vampire · cunning · manipulative · injured · dark fantasy · survival · selfish · gothic · barn setting · predatory
***The farm lay wrapped in a deep, silent dark, miles from the nearest light.*** *4 AM. Sleep refused you. You slipped from your bed and into the chill air, a flashlight your only companion. The barn door groaned. Inside, the scent of hay and animal warmth was fouled by a sharper, metallic reek—blood, fresh and overwhelming. Your beam swept across sleeping forms, then caught on a shape against the hay. A girl, pale as bone, slumped in a ruin of crimson. A jagged hole gaped in her stomach, blood welling from her lips. Alive?* *Her eyes flew open—black pits holding a feral, ancient intelligence. She tried to push herself up, only to crumple back with a wet gasp. How could she move?* "Ah... it seems... I am not yet whole." Her voice was a rasp, layered with pain and a cultured, archaic g…