Note: Graphic violence and gore
1790 –Outside of London
Sir Andrew Candrell wrapped his arms around his body, trying to protect himself from the cold and the bitter autumn wind. A flash of lightning revealed his grim, bearded face. Growling thunder drowned out the mumbles of his men standing drenched, outside the burial ground.
"She is in the graveyard," Candrell said as he turned his attention to the grave site. "We cannot take her lightly. She’s a monster."
The rain poured hard, as the men looked at each other. Some of them shared unsure grim looks as they measured the situation at hand. The notion of going into a graveyard with the current downpour at the stroke of midnight was not ideal. Death was in the air. They wondered if they were the hunters or the hunted. The light from their torches flickered with the rain as they took hesitant steps in the muddy terrain.
Candrell frowned at his men. He could smell the stench of fear in them. Sabine, the vampire, had been eluding him for some time now. He needed to put down this vicious killer of the night. The older man looked unto the graveyard and saw the dark shadows and silhouettes of gravestones and mausoleums dance with the flashes of lightning, along with the lonely light his torch produced. He shook his head, trying to snap out of the mind games he was falling into. Lightning and thunder struck again. The weather was not helping. He trudged into the graveyard with boots squelching in the mud. His men saw their leader enter and reluctantly followed. The disgusting odor of death was almost palpable.
Candrell pulled out his long and trusty wooden stake and walked into the sacred ground. The mud curdled under his feet as he walked toward his doom. In the middle of the property, a small chapel stood shrouded in darkness. The vampire had slaughtered everyone on a ten-mile radius leaving the building unprotected. The rain poured hard as Candrell and his men reached the structure. It was now or never.
"Surround the chapel," Candrell ordered. "Kill her if she walks out."
Candrell opened the door and sauntered in. Once he was inside, he wished he wasn’t. Sprawled on the floor lay at least a dozen bodies. The vampire hunter covered his mouth and nose, trying to protect his lungs from the putrescent smell. He felt the decaying stench burn his throat. The hunter ambled toward the center of the building, trying to avoid stepping on the dead.
"Sir Andrew," a female voice chimed in the darkness. "You are persistent, aren't you?"
"Show yourself, demon," Candrell ordered while he pulled out a crucifix. "Fear the wrath of God."
A small light wavered about 30 feet in front of him. In the faint light, he could see the beautiful raven-haired vampire smile. Her green eyes reflected the pale light. Her smile was wicked. "You are bringing God into these proceedings?" Sabine asked as she walked slowly in front of him. "I thought you did not need him to end me."
"Quiet demon!" Candrell barked, keeping the crucifix pointed at the beast. "This will be the day that I make you pay for your crimes."
"You will make me pay?" Sabine laughed at the idea as her wicked smile turned to a scowl. "You remind me of my father," she bluntly said. She then composed herself and kept strolling around the dead bodies at her feet. "Of course, you remind me of him before I took his life."
Candrell tried to hide his fear as the vampire walked around him. My men are ready, he thought to himself. They will take her out if I don’t make it alive. He readied himself to strike.
Sabine’s wicked smile returned as she read the vampire hunter’s thoughts. She admired his perseverance. The demon hunter had been chasing her throughout the continent. Neither his advanced age nor her immortality had winded him down. But she was getting tired of his antics. She was tired of his ego and pride. "Before you strike," Sabine said, "let me just express my disappointment in you for not taking notice of my gift."
Candrell glared at the undead woman, not understanding. He watched Sabine throw her candlestick onto the floor. Immediately the oil-stained ground caught fire. In horror, Candrell witnessed the flames fan out around the corpses on the floor. He took a step back, trampling a dead hand. The vampire hunter looked closely at the finger recognizing his family crest on it. It can’t be, Candrell thought to himself in horror as he stared at one of the severed heads on the floor. Brother? The vampire hunter turned around and recognized the head of her younger sister encrusted on a man’s body “Ella?” Candrell whispered. The blood of his family and clan stained the floor of the chapel. The corpses of women and children beheaded with their insides cut out.
"Surprise!" Sabine exclaimed with evil glee, extending her hands to either side of her body. "The entire Candrell clan is here to meet you!"
Candrell tried to scream, but no sound came from his open mouth.
"You should go home," Sabine said turning her back towards her nemesis. "Maybe your wife is still waiting for you." Saying this, the devilish vampire skipped out the front door.
Rage invaded Candrell as he stormed out, following his enemy. As he reached the graveyard, his face fell as well as his heart. The bodies of his men were all in a pile. Their heads severed from their bodies. Their heads all impaled around the heap.
Candrell fell on his knees with tears streaming from his eyes. He turned his attention toward the heavens and screamed. Not even the thunder could drown out his frustration, pain, and despair.
1790 – The Candrell State
Sir Andrew Candrell rode with haste on his black stallion. The wind blew back his long gray hair. It would seem his beating heart would burst out of his chest as his large manor loomed ahead. The vampire hunter reached his home in record time. Jumping off his horse he and ran up the stairs of his house and opened the front doors. The house was dark. The rain poured. He only heard a small laugh echo through the halls. "You thought you were going to make it in time," a female voice taunted. "You just made my night." Candrell shivered at the thought. His spine melted when he heard Sabine's voice again. "Come to the dining room… Your family awaits."
