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  JUST A TASTE

  VAMPIRES OF WORJ: BOOK I

  Charlie Tran

  Copyright © 2019 by Charlie Tran

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictiously.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  1. Duke

  2. Sebastian

  3. Duke

  4. Sebastian

  5. Duke

  6. Sebastian

  7. Duke

  8. Sebastian

  9. Duke

  10. Duke

  11. Duke

  Epilogue

  Mailing List

  Chapter 1

  Duke

  I stared out of the side of the window, pressing my forehead against the glass. It was getting pretty late already; thankfully we weren't too far from the city by now. When I’d agreed to go on this trip with the boys, I didn't think it was going to be a nearly four-hour drive to get here. The conversation had already died down after we couldn't find anything more to talk about. Instead, we wasted time on our phones, despite not even getting 4G out here in this sleepy town.

  A heavy mist from the light rainfall made it difficult to see, and made the town just that much creepier. But hey, at least I wasn't the one driving.

  "Oh, I think I see it," Jake said. He turned his brights off.

  "Thank God, I’ve had to pee since we hit the last milestone," Marcus said.

  I watched the small buildings pass by as we headed straight towards our hostel. We’d wanted to book a hotel room, but even in such a small town, they were abhorrently expensive.

  "Here we are, boys," Jake said gleefully as he pulled into the parking lot. It was pretty tiny, but so was the outside of the hostel.

  "I can't wait anymore, I'll meet y'all inside." As soon as Jake parked the car, Marcus jumped out and ran straight inside.

  I got out and assisted Jake with pulling out our supplies. Everything we were going to need was tucked inside separate duffel bags. I hoped we didn't look too weird, coming in here with all this stuff for only three guys.

  After entering, I noticed the man at the front desk with a wide smile on his face. He didn't look weirded out by us either. I wondered if we were the first people to come in here stocked up like this.

  "Gentlemen, welcome to Worj—the most religious town on this side of the country," the man at the desk said, rubbing the cross pendant on his chain necklace. "I'm assuming you're Jake’s group?"

  "Yeah, how did you know?" Jake replied, fishing for his wallet so he could hand over his identification card.

  "We don't get that many visitors out here, and they usually come in groups." The man chuckled to himself, going over Jake's ID. "Also, your friend just rushed in to use the bathroom."

  "If there isn't much tourism here, why is the regular hotel so pricey?" I asked.

  "Why, indeed?" he replied, causing Jake and I to share a suspicious glance. Already I wanted to go home. What the fuck were we even doing here?

  "Take your room keys and enjoy your stay," the man finished with a nod.

  Once more Jake and I shared a glance as we headed towards our room. It was easy enough to find; we only needed to follow the room number placards pinned against the walls.

  Just like the hostel appeared, the whole town seemed to be eerie. Something was just off about it all. It wasn't my idea to come all the way out here to do this. But Marcus had insisted that it would be fun, and if we posted the video online, he could follow his dreams.

  Which were to have his own ghost hunting show.

  We’d all graduated from high school nearly a year ago, but Marcus made sure we knew he had bigger dreams than to just go to college. I think he was the only one who thought a ghost hunting show qualified as bigger dreams, but we were still here to help our friend.

  There were two separate hallways that led to the left and right from the welcoming desk. Down the right hallway, there was only four doors. If the left hallway was the same as this one, there were enough rooms for eight groups of people.

  Why so many rooms if nobody was staying here?

  I didn't know why I was so focused on that as we entered our own room, but every little thing was creeping me out. Truth be told, I was ready to go home now.

  But I couldn't look like a punk in front of my friends.

  I dropped the two duffel bags I had on either shoulder, as did Jake. Both of us opened the zippers and went through to grab the equipment Marcus had prepared. There were tons of cameras, including a few action cameras that could attach to our bodies, along with several other pieces of electronics I couldn’t identify.

  I unloaded everything carefully, not wanting to break anything that Marcus had spent all of his savings on. His parents would kill us if they knew he spent so much money on this and then broke the stuff. And they could probably have us end up missing with no one realizing it, since his dad was a government official or something like that.

  While we were unloading, the room door burst open. I felt like I was going to have a heart attack as I spun around to see what it was. I let out an exasperated sigh as Marcus came in, slamming the door behind him as he waved his key card around.

  "Did you get everything, boys?" he asked, pocketing his key card into his pocket while withdrawing a small pamphlet at the same time. It was crumpled up from having been in there for so long, but I was still able to decipher the words on the front of it.

  Haunted Tourism.

  "Yeah, we picked everything up, no thanks to you," Jake said, continuing to unpack the belongings. We were only staying here for one night, and nobody had brought a change of clothes, so at least there wasn't any more to unpack.

  If I embarrassed myself and wet my pants like a child because of getting scared out of my mind, I was going to make Marcus buy me new clothes.

