Sanctuary's Fiend

Should I tell them?

They were bullied, and still hid it from their families. They’d been through hardships just to live their lives the way they needed to. They’d understand.

Peter then tripped Bhav, making Bhav swing his shoulder bag at Peter, although he missed and hit a tree instead.

Okay, right now was a bad example, but they were mature. Normally.

After they were done messing around, and we were walking down one of the quieter streets, they each put a hand in the other’s back pocket. If they weren’t such a good couple, I’d be annoyed at the levels of cuteness they exuded.

“What was up with you today?” Bhav asked me.

“Huh? Nothing. That’s just how I am.”

They shrugged, conceding that it might just be true.

“I never knew you were so…” Bhav looked to Peter.

Peter dutifully finished the sentence for him. “Athletic.”

“Exactly,” Bhav agreed. “I mean, you’ve never really…”

“Done anything,” Peter finished for him again.

“Exactly. Have you?”

“Guys, of course I’ve done things before.”

“Like?” Bhav pressed.

“Well… just trust me. I’ve done physical activity before.”

“I was just surprised, is all. I mean, we train really hard to be on the squad, it took me and Peter ages to get to grips with the drills and the stunts, and you came in today and, well, kind of blew us away, to be honest.”

“Yeah,” Peter agreed. “In fact, you’ve been off your game a lot recently. What’s up?”

Tell them, or not tell them? Maybe Tuesday night cheerleading wasn’t the best time.

Nope, I just couldn’t. Not right now, anyway. I sighed. “It’s nothing, really. And can we not make ‘off my game’ mean ‘good at things’ please?”

“Girl problems?” Bhav asked.

“Guy problems?” Peter asked.

“Really guys, it’s nothing!”

“You know,” Bhav began, “you’re going to have to break down these barriers and tell someone.”

“Why not us?” Peter said.

“I can’t even explain it to myself, so I don’t know how I could to someone else.” At least, not without using the word ‘vampire’.

As we were about to cross the street, I smelled something odd from behind us.

I couldn’t quite place it.

“Do you guys smell that?”

“Must be my new cologne,” Peter said.

“Yeah, sorry about that. He hasn’t quite learned not to drown himself in it yet. I’m still teaching him.”

Bhav shrieked. Presumably Peter had playfully let him know his thoughts on that comment.

I turned around and all I could see was a long imposing stone wall. “This is the church, right?”

“Uhh, yeah. But it’s a few blocks that way. It’s all graveyard at this point.”

“You know, I don’t think I’ve been in for years,” I mused.

“Well, graves, not much to see.” Bhav shrugged.

That smell. What was it? “You guys go ahead. I’m going to poke around.”

“Did you hear that, Peter?” Bhav asked.

“It sounded like, just after she told us she’s having emotional troubles that she’s not ready to open up about yet, she told us she’s going to go for a walk. On her own. Through a graveyard.”

“It did have that ring to it, didn’t it?”

“It did. At least it’s not nighttime!”

“Bye, guys,” I said and started walking towards the cemetery gates.

“Sure you don’t want us to come with you?” Peter called after me.

I waved them off, but their muffled tones as they spoke to each other afterwards sounded very disapproving.

What was I smelling?

And why was I suddenly trusting my nose so much? I wasn’t a dog. Another Draugr thing, I guessed.

I reached the large black gates in between the whitewashed stone walls. They were open, so I walked straight in. I hadn’t been here for years. I barely remembered it. A giant stone, gothic cathedral loomed in the center of a massive graveyard - four blocks long, six deep. The walls encased it on every side, although at the farthest edge, trees rubbed up against the walls - Sanctuary’s grand forest letting its presence be known. I realized that we were quite close to Lincoln Park, where the murder had happened, and I shivered. Still, I wasn’t going to let that put me off.

This wasn’t a new cemetery, with orderly rows, and everything carefully mapped out. Headstones ran mazes between larger mausoleums, tombs, vaults, and crypts. Name a way to bury someone, and it looked like at some point this place had tried it.

That smell. My legs followed my nose.

It reminded me of last night, of having my face shoved in the ground by Johnny.

Was it dirt? No, I’d smelled dirt before. This wasn’t dirt.

What else had I smelled that night?

Mr. Anderton?

His blood.

Shockingly, at the thought of blood, I didn’t get hungry. I didn’t know if that was because that blow to my head had really knocked something loose, or if this was just like my parents had said. My abilities and instincts would naturally ebb and flow. Maybe I was even getting better control.

And the smell definitely wasn’t blood. That had an indescribable allure.

This smell had no allure. No attraction. In fact, it was repulsive. Only my curiosity was pulling me forward.

It smelled of… death. Not the dead, that would have made sense, being in a cemetery and all, but ‘death’.

