Karl and Daniel are driving back to their small farm after celebrating Daniel’s birthday when they strike something in the road. Whatever it is lands on the roof of their pick-up truck. Not keen to find out what it might be, Karl floors the accelerator as Daniel leans out of the window. Despite the light from a full moon, nothing is seen on the road behind them. When they arrive home, their relief is short-lived. As Karl turns into their driveway, Daniel disappears out the window of the truck. Karl hurries after his lover, and manages to catch sight of a dark shape flying through the night sky. Dangling beneath it is his beloved Daniel. Before he can call for help, he's knocked off his feet. A minute later, he finds himself in the air, too, held securely in the grip of a nightmarish beast. The best Karl can hope is both he and Daniel will survive the night, but that might be easier said than done.

Out of Light and Into the Night

Karl regained consciousness some hours later, his eyes immediately detecting something moving in the corner. A rat. As his eyes watched it, the rodent stopped and stuck its twitching snout into the air, sniffing. It let out a squeak of alarm and scurried off as fast as its legs could carry it. Karl snarled and wrenched his hands free of the rusty iron manacles. For a moment he stared at the marks on his wrists but wasted no time thinking about things that were unimportant. He was free and in his soul he knew that he had greatly changed.


He walked over to where Daniel’s body lay. Rigor mortis had begun to set in, and the pale body was now quite rigid and beginning to smell: the sickly sweet aroma of death. Yet to Karl his beloved was still as beautiful as he’d ever been. He lifted Daniel’s head up and pressed his lips against the pale purple lips he’d kissed a thousand times before when they were fuller and pinker with life.


Chapter 12