  "Whatever, man. Look, we got all the information we need right here." Marcus tossed the pamphlet towards us like a Frisbee, and I caught it before it hit the ground. I opened it up, pulling closer towards Jake so we could both get a good look at it.

  "So this place is really supposed to be haunted?" Jake chewed on his lower lip. Maybe he was just as nervous about this as I was.

  "Yeah!” Marcus said. “I saw a documentary about the place on TV."

  "Then why are we exploring this place again, if people have already been here and all?" I asked.

  "Because, Duke, nobody has actually been inside. We’re going to be the first ones to do so and document it. We're gonna be legendary in the industry."

  "There's a ghost hunting industry?" Jake rolled his eyes.

  "Of course there is! Paranormal shit is exciting right now." Marcus laughed, but there was one big issue that I was having with this. And I didn’t know why neither of them had bothered to bring it up.

  "But why hasn't anyone been inside? is it, like, closed off to the public or something?"

  "Well…" Marcus trailed off, averting his gaze quickly as he scratched at his chin.

  "Well?" Jake and I piped up at the same time.

  "It's not supposed to be safe for people to go in. B-but I looked it up and I don't think it's that big of a deal! We'll have helmets and flashlights."

  "Are you kidding me?" I palmed my face. What the hell was a helmet and a flashlight supposed to do if we were walking on upper levels, and it caved in?

  "You are really a special kind of stupid." Jake shook his head. I was glad that I
wasn't the only one who was skeptical about all of this.

  "All we have to do is break in,” Marcus said. “I have wire cutters to cut the fence. We’ll go inside and document some weird noises, and that's it. We'll be famous!"

  I groaned at that level of stupidity, but I didn't say anything more about it. After all, Jake and I could just stay on the lower levels. If Marcus wanted to go upstairs, he could go on his own.

  "Plus," Marcus continued, "I did bring a first aid kit, so you'll be all patched up if you scratch yourself. I'll even give you a kiss on your boo-boos." Marcus pursed his lips, but Jake gave him a playful slap against his knee, making him stumble.

  I continued to read the pamphlet while they horsed around. Besides the fact that this place was supposed to be haunted, it was actually pretty interesting. There was a lot of information about how this place was important historically. It was an ancient castle, dating back hundreds of years. The people who used to live in the castle were driven out from the town for some undisclosed reason, and supposedly lived out the remainder of their days there before they died. And it was supposed to be haunted because they were resentful to the people that drove them back.

  Anybody who had worked there, like the servants and butlers, were killed. Actually, almost everyone in the castle during the riots was killed—including the children of the man and woman who had lived there. Only the two parents had survived.

  Although they probably died of starvation later..

  I shuddered at the idea of even having to go into this place, but I wasn't about to be the scaredy-cat of the group. Jake didn't seem too scared, and Marcus was absolutely loving the opportunity.

  Think good thoughts, think good thoughts, I kept telling myself.

  "Now that everything is unpacked, it's time to start gearing up. I have some body straps to attach the action cameras to, and the helmets are in the other bag with the flashlights." Marcus was so excited about it, he dropped to his knees and began digging through the bags to find everything that he needed for tonight—including some weird electrical devices that were supposed to pick up voices of ghosts from other dimensions. How that was supposed to work, I also did not know.

  "This has got to be the weirdest guys’ trip we've ever been on," Jake said as he strapped on the helmet Marcus passed over to him. it looked more like a bicycle helmet than anything else.

  We each had our helmets, flashlights you could shake to charge, recorders to pick up EVPs, and temperature readers. That was in addition to the heavy action cameras mounted on our chest straps. I knew how crazy were going to look as soon as we stepped out of this place, but thankfully it was nighttime. Hopefully not too many people would be walking around at night and questioning our motives.

  "Ready, boys?" Marcus said, eyeing himself in the mirror above the dresser of the room. His smile never faltered; in fact, I dare say he looked quite pleased with himself.

  "Ready as we'll ever be," Jake chimed, in standing next to Marcus to also stare at himself.

  "We better get going before I change my mind," I huffed.

  "Stop being such a downer." Marcus frowned at me through the mirror. "Even Jake's not being such a pussy about it."

  "I'm not a pussy. I said I'd go, and I always keep my word. I just don't want to get in any trouble being here."

  "Let's hurry up and go, then. I'm more worried about the cops busting us out there than ghosts taking over our bodies."

  "Are they suppose to be able to do that?" I followed them out of the room, wide-eyed.

  "Yep, that's what people have to get exorcised."

  Chapter 2

  Sebastian

  The fireplace felt especially good on a night like tonight, when the mist was heavy and the rain was certain to come and go on a moment’s notice. While I didn't necessarily mind the cold, the heat just felt amazing to my skin. I was always cold, and even colder at this time of the year, when the leaves would change to orange, fall from the branches, and cover the earth in a layer of their beauty.