I found myself in the back corner of the graveyard. I hadn’t even acknowledged the six blocks I’d walked. I was standing in front of a crypt.

I couldn’t mistake the smell now. It had been so subtle yesterday, and I had been so distracted, but there was only one word for it. Putrid.

The door to the crypt was sealed. Weren’t these things supposed to be airtight? Why could I smell what was inside?

I ran through the undead supernaturals that I could think of who might live in a graveyard. I’d heard of ghosts, vampires, liches, and ghouls. But of those that lived in Sanctuary, they all lived in houses just like the rest of us. Erin’s home was one of my favorite places for weekend sleepovers. So that didn’t make sense.

I walked carefully around the crypt. It was several yards wide and the dark stone was covered in lichen.

When I reached the far side, I saw that the wall had crumbled. I peered in.

The inside was bare. The only feature of note was a staircase leading down.

As I stepped inside, I steadied myself against one of the fallen walls, and my fingers slipped into a groove. I was no geologist, and anything could have gouged stone, but I felt my stomach drop. The graveyard, the smell, and those marks.

I knew I should have just turned around. Why was I going towards this? Going alone into an abandoned crypt was a really bad idea! What was I trying to prove?

Oh yeah. That I could control myself.

Suddenly this seemed like a terrible way of proving that I could control my instincts.

No. If I could bring forth my abilities, and repress them on command, then I wouldn’t be a danger. To me or to my friends.

I steeled myself and stepped inside the crypt.

A shaft of light from the stairwell penetrated the crypt’s darkness. The contrast made it harder for me to see than if it was just pitch black.

The air down here was damp in the back of my throat. The basement chamber was much larger than the upstairs room, and it had two rooms splitting off either side.

There were four coffins in this room, spaced evenly in the corners.

I saw all of this, but what struck me most was the smell. It was horrible, and I gagged.

Something had to be down here with me. The thing I’d smelled last night. I began shaking as adrenaline and fear ran through me.

It was time to stop acting like a human. Time to deliberately switch on my abilities. Become fast, and strong, and hopefully invincible. Yeah, invincible sounded good.

I heard something scrape against stone from the room on the left.

Without thinking, I swiveled around and started back up the stairs.

No! I stopped myself. This wasn’t about anyone else. I had to do this or face the fear for who knew how long, afraid of what I might do to any human. I had to control myself.

My parents said it was stress that triggered supernatural instincts, and this was definitely stressful enough to trigger anything I might be capable of.

Right?

I stepped back into the room. More unseen scraping.

With care, I made my way into the middle of the chamber, my eyes fixed on the room to the left.

I couldn’t stop myself from shaking, but I kept walking. Once in the middle of the room, I couldn’t see anything special, but I heard the scraping again.

A step forward… and I froze.

Hot, moist, putrid breath blew down the back of my neck.

I whipped around, and came face to face with… whatever this thing was.

It was twice my size, and dripped green pus from its body. It had hunched down onto all fours, sticking its face into mine. Its teeth were brown and sharp, and saliva spat against my face as it breathed.

It roared, and that was what I needed.

The shaking stopped. Time slowed. Its jaws lunged forwards and began to close. But I could see it all happening. I stepped backwards, dodging the powerful jaws.

I could almost imagine the confusion on its face when it bit down on nothing.

Its eyes opened comically slowly, and saw me still standing in front of it. Time to see what I could do. I pulled my fist back and swung at the meaty jaw now in front of me. I connected, and saw its dead flesh wobble at the impact, and its head knocked sideways with the blow.

But then, it sped up! I could tell I was still moving fast. It just… matched my speed.

The back of its meaty hand swung at full speed, and I felt myself lifted off the floor.

I crashed against a wall, and my head slammed against it. It hurt – although not as much as I had expected it to.

I needed to be faster and stronger. But I didn’t know how!

As I staggered to my feet, legs shaking, and head burning, the beast charged at me.

I dived sideways out of the way.

It slammed into the wall, knocking several stones loose.

I scrambled to my feet, and ran. I’d made a mistake. This was too powerful for me to fight. I had to get out.

Half way across the room, I felt something on my back. I missed a step and fell, skidding along the floor until I lay only a long stride from the stairway.

Two things exploded at once. My back exploded in fire, and I realized the monster had raked its giant diseased claws, tearing my skin. And the rear wall of the crypt exploded, showering the whole room in shards of stone. I shrieked in pain and shock.

I tried to stand up and keep running, but my legs didn’t respond. I looked down, and I saw blood pooling around me. Was that mine?

Darkness was creeping over my vision, and I let out a moan.

My last thoughts were of why the monster hadn’t already finished me. And why had the wall exploded?