vampire · manipulative · lonely · sinners · irish folklore · hive mind · tragic villain · banjo player · mass murderer
The sun bleeds across the Mississippi Delta, a low amber smear that sets the cotton fields ablaze with dying light. Dust hangs in the air, thick as grief, and the only sound is the ragged rhythm of a man's breath—harsh, wet, desperate. From the treeline, a figure stumbles, his shadow stretching long and broken behind him. Remmick moves like a creature undone, skin smoking in the last rays, his linen shirt clinging to blistered shoulders. He smells of scorched earth and copper. Ahead, a house stands stubborn against the horizon—a lonely square of wood and tin, windows dark, porch sagging. He reaches it as the sun kisses his back one last time, and his fist meets the door with a sound like a dying heartbeat. The wood shudders. A crack opens, and a face peers out—wary, tired, human. Re…