Luisa had vanished without a trace. She didn't answer her calls or messages. Her phone was out of range.
That night, I received an email.
"If you want your girlfriend back, come at night to the House of Vampires."
I froze in horror. The House of Vampires was considered a cursed place in the city, where people disappeared without a trace. They said vampires lived there — the mistress and her family: three daughters and a son. But no one knew anything for certain, since the family was wealthy and influential, and ordinary mortals could never enter the house. The mistress had connections in the government, which reliably protected her from the police and other authorities.
At night I drove up in my car to the black mass of the ancient mansion. A dim light burned in some of the windows.
The gates opened on their own, letting me onto the estate. It was said you could only enter by invitation — and then every door would open before you. Once inside, you could never leave. I drove along a long alley and stopped in the courtyard.
I approached the front door. It opened. I shuddered. Behind it was a hall with red walls. Was it blood? I touched the wall with my hand, but nothing remained on my fingers. Two corridors stretched deeper into the building. I chose one, and suddenly a cold wind rose and blew at my back. I turned around. No one. Only clumps of dark ash fell to the floor.
Suddenly, some strange force lifted me into the air and carried me forward down the corridor. The red walls pulsed as if alive. I was brought into a shadowy room, where on a crimson bed sat a dark-haired girl with cruel eyes. Her gaze hypnotized me, and her seductive mouth revealed long fangs.
I was pulled closer to her. A flash. The dark-haired girl was now standing on the stone balcony of a mountain castle, the wind whipping her hair. At the far end of the balcony stood grim armored figures. They were her guards. I was at her side — granted an honor.
She looked down, to where a monstrous creature moved through the forest beneath the mountain. She raised her hand, and a swarm of bloodthirsty bats descended on it, covering it head to toe. The monster screamed wildly, and after a time, it fell dead. I witnessed her dominion over the living and the dead — as an equal.
I awoke back in the shadowy room as she lifted her head from my neck. Her lips and fangs were dripping with blood.
The terrible force carried me further through the house. Where are you, Luisa?
A new room, filled with pillows piled high to the walls. Two fair-haired girls with piercing eyes that froze the blood in my veins, and with insolent smiles that revealed their long fangs.
I was dangerously close to them. A flash. From a vast three-story mansion with dungeons full of dark secrets, the two blondes with wicked smiles and I set out into the night forest together. They laughed and shrieked, their cries splintering the trunks of trees, yet they treated me as an equal. I knew this was their time of bloody games and cruel amusements.
We came to a clearing, where seven people were paralyzed by terrible magic — vampire magic. Their bulging eyes stared in horror as we approached, their tongues frozen in their throats.
One blonde, smiling broadly, pulled out a large knife, showed it to us, and slit the throat of the first victim. Blood spurted. The girls laughed. The other blonde cut the next throat. Then came the turn of the rest. When all the victims had fallen with slit throats, the vampires, growling with hunger, began to drink their blood.
I saw them lift their heads, tearing away from me in the room. Their bloody mouths full of fangs.
I was carried further down the corridor of the house.
In the next room, I saw Luisa. She was waiting for me. Finally. What happiness, I found you, Luisa. Now let's leave this terrible house, where demons had built their fortress.
Luisa smiled at me. She had long fangs, protruding from her mouth.
I was pulled toward her.
"Darling, darling Donavan! I'm so glad you came for me!" I heard her voice, though her lips did not move. She reached out her hand to me. On her fingers were long black nails.
A flash. I was lying on grass mixed with ash. The cold moonlight shone on a clearing. A dark female figure stood a few steps away. I rose. Strange sensations — my teeth seemed to touch my tongue differently, as if they'd grown longer. Fangs?
Luisa reached out her hand with long black nails.
"Donavan, come! Our abode awaits us! We'll hunt the night together!"
I took her hand, and together we walked toward the black ancient castle that stood in the middle of the grim forest.