Quitetly, Quiggly stepped into the darkness as he stealthily approached and steeled himself against the inevitable screams of anguish and the expected gore that was to come.
With his hands gripped firmly at his sides, Quiggly made his way to where the vampire he was after was located, as he'd been told he would. As he got closer, he noticed with interest a few things that he never knew before. This vampire seemed to be feeding on the dead. The undead, really. Their wounds were horrible and the screams were so painful he began to gag on them. This vampire, or something, had killed them. He could tell, because he could see the bones and skin clinging to the thing and because the only possible solution to this problem was that the vampire was now covered with skin.
He didn't remember the vampire as having skin like a human, but the monster was covered in it. A thick leathery hide that looked like an overgrown, mangy dog, and it seemed to have two limbs, though these weren't as well developed as the rest of the creature.
Though it was only a passing thought, a fleeting awareness, Quiggly could not help but see that he was being protected by a shield of sorts. It wasn't as solid and real as a shield, because he could still feel the wind on the sides of his head, but it was there. The air itself was being affected by whatever this creature was and it didn't hinder his vision or slow him down.
He thought back to his conversation with the stranger who had called himself Drakie. When he had mentioned the strange vampire to his companion, Quiggly recalled the other had asked if the vampire was naked and the stranger had told him no. Quiggly thought about that and why he thought it was a lie at the time, but now it made sense. It wasn't a vampire, but some kind of spirit. It was a spirit that looked like a vampire, but it also protected those who saw it.
As he approached the vampire he could see that it was indeed covered in the grayish-white substance he'd seen before. Its head was wrapped in layers of this stuff, until it looked like a bag made of hair and leather. He couldn't see through it, even the vampire was covered, but he knew it was there and it was hiding something.
Quiggly had always taken great pleasure in peering behind the face of a character in a story, something the humans could never do, and what he saw before him was of no surprise. It was the remains of a human, who had been cut into. Long strips of meat were sewn together, but the ends of them were still human. Quiggly thought about this and realized that what was left of the person was not all there was. Their blood and flesh had been sucked and eaten. The vampire had left no flesh or blood, but these remains had been fed upon. Quiggly looked around and saw that these bodies were not all that were here. The remains were strewn around, some of them stacked against the walls. His own kind was not the only victim of this vampire.
What did this creature look like, and how to kill it? This vampire was the one he sought after all. Not just a regular vampire, but one of the undead. Quiggly knew that he would have to do it the old fashioned way. The vampire was a child of the night. Something called the night had sired it and sent it out to slaughter the living and feed off of their victims. For some reason, Quiggly had been chosen and marked as a target. The vampire, the demon had marked him in such a way that he would never leave this place alive.
Quiggly reached into his jacket pocket and withdrew a knife he'd used to cut vegetables. The blade was shiny, sharp, and razor sharp. It could cut through almost anything. Quiggly was not very smart, but he was very fast and he always found a way to win, at least his games did. When he was given a challenge, he was very good at bringing all his skills to the surface.
Now, Quiggly thought he was seeing the vampire's weak point and he knew how to get rid of the creature, one clean blow and Quiggly would slay the damned thing. However, if he missed with his blow, Quiggly's mind would not be his own for a very long time. The vampire was extremely clever, he was very cunning, and Quiggly had never seen the likes of it before.
He was also very strong. He hadn't seen this, but when he had come up behind the monster, he hadn't realized he was so close. When he grabbed the creature and held onto it with both hands, he realized just how strong it was, but it was weak. Quiggly had felt its body through its cloak and the thing had been thin and weak. It hadn't even fought him off. He had thrown it to the ground, and it was the kind of creature that would have had to use its own hands to attack him, which he had not been strong enough to do. There had to be a way to hurt it.
Quiggly had seen the knife before. It was a butcher knife and it had been used to gut creatures in a similar manner. The thing had been gutted by one of his kin, the vile bastard, and Quiggly had thought the knife was the sharpest thing he had ever used.
With this thought, Quiggly lifted the knife, pulled its grip out of the sheath, and then he stabbed it deep into the side of the vampire's torso. The vampire hissed, but Quiggly did not expect it to. They weren't vampires, they were more than that, but at the same time they weren't exactly living either. It was the bloodlust, the urge to feed. The vampire would never be happy with anything else. It wanted to feel flesh against its skin and drink blood. For as strong and cunning as the creature was, he didn't like the taste of flesh.
Quiggly drew the knife out of the vampire's body, then drew it back with speed, slamming the knife into the creature's chest. The vampire fell over and lay on its side, moaning and groaning, Quiggly took another sharp stab at the thing with the knife. If Quiggly was to get out of this mess he was in, he had to kill it. He slashed at the vampire and drove the knife into it. He felt its skin splitting, but was surprised at how little it gave, until he grabbed the edge of the knife with both hands and gave it a powerful twist. The blade snapped off, leaving a nasty looking, but small, jagged part of the knife. The thing was barely weakened by it, but Quiggly was amazed at its strength and his knife had broken, but the vampire was still alive.
In his surprise, Quiggly had forgotten about his own predicament and the vampire had gotten a hold of the knife and had drawn it back for another stab. Quiggly tried to stop the blade, but he couldn't and the blade found its way back into his body.
Quiggly saw an image of his mother in his mind, then a flash of light came to his side, and he felt the blow as he fell onto his back, knocking the air from his lungs. It hadn't been a powerful blow, but the blade had broken off his neck. Quiggly was startled by the feeling of his body breaking. He had thought he had a strong mind, but he knew he was as weak as the others. He was surprised at his own weakness.
Quiggly looked up at the image he'd seen before. It had been of his mother and his memory of her was the only thing he'd had to hold on to as a child, though he couldn't remember her face. All he remembered was the white robes he'd seen her in, and the light that came from them. He closed his eyes and tried to remember his mother's face. Her face was just out of his reach.
Slowly he opened his eyes to a blackness that encircled him. There was a noise, but it was not a sound, a sound that could be heard by the ears. It was more of a feeling, like the sound of something that was meant to be heard, but wasn't. The sound was that of voices, many voices, all whispering, not speaking. They spoke of the day when he would find what was real, but Quiggly didn't know why that was. He couldn't understand it, but he knew it was true.
And then the feeling of the blackness was changed to another feeling, though it was similar. Quiggly was being pulled from a distance, pulled by a force that couldn't be seen or touched. He was being moved as if he were on the end of a tether or a rope, and he was being hauled away to a destination he didn't want to go to. The feeling began to pull, and he could sense that what was pulling him was a stronger force than any of the hands that he had ever seen, never mind been burned by.
As the feeling began to fade, Quiggly felt a pain in his chest, and he noticed that there was something in his hand. It was a soft glow that seemed to grow brighter, as the glow drew his eyes and made him look away from it. The glow was being pulled by something, and Quiggly tried
