The Vampire Man: Part 4

He walks over to the boy, who is lying on the ground writhing in pain. His hands are clutching his stomach tightly, tears streaming down his cheeks. Suddenly his eyes open and he looks straight at him, his lips twisting into a grimace.

"You did this!" he growls out angrily.

He gasps as he feels something sharp pierce through his leg, a dagger sticking out the bottom of it. A second later another one stabs into his arm. He cries out in agony as he tries desperately to pull the weapons out. The wound keeps bleeding profusely, and he's losing a lot of blood. The dagger wounds hurt the most, although the arrow shot in his leg also hurts a lot worse, it barely fazes him as he continues trying to rip each weapon out of himself. The boy crawls towards him, reaching towards him with one hand and grabbing onto his ankle with the other. A second later the dagger disappears completely from his leg and the arrows are removed from his arm. The boy leans forward and places his face against his neck, letting his hands grip his arms tightly. With one final push, he pulls the dagger from his thigh and falls backwards, landing roughly on his back. He stares at the sky, his eyes wide and filled with hatred. He looks back down at his attacker and points his finger at him.

"You will never take me from my father," he whispers darkly, blood pouring from the gaping hole in his chest.

Before he can say anymore, his legs start to collapse beneath him, his eyes rolling back into their sockets as he drops lifelessly to the ground. The man looks around frantically, trying to find anything to use as a weapon. Unfortunately, the dagger that fell from the boy's thigh still lies on the ground in front of him. He looks down at it, then back at the corpse on the ground, the dagger lying next to his face. As he gets closer, he realizes that the boy is wearing blue.

He grabs the dagger and throws it far away from him, then pulls the dagger out of his chest, pulling it from the boy's chest. He stands up and runs, ignoring the pain, as the boy's body starts to turn grey and decay before his eyes. He stops in his tracks, breathing heavily, and stares in horror. He stares at the corpse, then looks back at the dagger in his hand. Then he looks back at the corpse. Then he looks at the dagger.

Then he remembers Erika.

It's all his fault! Without thinking further, he runs back into the forest. Running for as long as he can, eventually, he trips and falls to the ground. His shoulder hits some branches and it sends jolts of pain through him. He grunts in pain and struggles to regain his composure. Finally, once he feels a little better, he manages to stand again. Then, picking up the dagger once again, he sets off in a steady jog through the forest. His breathing becomes laboured, and his vision begins to blur around the edges. This is it, he thinks, finally. There's only one way left to go, back to the castle.

The trees seem endless, even though it's only been two hours since he last ran through the forest. He's still a little unsteady on his feet, and his energy is drained. He's so exhausted that he can hardly keep his eyes open. Still, he can tell that his pursuer isn't far behind, he can hear the rustle of leaves and the thumping of boots hitting the ground. Eventually, his vision starts to fade, but he refuses to let himself fall. He knows that this is the end, and he knows that if he gives up now, he won't survive.

To be continued…