The Midnight Aristocrat's Pleasures

=== Act 1 ===
Stories tell of a peculiar tradition in the lands of Cainaan. Each year four families are asked to vote for one of their kin to be granted the privilege of visiting their lord's castle. Yet no one ever returned from their visit, all seemingly to prefer to stay as part of their lord's court after their visit. So great a gift this was that only a families most worthy were chosen.‌One year a young girl, who was named Ivonne, was chosen by her family to visit their lord's castle, castle Grabstein as it was known. They were a poor family, and she was the oldest of the next generation. As such she was chosen to be the most deserving of a chance for a better life.‌When dusk came down she was picked up by a elegant coach which was painted black. The ride to castle Grabstein was a long and lonely one, as the coachman was not very talkative and no other guests were picked up along the way. When they finally did arrive at the castle Ivonne saw three more coaches, painted in a similar fashion to her own, already parked at the gate.‌The coachman helped her out of the wagon, and escorted her to the entrance where he handed her over to one of the guards who in turn chaperoned her to the guest room. There she met three other guests: An old man, who was chosen by his family because he had cared for them all his life and now deserved to be taken care of himself. A young farmhand, who was the last left in his family after a plague had reaped his kinsman. And a young woman named Jane who was the same age as Ivonne and was chosen because she had nursed both of her parents back to health at the risk of her own.
Just as the guests started to secretly wonder to themselves what was keeping their hosts so long the guestroom doors flung open and Lady Grabstein cheerfully swung in with her goblet of viscous red wine. Lady Grabstein wore a multilayered scarlet dress which only looked redder when contrasted with her porcelain skin. Her hair was done up in a beehive, which was decorated with several hair chains.‌Her ladyship gracefully welcomed her new guests to the castle, and made sure to personally grant every one of them a flattering complement as they introduced themselves. She then took her guests to dining room where her husband Lord Grabstein was already waiting at the head of a table dressed as if for a feast of a hundred man with all the different kinds of foods one could ever think of.‌Lord Grabstein was almost as pale as his lady thou he hid by wearing a set of raven black armour. His face was kind, but his eyes could pierce like daggers when he stared too long at you.‌Ivonne was placed next to her ladyship, and the two of them had a pleasant conversation over diner. However she noticed that neither his lordship or her ladyship had taken a single bite during the diner, and when she asked lady Grabstein about this she brushed it off by telling her that they had already eaten beforehand.‌Slowly Ivonne's eyes become heavy, and she noticed that she having a hard time keeping up with the conversation. Soon everything went black, and she felt her head hit the table before falling unconscious.
=== Act 2 ===
When she woke up Ivonne found herself bound in the middle of the dark woods just behind castle Grabstein. The silhouette of the castle's twisted spires against the full moon reminding her of a tree in winter. When she looked next to her she saw her fellow guests bound in a similar fashion to herself slowly waking up from their daze.‌Suddenly she noticed the sound of lord Grabstein's voice, locked in conversation with other unfamiliar voices. She turned to face his voice, and saw his lordship sit atop a black horse, with a mouth filled with sharp teeth and eyes burning with hatred. His lordship's eyes were burning with those same baleful lights, staring directly at Ivonne like tracers in the mist-strewn night. In his hands he held a iron chain, attached to which an abdominal creature was attached. Pulling and clawing at its restrains, with those muscular veiny arms which were almost as long as a grown man. His lordship gave a quick yank at the chain, and the creature yelped and hissed.‌ Lord Grabstein then rode out towards his "guests", glancing down at them from his hellish mount before turning back to his companions.‌"Welcome most honoured friends to the great hunt! Let us cut loose the quarry and give them a head start as usual before we release the creatures of the night." As the words were being spoken Ivonne felt her bounds being cut by a knife and she was pulled up on her two feet by one of the guards.‌Meanwhile lady Grabstein rode up next to her husband on top of a similarly monstrous nightmare saying "A toast to another entertaining hunt!" and once again drunk deep from her goblet. The viscous red liquid inside stained the corners of her mouth.‌Ivonne turned around and together with her fellow guests began to run deep into the forest. Behind her she hear his lordship proclaim "Let the hunt begin!", followed by the rattling of chains and the guttural growls of something she didn't dare to turn to to see.
Ivonne ran and ran until her legs could barely support her own weight. She fell on her knees, panting for breath but her rest was shortly lived. Behind her she heard the beast, still hot in pursuit of her and her fellow guests. She crawled behind the nearest tree as fast as she could. Her breaths were heavy, and she had cover her own mouth to make sure the thing wouldn't hear her. She waited for any sign that the danger had passed, but she heard only silence.‌She waited.‌Nothing.‌Then suddenly she felt two long shadows closing in on her from behind the tree and a quick clicking sound.‌When suddenly a twig snapped. She saw the old man from back in the castle, running as fast as his old joints could carry him. The creature also saw him. It rushed pasted her, lifting its own body with its long arms as at crawled forward. Before Ivonne knew it the creature's hands was on the old man. She heard the man scream as its sharp bony fingers dig themselves into his flesh. The man screamed in agony and tried to free himself from the creature's embrace, only worsening his wounds. It then raised him up and held him high above itself. It began to twist the man until his blood came dripping out of his wounds like a wet sponge. Its tongue worming out of its mouth to catch every last drop of it.While the creature was delighting in its hedonistic act Ivonne took her chance and ran.
