EPISODE TWO

The Dromithaur

“You’ll be very rich”, she tried to ease the tension as the tunnel was more deeper than I thought.

“Somehow I don’t really want your money”, I replied with that arrogance displayed vividly on my face.

“Well let’s see how you fare after your first day at work”, she concluded.

I nodded in conjoined understanding but then I realized that this tunnel was never here to begin with. No building could ever go down this deep but Lauren never stopped observing me.

“Do you want a tutorial or should I sit back and enjoy the show”?

“Unbelievable!”, I opened my mouth in amazement. “Are you trying to tell me that a kid’s monster did all of this”?

“Of course”, she stepped back into the dark. “For now, Imogen Bassett, you have fifteen terrors to deal with and sorry to startle you but you’ll have me less.”

“I don’t understand”, I panicked as she blended in with the darkness leaving only her face in dim daylight.

“There are other krawlers to find and monsters to terminate”, she said. “You have fifteen days to be rich Imogen! and for each day there would be a brand new lesson with a life threatening battle.”

“What if I can’t handle it”?, I tried to follow her into the dark.

“Then the said child must die”, she answered with deadly calm. “Better to kill the host than watch the host kill a thousand innocents of his kind.”

“And my powers”?, I asked finally.

“It’s all there! You didn’t just sleep for a year!”, she growled as suddenly I saw those flashy eyes.

“Bye”, it said as I refuse to believe that the old lady I just spoke to was something else.

“Imo….gen!”, a little kid called me from an anonymous part of the tunnel.

“Im…..o……..gen”, she called again as sobbings started to confuse my ears on which direction to go.

“Take my hand”, I called out to her as immediately I felt the hands of a teenager.

“You dug this”?

“No”, she replied. “Dromithaur did.”

“And who exactly is Dromithaur”?, I attempted to stop her from the clutches of fidgety.

“It’s my mother”! She pointed to an ancient door half-shut.

I was anxious at this juncture, the little girl wasn’t hallucinating for there were her rags like clothes to prove it. Also I noticed something else on her,…..blood…..both dried and fresh. Too many bite marks for me to suspect a leech or bed bug.

“Don’t go there”, she warned me. “Mother doesn’t like to be disturbed.”

How pitiful it is not to know one’s demons. Somehow she conjured something that looked like her mother who supposedly torments her daily and yet she still feels reluctant to walk out of the tunnel.

“Walk with me”, I sought to play big sister.

“No she won’t”, a strange voice yelled as it commanded a breeze that swept my hair to my face.

“I don’t know who you are”, the creature lit a candle with a rough scratch on the tunnel’s walls.

“I am a Krawler”, I replied with those brown eyes scanning it for weakness.

“I didn’t ask what you are child, I asked who you are”? It turned to the girl who refused to let go of my hand.

“I’m leaving with her”, the young girl managed to scream back at it. “You can’t suck my blood anymore mother!”

“Really”?, It smiled.

I suddenly found it’s heart, or what looked like it but this vampire whoever she is have been nursed by this little girl for almost eleven years. It had drunk from her blood on a daily basis and now a full fledged vampire.

“Your heart is really weak to support breathing under here”, I smirked.

It’s sudden rage towards me gave me the boldness to keep talking antagonistically.

“Am I wrong? Or is this little girl’s blood the only way to keep that thing beating.”

“KRAWLER!”, It roared. “Watch your tone! The Boogeyman might choose you but it doesn’t mean you have half the strength she does.”

“Exactly”, I pondered awhile. “I’m on a different level.”

“Highly doubtful”, it blew out the candle as suddenly I felt my back driving through tough cave walls.

“Help”, the girl called out to me but I was far off with a thick hand pulling me by my feet. It kept tossing me repeatedly to different hard rocky corners that breathing looked difficult to catch.

“She’s mine”, I saw that bondwoman with legs for hands.

“No she’s not”, I kicked her hard.

It was at this moment she made a drop of blood drop before me.

I felt it. Oh yes I did. That surge that went through me as claws protruded.

My bones twisted slowly like the creature that stood before me. My hairs followed, shedding away an original brown and letting in the white counterpart.

I became a vampire in seconds, one who looked more like a male version, tall and much quieter even with the louder noise of insects and the child screaming in the dark.

“Tranquil”, I said as the fangs bared forth. Such elegance danced before those red eyes as I saw my foe in disdain.

It was more or less a sight to behold. The vampire I became was just one of many forms I had. How cool is that?

“The Boogeyman is just using you”, it said as it exposed it’s vulnerable parts as an act of surrender.

“I don’t take advice from a lesser bloodsucker”, I replied sizing what was now trembling before my superior form.

“Listen! Please!”, It faced me at every turn.

“I’m just a monster she conjured! Without me, she’ll just conjure another one and this cycle would be repeated over and over again.”

“What’s your suggestion”?, I growled at it.

“Take Margaret with you on your journey, she’s the key to finding the rest fourteen monsters”, it spoke softly.

“Why her”?

“Cause she’s a beacon!”, It gestured. “A readily available prey.”

I stood still as soon as he finished his statement. It wasn’t glamorous…..his death in my mind. My dark veil encircled him as I fed without remorse.

“Enough!”, Lauren Boogeyman’s voice echoed through the tunnel.

My horrible face turned to meet hers as she walked out confidently with a rather relaxed countenance.

“Excellent job”, she said. “Now we move on to the next child.”

“Not really”, I declined as my human form popped forth like a cork off a wine bottle.

“Excuse me”?, She frowned frantically.

“You’re excused”, I replied as Margaret crawled out of the dark towards where I was.

“She’s coming with me, Lauren!”, I made known my plan.

Her response was a loud chuckle much to my amazement.

“Impossible Imogen! Very very Impossible”, her voice went low all of a sudden. “I suggest you hand over the girl.”

“No!”, I held Margaret firmly. “You want to feed on her like you did the other kids.”

“That’s correct but not the entire truth Krawler”, she stretched forth her hands.

“I won’t ask a third time! Hand it over.”

Normally I should be baffled that she called the teenager an “it” but the tunnel rumbled as another monster located us right where we prepared for a face-off.

“Boogey…..man”, the little dolls rallied in their number.

I was awestruck as they were not less than a hundred. Their leader although seemed to have an eye made of buttons while the rest had no eyes at all.

“If you don’t kill her Imogen, you’ll attract monsters like this”, Lauren whispered to me. “And sorry I lied to you but they’ll be more than fifteen, more than a thousand even.”

“Let them come”, I concluded as I raced towards the little ray of light at the surface. The old lady couldn’t chase me, not when she had a couple of mad identical dolls to deal with.

My name was alas roared across the tower but we fled successfully……. hoping we run into no dolls and more importantly…..no Boogeyman!

Continue The Next Episode: Krawler Final Episode