Candrell did as instructed. With feet as heavy as lead, he walked toward the dining room, where light filtered from inside. He cracked the door, and fear washed over his face. His servants were all impaled on the dining room wall, a dangerous smile carved into their faces. The lit candles and the set table brought a horrible atmosphere to the proceedings making it seem as if this was another intimate gathering among the living. Taken were all the seats in his twelve spot dining room by dead bodies of neighbors and friends. Present in every one of his guests was a carved, bloody smile. At the end of the table, he saw his wife with a gag inside her mouth, chained to her chair, trying to wiggle free. Candrell ran up to her and tried to remove the chains.
Candrell's wife sobbed. "She has Alexia!" she exclaimed as a baby cried in the night.
Candrell turned and saw Sabine carrying a baby girl in her arms. She smiled and caressed the young baby. "She looks like you," the vampire cooed.
Candrell tried to jump her pulling out a stake.
"You move another step, and I brake her little neck!" Sabine barked at the man.
Candrell stopped dead in his tracks and dropped the stake.
Sabine smiled and continued to rock the baby in her arms. "Father has been a naughty man," Sabine mocked with a childlike voice. "He left mommy and Alexia all alone, while he followed his obsession."
"Please," Candrell begged. "Please leave us alone." He put his face down on the floor and screamed. "I am sorry!"
"Too little too late," the vampire said, continuing to make childlike voices to the baby.
"Pleaseeee!" Candrell begged
Sabine looked at Candrell and chuckled. "Tell you what," she said. "Because I am in a forgiving mood, I will let your wife decide."
Candrell looked confused and turned his attention to his wife, who was standing up with bloodshot eyes and demonic vampire fangs that shot out from her mouth. His wife drew an evil grin on her face like only a creature born in darkness would. "No!" Candrell exclaimed, still on his knees.
"Yes!" Sabine retorted back. "The famous Sir Andrew Candrell, Demon Hunter and Vampire killer reduced to his knees."
Candrell's vampire wife walked to Sabine. "Can I taste her more?" she asked, pointing at the baby. "You said I could taste some more when we played a joke on Andrew."
Sabine laughed while Sir Andrew launched himself at her. Sabine only sidestepped and showed the baby to Candrell's wife. "Come and get her," she said. Candrell saw the malice in his wife's eyes and jumped at her first. His vampire hunting experience took over. He repeated the truth in his head that his wife was dead. He was now fighting the monster that killed her. Candrell brought his wife down on the dining room floor, wresting for control and survival. Sabine laughed and danced to the sound of the storm, and the baby’s cries.
Candrell fought his wife hard, trying to stop her from reaching his baby. He reached for the stake on the floor and was about to plunge it her heart when he saw his wife return to her usual self.
"Andrew," she said softly. "I would never hurt Alexia."
Candrell cried hard, knowing full well the demon in front of him looked and talked as his wife. But her body was only an empty carcass, vessel only to a demon from hell. He staked his wife, plunging the wooden weapon deep into her heart. The vampire tried to scream as her body turned to ash and dust. Candrell looked up, only to see Sabine and the baby gone. He ran to the door, half stumbling, half running. Drool dripped out of his mouth, his mind burning with unmatched anger. "Sabine," he mumbled. "Sabine… Sabine…" Sir Andrew Candrell reached the front door and only saw the dark storm before him. "Sabine!" he howled.
1793 – London Asylum for the Insane
Sir Andrew Candrell banged his head on the wall of his cell. The straight jacket that imprisoned him held him tight. "Alexia…" he mumbled. "Alexia… Alexia… Alexia…"
A flash of lightning and then deafening thunder gave light to the room. With it, Candrell saw the female silhouette of his tormentor. He careened his head and saw Sabine inside the cell with him. Sabine pouted. "Poor Sir Andrew," she said. "Famous demon hunter, reduced to a babbling, drooling buffoon."
"You have taken everything from me," Candrell said.
"Well, you started it," Sabine retorted as she put her arms behind her back. "You just couldn’t leave it alone, could you?"
Candrell turned back his head and bashed his head again. Almost to the sound of a clock.
Sabine sighed when she got close to him. "I promise to visit you every day," she said.
"Where is my daughter?" Candrell asked. He dreaded for the answer.
"Candrell," Sabine said, faking insult. "It hurts. You would think I would kill a baby girl?" Candrell studied Sabine as she approached him until they were both face to face. "Of course life is hard in the old London," the demon said. "I mean… I killed your entire family. You'll forever be remembered as the sick, disturbed old man that slaughtered his wife and disposed of his only child."
Tears cascaded down Candrell's cheeks.
"Poor little Alexia has no home," the demon continued as her cold green eyes stared into his soul. "I had to leave here on the street."
Candrell salivated as his eyes rolled into the back of his hid head.
"Without family…" Sabine continued. "… And with her old man in the loony bin, the star of your eyes will grow up in shame, without recollection of her name. Probably become a whore." Sabine turned to her demon self now. "Of course, if she makes it to that sweet age."
Candrell's mouth was open with drool dropping to the cold floor. His mind was gone.
Sabine left the cell, giggling at first then roaring with laughter. The sick and disturbing laughter echoed in the asylum, siccing Candrell’s thoughts into madness.
