Free Fanghunters by Leo Romero Page A

now
like staring down at the base of Mount Everest from its peak. He turned back.
    Now it was about to get serious.
    He surveyed the landing. Over to his right
was another closed door leading to yet another room. On the left was what he
guessed was the bathroom and another bedroom door. He squinted his eyes, trying
to get a better look. Yeah, the door was slightly ajar, but he couldn’t see
behind it. A faint glow came through the gap, lighting up the gaps in the doorframe.
Dom frowned. Was that a light burning in there? He arched his body
forward and moved his clipper toward it to get a better look. His fast movement
caused the flame to bend back and burn the webbing between his thumb and index
finger. Hot pain shot across his hand; he gasped, instinctively shaking the
lighter till the flame went out. The whole area was dumped into pitch black. He
quickly tried to light it up again, but the flint wheel was as hot as a
branding iron; it burnt the tip of his thumb, forcing him to stick it in his
mouth afterward to cool it off. He then started blowing frantically on the
wheel to try and cool it down. All the while, the darkness grew terrifying. It
swallowed him, sending his nerve endings into overdrive. He wanted light. Any
light. Just enough so he wasn’t trapped in this sea of darkness. He panicked,
his breathing rattled while he tried to spark up the Zippo again. It sparked
endlessly, refusing to light.
    Come on! Come on!
    He shook it in his hand to stir up the
lighter fluid and tried again, ignoring the fact that although he had partly
cooled it, the wheel was still as hot as hell. It sparked again and again, teasing
him.
    Work! Work, goddamn you!
    By then the things that were hiding in the
darkness had come out to play. He heard imps and demons with big noses and
gouged out eyes cackling, could smell their rotten breath on the air around
him. You’re all ours now, they told him. We’re going to rip you open
and eat you alive! He heard the Twilight Zone theme tune playing in
his tender mind. He looked down at his feet because he swore he just felt
something brush past his leg...
    Work, work! he
pleaded, on the verge of tears.
    He shook the lighter like crazy, feeling
the fluid inside it swish up and down. He tried it again. It sparked and
sparked again. The voices in the darkness around him grew louder. Buckets of
sweat streamed off his face. He wiped his grimy cheeks and forcefully flicked
the flint again.
    This time, to his relief, the flame lit and
danced on the air. The demons were instantly shut back in their boxes and
everything became as silent as a tomb. His chest collapsed in a sigh. A small
laugh jumped out alongside it.
    Christ, that was painful…
    He briefly closed his eyes. Calm took over
and he opened them again. Now that that crap was over, he turned his
attention back to the slightly open door to his left. There was definitely a
glow emanating from the room beyond it. Dom nodded; he knew that was where his vamp
was sleeping. He took a step toward it, his feet falling on the thick rug,
cushioning his steps. Compared to the hot-coal-like floorboards, it felt like
damp grass. As he approached the door, he became more and more certain that it
was the vamp’s sleeping quarters. That tingling in his spine increased the
further he delved into that corridor. The closer he got to that door, it upped
in volume, telling him he was getting closer. Closer.
    He tiptoed across the rug, his breath
baited, feeling like an insect caught in a test tube, feeling like there were a
million eyes on him. He was so far into this, there was no escape. That
corridor seemed to go on forever, every step he took seemed to make the door
move further away. He constantly had to wipe the sweat from his face, his whole
body overheating in the pressure. He was barely breathing, his heart hammering
harder than it ever had.
    Stay calm, buddy. Stay calm...
    He fixed his stare on that door as it drew
closer. His feet stepped off the rug and