In the Shadows of the Night
an excerpt

Nikolai turned away from the window. Sunrise was threatening, just over the edge of the valley. He could feel it prickling along the line of his spine. The night was stretching longer and longer and he revelled in it. His children were returning slowly from their play, sleek and replete and glowing with stolen life. Bodies were draped over the large sitting room he used to conduct his business, sleeping or unconscious, and he bent to one of them, brushing blonde hair away from a neck that was flush and swollen, blood staining the collar of her shirt. Nikolai's lip curled in distaste and he toed her limp form over. She let out a soft moan and was still.

"Frederick!" he called carelessly, and another figure clad head-to-toe in black scrambled out of the other room eagerly.

"Yes, my lord?"

"Have dinner disposed of. Dawn is approaching and I wish to have my house clean while I sleep."

"Of course, my lord." Frederick cringed back into a low bow, thrilled at the chance to serve his master.

Nikolai just stalked passed him without further notice. The huge house he had caused built for himself when he first arrived in this pedestrian town in the middle of nowhere was now old and full of creaks and cobwebs, and Nikolai was finally starting to feel like he was home. He had come from the stately manors and grand craggy peaks of Bavaria, drawn by the promise of easy prey and freedom from the older lords and matriarchs to whom he had been made to feel subservient when he joined the court in Paris. Now he had a court of his own, new, young Americans who cared nothing for court politics but revelled in titles and grandeur, who bowed and called him 'my lord', who partied every night and feasted on the willing flesh of the never-ending flow of young bodies through the university.

The front door slammed open as he was traversing the hallway and two of his children stumbled through, teenagers of the eighties who had never quite lost that particular style in their clothing and hairstyles. A young couple he had killed for their cruelty and malice towards their fellow students. Now they served him well and sadistically.

"Have a good hunt?" Nikolai greeted them, amused by their giggles.

"Delicious," Violet purred, flashing her fangs with an attractive wrinkle of her nose.

"It took us all night," Victoria sighed happily, her arms around Violet's neck. "Their screams were like candy."

"What have I told you girls?" Nikolai said, in a mockingly strict tone. "Never play with your food."

"We're sorry, Master," Violet simpered, playing it up. "We'll try not to have so much fun tomorrow night."

"We'll try," the other echoed, giggling. "But we love to play."

Nikolai shook his head fondly. "Sleep well, my beauties."

"Good night, Master!" they called in unison before pelting down the hallway and up the stairs.