pregnant. I think. What is this? I want to ask, yet still I cannot. I cannot take my eyes from the mirror. All else is blocked from my awareness. My consciousness is closed.

My father reaches out a hand to the back of my mother's neck, tilting her head back. He gazes into her living eyes. She gazes back. I cannot comprehend the look between them. I don't know what they said. I don't know what it means. The snake pit of fear has been replaced wit bubbling confusion.

I don't know if this is real, or just an illusion created by the creature in the black cloak. I try to pull myself away, to look back, to ask the question, to see if Wynn is watching, but I can't. My mind is filled with the desire to watch, to see what happens, I am engrossed.

My father leans down and kisses her lightly on the lips. She kisses back, her eyes closed. And then, fangs bared, he bites down on her neck.

His eyes are like fire as he drinks. His skin glows. I've seen it before, it happens when a vampire feeds. But we were raised on animals. Always. Feeding on a human was only from stories, from tales told. I've never known it in all my life.

As my father lowers her now limp body to the ground the mist consumes the image in the mirror, swallowing it. I reach out an arm, but it's gone. I see the room reflected, the mirror staring through me once again.

My chair is moving, back into position. I'm facing the creature again. I glance at Wynn on the ground, tied and motionless. I see his eyes, mirroring the confusion I feel, the shock.

What can I say? What should I ask?

Before I say anything, the creature turns and the darkness gazes at Wynn.

"I did not summon you, Wynn." It says. "And yet you came, uninvited, against my wishes. Why should I let you live?"

I realise only now, the voice is more than quiet, it's almost speaking directly into my mind, without sound.
"Where Alesco goes, I will be." Says Wynn, venom in his words. He shows no fear. Though he is trapped, he does not cower. He never was a coward. There is no hint of a smile now, no laughter in his face. I wonder if these few weeks have changed him beyond return.

Silence descends upon the room, as the creature and Wynn stare at each other. I still pick up no scents, though the crackling of the candles greets my ears. My hearing is still intact. This creature must be powerful to control these things.

The threat lingers in the air, the threat to Wynn. We are outmatched. With a flick of the hand we were immobilised. But I must speak. I squash the fear and confusion and feed the rage.

"We are together." I say to the creature. "If he dies, we die together."

I am taking a chance. If this creature summoned me here, it must be for a reason. It must want something.

The gaze turns back to me.

"Very well." It says. "As you wish, Alesco."

It stares, as though pausing for thought.

And raises its hand.

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