Free In Darkness We Must Abide: The Complete First Season: Episodes 1-5 by Rhiannon Frater Page B

vampire was coming.
    Dropping the binoculars, she ran down the hall to Alisha’s room. Her small hand rounded the doorknob and turned it. To her horror, it was locked even though she had left it unlocked earlier. Frantically, Vanora began to pound on the door.
    “Alisha! Alisha, open the door! It’s me!  Vanora! Alisha, open the door please! It’s coming, Alisha! Open the door! The vampire is coming!” Vanora called out fearfully.
                 
    Alisha stood in the center of her room, the crosses that Vanora had hung about her room dangling from one hand. Her eyes were wide and dazed, completely unseeing. She did not hear her sister’s frantic cries, only the whispering voice calling to her softly. Oblivious to all but that haunting whisper, she walked into the bathroom and dropped the crosses into the commode.
     
    “Alisha, please, Alisha!” Vanora screamed in horror. “It’s coming to get you! I need to protect you! Oh, please, Alisha!”
     
    The mist flowed in waves, undulating toward the house as the first feathery tongues licked up against the stones of the manor. The bluish haze swirled and pressed along the house. Deliberately it snaked upward, toward the balcony where a young woman stood in a long flowing black nightgown.
     
    Roman awoke with a start. In the distance, he heard Vanora calling out in terror. Without thinking, he sat up and smacked his head against the lid of his coffin. Grunting, he flipped it back and leaped out. One swift glance informed him that the old man had risen.
    Roman ran toward the doors and passed through the crack between. Then he was rushing toward the house, his feet slipping on the dew-drenched grass. If the old man touched his sisters, Roman knew he was capable of ripping him apart.
     
    Vanora suddenly realized that Alisha was not alone in her room. She heard a man’s voice speaking in a language she did not understand, but was vaguely familiar. Chills flowed over flesh, raising goosepimples, and Vanora stepped back fearfully.
    What had happened to the crosses she had placed in the room? Why weren’t they working?
    She glanced about anxiously, unsure of what to do. She was very much alone and the aura of the house seemed menacing now.
    “Alisha,” she whispered fearfully. “Please, Alisha.”
    There was silence beyond the door.
    Vanora slowly backed away, clutching the crosses over her heart. “Alisha!”
     
    Roman reached the house and tried the first door he came to. It would not yield. He rushed to a window when he heard Vanora screaming their sister’s name.
    “The balcony!” Roman muttered under his breath and ran toward the corner of the house.
    An intense, savage anger mixed with desperate fear churned within him when he saw Alisha’s pale form draped over the stone railing of her balcony. The old man stood behind her, gazing down at Roman. His gray hair was now shot through with black and his face appeared more youthful.
    “You bastard!”
    “Now she will join us. My blood is in her veins. Soon my Bride will join us, my son,” the old man declared.
    “Alisha, open the door! I need to help you!” Vanora’s faint voice called from within the house.
    “Ah,” the vampire said, lifting an eyebrow. “The young white one.” He moved purposefully into Alisha’s bedroom.
    “No!” Roman shouted.
    Grabbing the thick ivy growing up the wall, he easily crawled to the balcony. His eyes fell on the still, pale form of his sister for a moment before he hurriedly pursued the vampire into the room.
    The old man stood by the door to the hall. He pivoted about to face Roman, his eyes dark and intense. One long, slender hand settled on the doorknob. “Join me, Roman. Let us bring her over together. Then we shall truly be a family.”
    “Never!” Roman stepped purposely toward the old Vampire.
    “You will change your mind,” was the confident response. “The hunger will come soon. Then you will have no choice.” The old man yanked the door