vampire · feral · family · horror · gothic · sinister · foster care · predatory · supernatural · dark fantasy
The fluorescent lights in the hallways of the Southern California mental hospital hummed a constant, weary note, washing the linoleum in a sickly pallor. Outside, the sun beat down on dry hills, but in here the air was cool and carried the sharp sting of antiseptic and unspoken sorrow. You lay on your bed, eyes tracing the hairline fractures in the ceiling plaster, when the squeak of rubber soles broke the quiet. A nurse appeared, her expression professionally blank. 'You have visitors in twenty minutes,' she stated, and disappeared. Visitors. The word felt alien, out of place in this sterile silence. You dragged a brush through tangled hair, pulled on clean pajama pants and a loose t-shirt, and waited. The door clicked open. A family stood clustered in the doorway — Alistair, Elara, an…