Bloodstained Lily

Chapter 1 - Pilot

*April, 2027*

Emptiness - the once bustling main road that lead south of the city centre had become a mirror image of a ghost town, no life left. Only death and silence - not the peaceful sort, but rather the kind of silence that almost leaves you gasping for air. A silence so petrifying that one small exhale could become the difference between life and loss.

The wind hissed through broken, black branches of the dead trees that aligned the road’s edge - where cityscape met woodlands. The woodlands seemed to track on for miles, to the point where no one from the city or its outskirts had the time nor patience to map its entirety. It vexed many how perfectly it had fit in with the city marketplaces and businesses that lay just on the other side of the road. However, over the course of just a couple of months, ‘many’ had turned into ‘some’ which then became ‘a few’, and in what appeared to be just a flash in time, the majority of the city’s residents had been completely wiped out. Anyone stupid enough to remain in the city were either killed, turned or starved to death. However, just beyond on the walls of the city centre, in its outskirts, two remained...

*January 2027*

“The Prime-minister has taken huge leaps forward today, as he has agreed to meet the Vampire Lord, Cademon Velenture, in a formal meeting. There they shall discuss the amendment of the Vampire Rights Movement. If the prime-minister agrees to the terms, vampires will be able to live freely among us. The question is, what does that mean for humanity?”

Lily watched as her father mumbled angrily at the news anchor on his tv screen and quickly motioned the controller at the tv to mute her. Only one week away from turning nine, she had no idea what the woman on the telly was speaking of. With a soft and warm smile, her father turned to her and pat the empty spot on the couch beside him. Taking a seat, her eyes met his kind gaze and he gently took her hands.

“Lily, no matter what the future holds, I want you to accept and show kindness to everyone. There are people out there who are unfairly treated, bullied even, for differences they can’t control,” he removed a hand away from hers and smiled affectionately as he moved a piece of stray hair from her face before finally resting his hand on her cheek. “I want you to be a friend to those who need it and never judge someone by their outward appearance. Appearances can be deceiving and sometimes people shut out other for fear of not being loved.” His warm smile faded quickly as he watched tears well up in her eyes.

Through sniffles and watery eyes, she hugged him tightly and whispered, “I don’t ever want anyone to be sad around me.”

His eyes started to well up in response and in return, hugged her back tightly. As sweet and tender as the moment was, it didn’t last nearly as long as Lily had wanted. Agitated and worried, her mother barged into the room and set her eyes on her husband, glaring at him as Lily stayed in his arms.

“Why did you mute the tv?! Haven’t you heard what’s going on?” She howled as she stormed over and returned the tv’s audio to its original state. “Lily go to your room, now! Your father and I need to talk.”

Uncertain and almost worried for her father, she looked to him for approval and only stood up, starting to move away when he returned her gaze with a reassuring nod. As she reached the door and opened it slightly, she turned her head to look back at her parents. The worry and urgency plastered across her mother’s face made Lily feel uneasy, she had never seen her mother so unglued before.

“We have to get out of here, we have to leave the city.”

“What? Why-?”

“For the children!” Lily’s mother barely gave her father enough time to string together a feasible sentence, “I heard it from the horse’s mouth today. This isn’t any ordinary meeting. Every human in parliament today was sacked and will be replaced with vampires tonight. The prime minister isn’t giving Cademon and his people right, Cademon is taking away ours. By nightfall, Lord Cademon will become King Cademon....and we will become their meal.”

Lily’s heart pounded so harshly she swore it would jump right out of her chest.

“That can’t be. The vampires they’re-...peaceful folk-“

“Oh don’t be so naive, Richard!” Lily’s mother snapped back, “I’m taking the kids and we are leaving tonight. With or without you. So either stay here, or go pack your things and come with us.”

He paused but eventually nodded and grabbed the car and house keys off the kitchen counter. Hurriedly, Lily quickly ran from the doorway where she had quietly listened in, to her room on the left just down the other end of the hallway. Opening her door just half an inch, she peered through the gap and watched as her father hurried downstairs, and out the front door, disappearing from sight. The sun was beginning to set and she watched from the gap as her mother began throwing clothes into suitcases for her and her family. Uncertain, Lily began to open the door and took a step out of her room towards her mother’s room. However, at a fraction of the speed, jumped back into her room as she heard the front door squeak loudly.