She continued to run this time until she found a cave to take shelter in. When she walked inside she felt a large hand covering her mouth, followed by a familiar voice whispering to her "Silence girl, that nasty beast is still out there."‌She turned around to see that it was the farmhand who was holding her, and next to him was Jane.‌"What is that thing?" she asked in a hushed tone.‌"That thing is a nosferite. We always had problems with them back at the farm where they would steal our goats. His lordship himself always gave us the order to shoot them on sight. Thou little good that did against them." the farmhand replied before going silent and listening for any noise outside for a second.‌"The best thing to do was to scare them away with bright torches, seemed to keep them away better than any bullets ever did." he continued.‌"But I have a plan." he said with a smirk as he showed Ivonne and Jane his handcrafted torch, made from a bundle of sticks and his own shirt.‌Suddenly there was a load guttural scream outside. It was the nosferite, disparaging in the lose of his prey. The three survivors rushed outside. The farmhand lit to torch by striking it against the flint walls of the cave and ran straight for the beast. The nosferite tried to cover its face with its hands, desperately trying to block out the light. The creature then fled into the woods and the farmhand gave a hearty chuckle. He turned back to the two woman with a broad smile on his face and for the first time since waking up in these woods Ivonne felt her heart be at easy.‌But all was not as it seemed. The torch began to flicker, slowly dimming its light. From behind the farmhand the sound of hooves smashing against the underbrush appeared. Then from out of the shadow behind the torch light two riders on nightmarish steeds appeared, holding a barbed chain between them. Jane tried to voice some words of warning but before she had the chance the two riders had drove past the farmhand and the chain had separated the farmhand's head from the rest of his body. His head flew forward in an arch, followed by a fountain of blood that covered both riders. They looked at each other and cheered as if they had just scored a point at sports.‌Luckily the torchlight that had covered the rider's approach had also covered Ivonne and Jane from their sight. While they were distracted Ivonne grabbed Jane's hand, and together they ran deeper into the forest, away from the riders.
=== Act 3 ===
Ivonne ran into the dark mists past countless trees while holding tight to Jane's hand. Past dusty roads and over shadow cloaked hills they ran. They ran until they had no stamina left. Ivonne let go of Jane, bending over while grasping for air with her hands on top of her knees. Jane walked a little bit away to lean against a nearby tree. Ivonne looked up to see the moon lurk between the foliage. It seemed as dawn would soon arrive.‌The two woman talked for a little bit, discussing what to do next, when suddenly Jane let out a horrified scream. Ivonne turned around and saw the nosferite holding Jane in its clutches. Its nails were beginning to dig deep into her chest.
‌Ivonne quickly took hold of a large branch laying nearby. It was almost too heavy for her to lift, and as she pulled it along one side scrapped over the forest floor. The nosferite was too occupied with playing with its food to notice Ivonne walk up behind her.‌With a grunt she raised the thick branch as high as she could, and with a loud thud she smashed it into the back of the foul creature's head.
‌Its grip on Jane loosened. ‌Ivonne once again raised the branch to ram it into the back of the nosferite's head. Over and over she smashed until he shoes were soaked in the nosferite's black blood.‌When she was sure the abomination would not rise again she rushed over to Jane, who was still laying were the nosferite had dropped her. When Ivonne asked her her how she was doing Jane smiled and said she was fine. But before she even finished her words she began to cough uncontrollably, spitting up blood as she was doing so.‌Ivonne looked at the wounds the creature's nails had made in Jane's chest and saw that she had been too late.‌It had punctured her lungs.‌Ivonne told her she was sorry, and caved Jane's head in with the branch before their pursuers could find her and do anything worst to her.
The first traces of dawn were beginning to break through the tree tops as Ivonne saw the edge of the forest. She had almost made it when she heard the whinnying of a large horse coming from behind her. She turned to see Lord Grabstein standing on top of a nearby hill, his demonic steed rearing in the air as its spiny mane stood stubborn against the wind.‌she ran as fast as she could. The sound of thunderous hooves close behind her.‌Then she felt a cold steel hand on her shoulder. She trashed about and used the last of her energy to make a push out of the dark forest into the light of the clearing. She kept on running, but after a few minutes she tripped over a large rock hidden between the grass. As she fell to the ground she prepared for whatever those fiends would do to her and covered her face.‌But nothing came.‌She stood up and looked at the edge of the forest. There Lord Grabstein and his party were standing, just in the shade of the trees. Grabstein's eyes looked at her as if trying to burn her very soul, and he slowly said "Until tonight." And he turned around back into the woods, his host following him while chattering and cackling.‌And Ivonne turned around to get as far away as she could.‌Before the aristocracy of castle Grabstein went out to hunt again.
Category:Short Story
Category:Cainaan
Category:Bas