Short horror story #02

Short horror story #02

The following short story about a scary vampire attack is fiction. Any similarities between it, or its characters, and real life are entirely coincidental.

Or are they...

There was a heavy wrought iron fence that ran along the eastern edge of Fenton Cemetery. Outside the fence were planted sporadically evergreen shrubs and a concrete sidewalk ran its length. Further beyond the walkway was Adams Road, a busy avenue that traveled in a straight line through several cities and townships.

Jeff Harrison walked along the sidewalk, traveling west beside the road. He was on his way home from a friend's party and he' d had his share to drink. He wasn't reeling as he went but he was dragging his feet and walking unsteadily. To a passerby he might appear intoxicated.

As he walked in the cool, spring night air, he thought of his wife and hoped she wouldn't be mad at him for drinking so much. Suddenly, a sprinkler to his right came on and then several others rattled to life, spraying the grass and Jeff with misty water and making him jump in surprise. When he recovered, he quickly moved toward the road to avoid getting any wetter.

On the other side of the iron fence, two dimly glowing and reddish eyes watched from the shadows of a tall marble tombstone. When the creature that owned those eyes heard the man on the other side of the fence approaching, it silently skittered across the lush grass to take up a post nearer the fence. There was a big, hedge-like shrub growing up against the bars of the fence and the creature, clad from head to foot in torn and moldy rags, rushed over to the bush and peered at the man beyond.

It watched as the sprinklers came on and experienced a pang of despair as the man moved further away from the fence and into the brighter patches of light provided by the street lamps overhead. It crouched behind the bush and made no sound. Every bit of its being was focused on the hunt, and it watched in amazement as the man on the other side of the metal bars stumbled and nearly fell into the street and passing traffic.

The creature glanced to its left, further to the west down the fence line. There was a place near a locked gate where there were no sprinklers. But the spraying water continued further down. So, the creature decided he would have to attack when the man reached the area near the gate, or he would be out too near the street and too visible in the bright lights.

Jeff Harrison chuckled aloud when he stumbled and caught himself from falling on the ground. He sobered considerably when he realized he'd almost took a spill onto the road's pavement. To emphasize the seriousness of the situation, a black sedan whizzed by in the lane nearest Jeff, traveling many miles above the speed limit. It blared its horn at him. He stayed on the damp grass and continued his trek home out of range of the sprinklers.

He saw a broad driveway ahead that was used to access the cemetery during daylight hours. Now, it was blocked by a tall iron gate, bordered on either side by a large marble statue of a lion. Sentries, he mused.

As he passed the last sprinkler, he moved back onto the concrete sidewalk. He gazed up at one of the lions as he passed the gate and shuddered as it seemed to return his stare and then he turned his head forward as he saw more sprinklers ahead. Beyond an overhead light that shed it's illumination primarily on the gate, it was quite dark. There was another street lamp ahead but it was fifty yards distant.

The creature inside the cemetery was now crouching next to the trunk of a massive pine tree growing beside the paved entryway inside the gate. It was close enough to the fence for it to peer out beyond its black iron bars and see the man approaching. Excitement began to course through its body and it readied itself in intense anticipation.
Jeff Harrison never saw the flash of gray atop the fence as the creature incredibly balanced on one ornamental spear head. It had leaped to its perch in one single, powerful jump. It waited for only a few moments atop the fence and then soundlessly fell to the ground on Jeff's side of the fence, directly behind him.

Whether the man heard the creature or not should be left to speculation. All Jeff knew was he sensed something behind him the moment the thing descended to the sidewalk. He whirled around in confusion and alarm. He was scared and his mind craved to know what danger had seemingly fallen from the sky.

Almost immediately upon the creature's soft landing, it saw the man tense and start to turn around to see what was behind him. Mentally cursing itself, the gray clad figure reached up with a black-nailed hand toward the considerably larger man's neck and waited for him to turn. It wasn't ready for the man's actions, and Jeff was able to charge forward the moment he turned, planning to use his bulk to knock whoever was behind him away, so that he could see what was happening and react accordingly with less confusion.

For Jeff Harrison might have had too much to drink but he was a large man who still worked out and one who'd played four years of college football as a younger man. He'd been in his share of fights over the years, too and the drink in his system only emboldened him more.

His blind charge would have been effective if the monster had only been bigger and not crouching low on the sidewalk. He slammed into it with his legs and the creature did fall back a pace but, almost instantly, it had its gray hand latched around Jeff Harrison's throat squeezing his windpipe in an iron grip.

Jeff struggled to get away for a moment before he finally did what the vampire had wanted him to do all along - he looked into its eyes.

The skin that was visible on the creature's hands and face was gray. The rags in which it covered itself were filthy and ancient. The smell coming off the thing was utterly repulsive but when he looked up into its face, none of that mattered. A gaunt visage that gave way to full lips and dagger-like yellow fangs was enough to cause Jeff's bladder to loosen and he didn't even feel the warm trickle down his pant leg.

The light burning within the creatures eyes must come from some secret and awesome place, Jeff thought. It danced and swirled around pinpoint, black pupils. It turned a deeper red and then purple before blazing with an intense orange. There seemed to be some pattern to the changes inside those eyes and Jeff was determined to solve it. He was utterly transfixed by the spectacle and his body went limp.

The vampire looked each way along the roadway and sidewalk and, though there were a few cars passing by, he doubted anyone could see what had transpired within the shadows of the cemetery's iron fence. It grabbed the man in one powerful claw by the back of his checkered coat. With a display of raw strength and agility, it ran back toward the gate and leaped upon one of the concrete pedestals, upon which the lion statue was mounted. Jeff Harrison's motionless body trailed behind and when his head hit the steel pole, there was an audible metallic clang.

The vampire jumped down on the other side of the fence and again peered out onto the sidewalk to make sure no alarm had been raised. There was no sound but the hum of the occasional passing car and the leaves rattling above in the trees as the night wind gusted.

It jerked around and dragged the man behind him. Jeff's sneakered heels bounced across the thick cemetery lawn. Displaying much less concern now, the vampire made its way easily to a large stone mausoleum, only a hundred yards or so from the gate where it had snared its victim.

It reached into its rag-like shirt and produced a silver key. With it the vampire unlocked the steel gate that barred access to the white building. The portal creaked on rusted hinges as the monster pulled it open and it dragged Jeff Harrison from the world and locked the gate.

Dix Love,