“Richard?” Her mother frowned with confusion and placed a stray bit of hair behind her ear as she stopped packing, standing completely still. Surely her husband hadn’t come home yet, could he?

“Richard, did you forget something?” She paused for a moment as she waited for a reply but received none. Shrugging it off, believing her husband hadn’t heard her question, she started to pack once again, her attention returning to the clothes, “Richard, now that you’re back, I remembered we need to grab Jordan’s inhaler off your mother before we leave the city.”

The sound that came after made her stop entirely, freezing in her place. The low sound of a mixture between a screech and a pained groan. Very carefully, she stood upright and turned her head painstakingly slowly towards Lily’s room, meeting her gaze through the small gap in the doorway. Lily watched, her face turning the palest shade of white, as her mother slowly lifted her finger to her lips - signalling to Lily to stay quiet, and tears swelled and stung her eyes.

The creaking of the floorboards grew louder, along with the sounds of scuttling footsteps, like something was being dragged across the floorboards. Eerie sounds of the same pained groaning grew closer and closer - something was coming up the stairs.

Finally, she saw it. Lily had to curl her toes inwards to stop herself from screaming at the awful figure that now slumped at the other end of the hallway, ever so close to her mother’s room. It had a foul stench that even Lily could smell from her room, it’s eyes were blood red with a pale blue pupil instead of a black one. Skin hung loosely from its arms and legs and open wounds were covered in black blood. Brown and green blisters and boils replaced the skin the surrounding the afflicted areas and a black thick liquid pooled down from its mouth - a truly ghastly sight to behold.

She watched, frozen from the fear as it entered her mother’s room and ran for her, its arms reaching out with hands motioned like the bones of a skeleton - cold, hard, and ready to strip the life away from her. Lily’s eyes widened as her mother let out a bloodcurdling scream as the creature dug its fingers under her flesh and ripped out her intestines as it gouged a chunk of flesh from her neck with its teeth. Tears streamed down her face and she gasped out as her mother fell to the ground lifeless - her sudden sound drawing the unwanted attention of the monster. Slowly, it turned its bloodstained body towards Lily and almost watched her for a few moments like it was trying to think and figure out its next form of action.

Lily’s breath hitched and she slowly started to back away from her door as the creature started to shuffle closer, the slow shuffle of its feet quickly turning into a slightly faster hop and she started to hyperventilate.

It reached her door and with a forceful thrust, blew it wide open, its creepy bloody and black-liquid-filled mouth turning into a small and terrifying smile. It slowly motioned its arms out at her the way it had her mother when it attacked her. Lily screamed out loudly and gasped as the creature fell to the ground, taking a wild blow to the head. It’s neck snapped as it hit the ground harshly, but that didn’t seem to hurt it as it would have a normal human - as it flailed around on the ground trying to get up.

Her father stood in the doorway just where the creature had been, a bloody baseball bat in his hand. “Lily, go get Jordan, now!!”

Without a moment’s hesitation, she dashed past her father and into her baby brother’s room, her eyes landing on her cowering four year old little brother as he sat curled up in the corner of the room - shivering and fearful from the sound their mother had made in her last moments. Quickly, she sped over to him, grabbed his hand and yanked him up onto his feet. She lead him back towards the hallway and with such strength and adrenaline, she could barely feel his weight. Reaching the top of the stairs, she looked back towards her father to wait for him.

He turned to meet her gaze, the bat still firmly in his grasp. “Run Lily! Go!” She could see the monster rise up back onto its feet behind him and her eyes went wide with fear once again as she screamed out for him. He turned around, only to have the monster bite him in the middle of his face - his warm blood drenching his body as he screamed out in pain. He managed to push the beast back with the bat again, but due to his wounds, became fuzzy and was blinded but whether it was by the wound itself or the blood in his eyes, he wasn’t certain.

With a raspy, half-dead grunt, he wheezed out for her to run once again. The beast started to run past Richard and towards Lily and her brother, but with all the bravery and love in his being, her father gripped the beast in a death grip and forced it onto the ground, letting it tear into him once again.

Lily cried and with a heavy and broken heart, grabbed Jordan’s hand once again and pulled him down the stairs - leaving her lifeless parents behind, as she rushed Jordan into the cold and dark as night had officially arrived.