You recall that night you decided to take a shortcut through the back alley at three
in the morning when the street was dead of traffic. Being the bartender, you just left your
job at the Stripper's Club and started for home. All night this lad with snowy white hair
and teeth like a vampire was staring at you and smirking, he seemed rather suspicious and
he constantly kept looking over his shoulder at you, you should've called the bouncers or
the police right then and there but you decided against it. When you glanced over at his
table again he had vanished, he didn't even drink the highball he ordered and left behind
his burning cigarette in the glass ashtray.
In the back alley, a dark entity slammed into you and you thought either a mugger
wanted your wallet or you were going to be murdered. Whatever it was it bit deep into
your right forearm and drew blood. Your head slammed into the brick wall and you passed
out for a couple of minutes. When you came to your wallet was still in your back pocket but
now there was a nasty bite mark on your arm. Fearing for the worse you hailed down a cab
and went to the nearest hospital. Once in the emergency they stitched you up, asked many
questions and even get the police involved. You couldn't give much detail since it was
dark and you couldn't remember the face of your assailant. What damage was done to your
arm was indeed like a dog bite and the nurses were confused as to why you think a mugger
would have attacked you like this. Do you have an enemy?
You know it was a human, you're not stupid. It was probably some deranged
lunatic. Either way they sent you home and when you just went to bed only to wake up two
hours later in a sweat and slight fever. A rotten odour emanating from your wound, you
noticed that it has bled through the bandages. Taking off the dressing to examine the marks
you notice that it has stopped bleeding, healed rather quickly, and although delicate to the
touch hurts like hell. You get up, wash your face and notice your eyes are severely
bloodshot and your fingernails grew an inch or so more since your nap.
You go back to work and that night you make your famous voodoo cocktails and
shooters. When it's time to leave, you go back down that dark alley hoping to meet your
attacker but there is no one. The bite marks are but a bruise now. That night your fever
worsens and in your living room, you feel a pain in your gut that doesn't go away. You
think of calling an ambulance but at that second your fingernails starts to grow longer and
hair leaks out of your flesh. Hollering in pain for someone, anyone, to come to your rescue,
all of your cries are in vain and nobody comes to help you. You fall to the floor, and a
snout bursts through your mouth, ripping your face into two parts. Your blood spills all
over the carpet and flesh explodes against the wall as the wolf inside you breaks free.
That night, you transformed into a vicious creature of the twilight but you're so
weak that you just lay on your side whimpering and shivering. You can't understand these
new senses of sight, hearing and hunger you now own. In an hour, your body goes back to
human form and you're left panting and freaked out by your experience. Taking a hot
shower to cleanse all of the blood off, your skin feels like its on fire, and you do
contemplate returning that phone call but don't bother. Sitting on the couch observing the
bloody mess on the walls of your room helps you decipher the fact that your back alley
attacker must have been a werewolf or something. The bite marks on your arm have healed
and are now just scars. You feel stronger, your senses are finely tuned, and your urge to
have sex is heightened. You're not sure when your next 'turn' will be but it's not something
you cannot avoid now.
You're going to have to do something.
You know the local owner of Cauldron, Books & Devils and she brightens your day
as you enter her shop. She knows you by name since you have come here to buy sage sticks
or black candles for your dungeon. You're not Wiccan but you can be spiritual at times and
believe in energies, demons, spirits and dark magick.
"What brings you here so early in the morn?" She says and you explain what
happened to you and show her the scars. Her lips press together and her eyes show
concern. "Have you 'turned' yet?" You nod strictly. She rummages through her shelves and
then through a few boxes holding items which are not for sale. Her shop as you glance
around is filled with an old wizard's eye candy: beeswax candles, incense sticks, quartz
clusters, idols, handmade soaps, pendulums and Ouija boards.
She comes back to you empty handed, "I'm afraid I'm all out of Belladonna but if
you go to the Crimson Manor just north and a few miles out of town the owner may have
it."
"I don't want to bother him." You say. "I hear he's a little insane."
"Then I will phone first, hang on…" She rushes to where her cell sits and calls a
number. She says Lycanthropy to whoever is on the other line and listens intently then
hangs up. "He has one sprig left and says it will be not cheap to purchase but he will
deliver it to me tomorrow."
"I can't wait that long."
"Then you will have to go up there yourself and get it."
"Weren't there hideous axe murders there? Isn't that place cursed or something?
The previous owner hacked up his entire family!" You don't care too much for the Crimson
Manor for you've heard rumours that it is filled with evil creatures and other unworldly
things. Visitors are simply not welcome there. Things happen that aren't explained and
even the police avoid that area.
"Yes, but the dead can't harm the living. I do hope you feel better after you eat the
herb. Just go home and sleep it off."
You fall asleep for only a moment on the couch when you get back home and have
nightmares about the Crimson Manor. Something demonic is calling you there. It had just
sent its succubus to suckle you, to draw you in, to get you started and wanting more.
Later that day, you decide to drive out north to the unspeakable house just as the sun
is setting; you must turn right off the main highway and down a long dirt road cutting
through a forest. There are potholes and bumps, this road is not maintained at all and soon
the vaulted roof comes into view.
The old manor is two to three stories high with one turret, many dusty windows,
and a worn sturdy wooden exterior. It looks like a mansion out of a horror flick and most
likely very haunted given its horrible history. It has a Victorian theme and very handsomely
detailed. All of the plant life is overgrown weeds and thorny bushes; you pull up to the
circular driveway and get out of your car. Heavy drapes cover the windows on the main
floor so you cannot see inside. The colossal porch looks lopsided like it's ready to
collapse come the next heavy hailstorm. It is a massive home but has been left to rot; it
must've been a beautiful sight when it was brand new: the gardens, the fountains, the
driveway, the sparkling glass, vaulted windows, and grey wood.
The doorbell looks like some old buzzer from the turn of the century, since
knocking brought no butler to the door you decide to just push the ringer.
Unexpectedly the button explodes and black spiders scuttle out of the hole that
now exists in the wall. Hundreds of black widows crawl up and down the wall in your
direction. The front door opens by itself and you can see the giant foyer beyond. Quickly,
before the spiders get you, you step off the porch and enter the house.
The door swings closed behind you with a big bang.
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