𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐩𝐞 𝐍𝐨𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐦

Act V, Scene I

"Come, we must see and act. Devils or no devils, or all the devils at once, it matters not; we fight him all the same."
~ Bram Stoker, Dracula

__________

The setting sun was nothing more than a weakly glowing crimson arc on the horizon, trapped between the ocean and the sky. It flickered like a dying firefly, obscured by the wall of fog, until it blinked out of existence completely, almost as though it had never existed at all.

A ghostly figure stood at the end of the dock, surrounded on all sides by dark water. The fog, and mist, and gale encompassed her, whipping around her white dress and blonde hair like it would carry her out to sea, sans boat, sans lifeline.

The Lady of the Lake, or, perhaps, the spirit of a lost sailor's wife, to the unknowing eye only one thing could be discerned: she was waiting for someone.

The heavy fall of night signified the approach of a yet unseen presence. A presence that could slice the water and crumble the earth.

A presence that would gladly destroy everything in its path to succeed in its aim.

At the end of the dock, she awaited the arrival of true darkness.

~ ~ ~

Lucy could sense his advance. The sickly distress she had felt the night of her turning now attacked her threefold.

The shipyard was deserted, its empty buildings rising through the fog like long-forgotten ruins. The Prometheus loomed behind her, black water lapping at the corroded base of its hull.

There wasn't a sound, a shadow, or a movement. Just a feeling.

And then, he appeared.

As though conceived and birthed from the fog itself, the Nosferatu glided down the dock toward her, the skin of his bare chest and shoulders almost glowing in the night like that of luminescent fish. The white folds of the Egyptian shendyt skirt billowed around his powerful legs.

Still bat-like in appearance, still azure in hue, and still possessing the ability to make Lucy feel like her lungs were encased in cement, his presence was terrifying.

But this was no time for fear.

The senescent vampire paused, ten paces from Lucy, and tipped his head.

He appeared to be studying her.

"'ant laa. Earusaa," he growled in Arabic, but as she listened, Lucy found her mind understood the strange, foreign syllables.

"You are mine. My bride."

Lucy blew a steadying breath through her pursed lips.

"Only if you catch me," she whispered.

The Nosferatu tweaked his head, and blinked.

Lucy vanished.

She reappeared a moment later at the bottom of the ramp that bridged the dock to Prometheus' main deck.

The Nosferatu made an agitated sound, and began gliding toward her once more.

As he drew closer, Lucy vanished again, reappearing halfway up the ramp.

The Nosferatu snarled and increased his speed.

Lucy vanished and materialized in the center of the ship's main deck.

The Nosferatu close on her heels, she ran across the deck to her predesignated position at the edge of a phantom circle.

As she'd hoped, her pursuer followed her.