A Vampire in the Cupboard!

Adam was once again in the attic.

Was everything he had experienced a dream? Or was he still dreaming?

"Well, you overslept a little. It's morning already.", said a soft voice coming from a corner of the attic.

Adam looked there and saw the stranger sitting on a chest, looking at him while smiling. Once again, he couldn't speak or move and could just stare at him.

This monster took away from him what little he had. He would never forgive him, not while he breathed.

"Monster? Me? Hahaha. Well, what was his name? Barry...no, I think it was Harry. Oh right, Larry! Was he tasty?", asked the stranger as he stood up, amused.

"mmmh? No answer? Cat ate your tongue? Haha. Come on, from one monster to another. There's no need to be this cold.", said he while laughing. He then added, "Oh right. You've now become a true child of the night. Congratulations!"

"If you do not want others to know of your true nature, then you have to feed every ten days. You should also avoid direct contact with sunlight.", said the stranger as he went on with his one-sided conversation.

"Alright, this place has become boring. I am sure we will meet again! Or not. Haha...catch!", said the stranger as he threw something at Adam who unintentionally grabbed it midair.

"I'm sure you will find this extremely helpful in keeping your head attached to the rest of your body. Oh, you have my permission to speak again. Almost forgot about that!", he said, as he dissolved into smoke that left from the window.

Adam was surprised to see that the window had been closed all along. How did he get through?

He dismissed the thought and tried to move his body. He was not hurting anywhere and actually felt better than ever before. He then realized that he was still holding on to whatever that bastard had left him.

It was a bundled object and as soon as he opened it, he became perplexed. It was a book with a black leather cover. There was nothing written on the front or the back of it. Adam opened the book and then closed it right after. He didn't know how to read...

He raised his head and looked towards the window. He was almost sure he had heard someone laughing...that bastard had only now left...

He looked down at the book again. He had never learned how to read. He had actually never needed to read anything before, so he did not know what to do. This was a new problem to be added to his list of things he had to do.

Adam always organized his thoughts in this way. He would list the things he had to do, and then get working. This habit of his helped him keep track of his life.

He sat there for a few minutes and thought about his short-term and long-term objectives, and quickly set a course of action.

He would first need to leave the village and find a place that was safe.

Knowing what he had to do, Adam stood up and realized he couldn't leave the house yet. He had to wait until after the sun had set. He was feeling tense and couldn't bear just sitting there. He decided to try his luck with the chests.

He tried to open the chest he had been hiding behind, but to no avail. It was firmly locked.

He looked at the other chests, and at the wooden floor. He had to avoid making noises. He tried to walk with steady and careful steps, and he somewhat managed to. The way he should shift his weight came naturally to him, as if by instinct. Was this how birds felt when they first tried to fly? He realized that he would have to do a lot of sneaking from now on.

He quickly reached a chest. He tried to open it, and to his greatest surprise, he could! The lock seemed to be malfunctioning.

He slowly raised the lid and there were actually things inside! All of them were wrapped in cloth for protection. He picked up the first object, and it looked like a vase. Yes, it was indeed a vase. He put it back.

The second object was a fine bronze dish. The third was a set of finely decorated cups...were all of these objects going to be as useless? Adam sighed. He had hoped too much.

He reached for the next object, and it was a bowl. He almost felt like breaking it, but he calmed himself down and put it back. There were two more items left.

He grabbed both of them at the same time. They were heavier than those previous items. He checked the one in his left hand, and it was an old dagger! This certainly was not a great find, but it was a weapon. He was in dire need of anything that could help him.

Adam was satisfied and checked the last item hoping it would be the second twin of a pair of daggers, and it turned out the last item was an old statue. He put it back and went on to check the other chests.

Unfortunately, luck had not been on Adam's side with the rest of the chests as they were all locked. He went back to that chest he had opened, took the biggest cloth piece and used it to tie the bundle that contained his book around his chest.

He paused for a moment, should he stay safe until night fell? Or should he try his luck in the chief's house?

Adam hesitated for a moment, and then decided to take some risks. He looked for a trap door and quickly found it. He slightly raised it and peeked. It seemed there was a ladder that ended up in a small confined space. He fully opened the trap door and saw what seemed to be shelves!

Slowly climbing down the ladder took no less than a few seconds as Adam was now standing in front of the shelves. There were plenty of things here!

Adam put down the dagger as he started to search for something useful. Most of the things here he had never seen. There was a bottle of some liquid that smelled very good. There were also many boxes containing different powders. He didn't understand what they were used for either.

He was still looking around when he heard the sound of a door opening and people walking. Adam tensed up and put down what he was holding in his hand. He turned around and leaned towards the door behind him.

It seemed like the wooden door had a metallic locking system that needed a key to be able to open it from the outside. But which could be easily opened from the inside, even without said key.

He peeked through the keyhole and saw the village chief and two armored men walking inside a room that had a huge fireplace in the center and wooden stools around it. There were pillars at either side of the room and Adam could see furs almost everywhere in his field of vision.

He couldn't see everything though, as the opening for the key wasn't really big. When the village chief reached the fire place, he turned around facing the two men and said, "Please have a seat, captain. It has been too long since your last visit."

One of the men looked to the other and nodded, after which he sat down on one of the stools. The other armored man turned and left the room, closing the door behind him.

Adam took a moment to observe the both of them.

The village chief looked worn out. He seemed tired and was not as full of life as usual. His long gray hair was tied in a low ponytail. His gray beard was trimmed and not too long. And his eyes had wrinkles around them that testified of his many years of existence. He didn't look weak however, as he was quite toned and burly. From the scars on his face, one could guess that he had also experienced quite a lot.

He didn't get a good look at the man in armor that had left. The armored man that stayed behind, however, looked very dignified. He wore almost no expression on his face, which had sharp features. He was a quite tall middle-aged man, taller even than James. His skin was a bit tanned, and his frame imposing. He had short blonde hair and had a well-kept mustache.

With a deep and raspy voice, the village chief spoke to the man sitting in front of him.

"It is my honor to welcome you to my humble house, sir Gabriel."

"Thank you, Philip. I'm glad to see you safe and sound.", answered the armored man with a very calm voice.

A soldier with a higher status than the chief, thought Adam. 'sir', he called him.

"We've travelled as fast as we could. I have brought two teams with me, and a third is on the way escorting a temple priest.", he added.

"A priest?", said the chief in surprise.

"I don't like the idea of dead corpses coming back to life with a thirst for blood and flesh. It's not something my soldiers are used to.", said the captain with an annoyed face.

The village chief nodded in agreement.

"Do you have any clues? Any traces of necromancy?", asked the captain.

"Some corpses didn't revive. They had bite marks on their necks.", said the chief with a stern face.

The captain's face immediately sunk. His voice as if whispering, breathed out one word, "vampire..."

After a moment of silence, the captain focused on the chief again.

"I am afraid my men aren't equipped to deal with this. I did not bring any silver weapons. We will have to wait for the priest.", said the captain. "I hope for both of our sakes that it was only a young vampire and not one of those old monsters.", he added with a displeased face.

"I hope so as well.", said the chief as he rose from his seat. "I think I need a drink", he added.

"So do I", replied the captain.

The chief then turned to face a door and started walking towards it. To Adam's greatest surprise, it was exactly where he had been hiding!

Hearing the footsteps approaching. He jumped out of his crouching position and quickly reached the top of the ladder. He heard the sound of a key fiddling with the lock and barely had the time to get into the attic and mostly close the trapdoor.

He had almost completely closed it and left a very small opening to peek. Yet as he glanced at the shelf, he noticed that he had forgotten something.

He hadn't picked up his dagger!