  I brought my glass to my lips, tilting my head back as I took a long deep sip of my drink. My nose wrinkled at the taste of it, but it wasn't the worst that I'd had. Pasture-raised bovine specifically tasted far better than anything found in commercial factories, just as they had centuries before.

  But still, nothing would ever taste better than the blood from an actual human. I sighed, staring longingly into the flames that danced around for me. How I missed that taste from so long ago—the taste I hadn't had in over 100 years. I rose from my armchair, giving my hound a scratch on his muzzle as I walked over towards the stained-glass windows staring out into the world below.

  I watched the lamps that lit the streets, and those that were still on inside the homes of humans. I imagined what type of humans lived there now, compared to the ones that lived in those same very houses when I walked those streets. Did they still read their children bedtime stories? Did they still tell them to fear coming up to the castle?

  Did they tell their children to fear for their lives whenever they looked upon it?

  To fear me?

  I couldn't help but smirk at the thought of the people that had driven me back here. Their kind always feared what they did not know, and it was amusing. How easily I could go down there and drink my fill, and yet I kept myself at bay. It sufficed to drink from sheep and cattle, sparing the humans despite what they had done to me. To my wife and my children.

  I ran my tongue over my fangs, continuing to watch the shadows moving across the curtains of the windows in those homes.

  Things had changed so drastically since I had first moved into this place, the flourishing of technology, the industrial age, carriages that moved on their own without the aid of a steed.

  It was fascinating.

  Almost as fascinating as the lights that I noticed creeping up towards my home. I narrowed my eyes, staring down at the three lights that were drifting around in the darkness.

  "What's this?" I said to myself with a grin. My hound stood up and came to my side, nuzzling against my hand as though he could sense my curiosity pique.

  The lights faded out as they got closer to my house, briefly pausing and then creeping past the fence that the humans had built here. They must've decided to break through the barriers and come in.

  "Come, Lago," I told the beast of mine, giving him a final pat on the head as I sat my glass of wine down on the windowsill. If they wanted to come and see what secrets were held here, I would give them a good time. It had been so long since I had some means of entertainment.

  I trailed down the steps from my room, using one of the secret passages I had built here before when I had to escape the villagers. There were certain areas that you couldn’t step on without falling through. I knew them like the back of my hand by now, as did Lago.

  He followed every step that I made.

  His back was pressed against the wall as I looked over the railing, staring down at the three intruders.

  "I'm getting a really bad feeling about this," one of the men said as he flashed his lights around the foyer.

  "Get your recorders out, make sure that they're going this entire time. And your cameras too! If any of you get scared, I want to have your reaction." The leader of the group took a step forward, giving a brief glance around the lower chamber before deciding to head towards the left corridor. The one that would lead them to the old dining hall.

  He waved towards the others, and the second man headed straight ahead, which would take him to the gardens. The third one, the one who’d spoken up about his qualms of being in my castle, simply stood there all on his own as his companions left him behind.

  "The poor dear," I said with a click of my tongue, pointing towards the side. Lago followed my hand movements and left me to go stalk the others while I watched this one man in particular.

  It was hard to see his features under the strange hard hat he was wearing, but it seemed he managed to pull himself out of his frightened stupor as he headed
towards the right—the direction that led to my personal chambers. I didn't feel the need to worry about him just yet, as the passage up there was fraught with missing steps and large holes in the floor. It'd take him quite a while to scale it, if he was even brave enough to attempt such a feat—and then he’d need to find the secret entrance to my bedroom.

  I ran my hand along the banister as I headed towards the dining hall, from the upstairs path of course. It was easy enough to watch as the lone man in this room spun around in circles. He mumbled some words into his strange device and held it up into the air as though he was waiting for something to mumble back to him.

  I held in a chuckle, not wanting to ruin the surprise as I continued to watch him. He and his comrades had broken into my home, and I licked my lips thinking about the taste of their blood in my mouth. That sweet, iron-rich taste I’d been craving. I had to draw in a deep breath to hold myself back. No, if these people went missing, more people would come here. We couldn't have that. But maybe if only one went missing…

  The man turned in my direction, most likely causing whiplash from how fast he spun his head around in my direction. I ducked down as his light flashed above where I was standing, only then noticing that I'd been stepping across scattered stones.

  It gave me an idea.

  "W-who are you? Why are you s-still haunting this p-place?" The man stuttered his question, looking around with a deliciously frightened expression.

  I picked up one of the stones, and with as good of an angle as I could muster from a crouch, threw it straight at him. It smacked against the side of his hard hat and tumbled down by his feet.

  He let out a shout of surprise, tripping over himself as he fled from the room. I laughed, unable to hold back anymore.