5: Cassie

H E R  P E N  M A D E  tiny squeaky noises as it poured ink onto the white paper surface, jotting down the words that materialized in her mind.

The pen then abruptly slid, creating a long line of ink across the paper and messing up her work after a bottle of alcohol was set heavily on the table next to her.

Frowning, she set the pen down and shook her head in frustration just as a man standing on the other side of the table came to stand in front of her.

"You alright over there?" the man asked and the girl then noticed for the first time how prominent and yet youthful his features were.

He was tall with thick dark hair that matched his eyes and had a trim beard.

She watched him pick up a glass and wipe it clean with a cloth and the surface of the glass gleamed under the light bulb set over the shelves stacked with bottles of beer.

Cassie Richards was in a bar and was probably regretting why she even decided to work on her theatrical play in a place like that in the first place.

The sight of the bar made Cassie's mind drift a bit, momentarily wondering how she had even gotten there in the first place. . .

But then the man behind the table, the bartender, spoke to her with his rich and deep voice.

Cassie went on to explain to him the play she was working on.

"It's actually a rehearsal and I'm supposed to be presenting in less than. . ." the olive skinned girl checked her phone, "six hours!"

The phone's clock displayed the digits 18:02.

My play takes place at midnight? Wait, how do I even know that? When did I-

"Seems like a lot of time."

"Yeah," Cassie chuckled, "you'd think so!"

The play was about a community set in the past where everybody lived happily in peace and harmony until all that is taken away when bad things begin to happen in the cover of darkness. People are found dead at the crack of dawn, with their necks bleeding out. One girl however, known as Florence, finds out the truth and discovers that the community is being taunted by a blood sucking creature of the night-a vampire. It then becomes her quest to take this adversary down.

Cassie was the one set to play as Florence and had been having some trouble trying to perfect her character.

"Maybe you're going about this in the wrong way because you're doing all of this by yourself," the handsome man offered.

"But I'm the protagonist."

"Well, that's why there are supporting characters."

Carmen paused, taking a moment to consider this.

"Alright, so what do you suggest I do?" 

She watched him pick up the piece of paper and read through effortlessly despite the mess Carmen had made with the pen.

"Wow, that was amazing," she exclaimed after he was done, "especially that part on the vampire. I'm pretty sure you'd give the guy playing that part a run for his money."

The bartender chuckled and Cassie laughed along with him.

In an odd way, the bartender reading out the script to her had helped gain some kind of confidence.

"I think I should go now," Cassie took back the paper and walked out of the bar.

The moment she had stepped out, her phone began to let out a beeping sound.

She glanced at the screen.

00:00

Midnight

It was dark out and she couldn't even see anybody outside except for the large building that stood high up in the night over the other side of the road. It had a large neon lit banner at the entrance displaying the words:

PLAYING NOW:

The Devil at Twilight

It was just six o'clock when she was inside the bar.

My phone's probably damaged, I guess.

With that, Cassie crossed over to the other side and walked into the building where she found herself climbing a flight of stairs before finally coming to a stop on a wide platform with tall and dark covers obscuring muffled noises coming from the other side.

Looking from one shoulder to another, Cassie saw nobody else except for a few theatrical seats and a stand filled with costumes.

Okay. . .

She stepped closer to the covers before her and stretched out a hand to partition them.

The moment she did so, there were loud cheers coming from the other side like people applauding.

A bright beam of light was cast on her after she was then standing on a performance stage, overlooking the large auditorium thronged to capacity by what must have been an audience.

She was in a theater.

"Florence!" a shrill voice called out from her right side.

"Florence!" 

She turned to see a make shift hat built on the stage and a woman was standing outside of it, with a young boy holding onto her hand.

"Help us, Florence!"

Wow, I guess the play's already began.

"The creature is upon us! You must save us-"

The woman was cut short and Cassie watched to her surprise when a figure appeared from inside the hut and grabbed her. One hand was tilting her head to one side while the other stretched her shoulder, exposing her neck.

Cassie watched the woman let out a scream after the figure opened its mouth and placed it on her exposed neck.

The figure withdrew and did the same to the young boy and he fell next to his mother.

Wow, these people really know how to act!

Cassie began to wonder maybe she still hadn't fully prepared herself for this.

The figure was then advancing towards her, its head stooped low which made it hard for Cassie to make out its face.

But she spotted a red substance from one corner of its mouth.

They even got fake blood! 

Cassie braced herself, ready to condemn the vampire to hell just like Florence had done in the script.

She stretched out a hand.

"Be gone, cursed creature of darkness!"

The tall figure just stood there and nothing happened.

"I said, be gone, cursed creature of darkness!"

Still nothing.

Cassie glanced at the audience then back at the character playing as the vampire.

"What are you doing?" she whispered.

The character then began to slowly raise his head, his face coming into focus.

Cassie had hardly had the time to see his face when he suddenly whizzed past her before standing right behind her.

"Is this still part of the script?" Cassie whispered again. She had been really great in drama class back in high school—the best of the best in fact—her teacher complementing her by regarding her as having raw talent.

Her mind had slightly shuffled back to school, almost recalling that she had just grad—

Those thoughts were instantly vanquished. What happened next shook Cassie right to the core as she felt her head get twisted sharply to one side, her short, dark, curly hair falling over her face and then two sharp points formed on her neck like two needles had just pierced through her skin, sucking out her blood.

Cassie screamed and tried to break free but the two needles plunged even deeper into her neck, devouring her. . .

Her pen made tiny squeaky noises as it poured ink onto the white paper surface, jotting down the words that materialized in her mind.

She then let out an abrupt gasp, causing her pen to slide over the paper and create a line, ruining her script.

Cassie had then felt as if she had just awoken from a trance but the funny thing was she hadn't been asleep. She had been going through her script-

A bottle of alcohol was set heavily on the table next to her.

For a moment, Cassie found herself staring at that bottle with its contents clanging on either side of the rounded glass, an eerie sensation creeping up on her.

"You alright over there?" a man standing on the other side of the table asked her as she noticed how prominent and yet youthful his features were-and yet so. . .familiar. . .?

"Yeah. . .no, I'm fine," responded Cassie, "I was just going through a play that I'm supposed to be presenting in-" she checked her phone's screen "less than six hours."

Thinking about the time, Cassie turned to face the large wooden doors that served as both the entrance and exit to that tavern.

It can't be dark out already?

It was six o'clock, just as her phone had informed her.

Cassie ignored the bartender read through her script in the most fluid and lucid voice as she got up and headed for the doors.

She was swallowed by a deep darkness that would have made it impossible to see outside had it not been for the dim lights cast out by the neon that was coming from a banner with the words that were emblazoned on a tall building.

NOW SHOWING:

The Devil at Twilight 

She remembered having seen those words somewhere.

For a moment, Cassie had considered turning back to the bar.

And she did, except she was unable to get back inside, as if the doors had been locked from the inside with no one coming in or getting out.

The only sort of movement that she could make out through the dark was that of people shuffling their way into the building with the neon banner.

She had a play to perform and ended up going inside the building, all the while getting a crazy feeling of déja vu.

Cassie had entered backstage, seen a couple of costumes lying about and then just ahead of her, the large curtains that separated her from the stage.

She slipped through the curtains and a large bright light blinded her, making her squint. Her eyes hurt from the light pouring into her pupils that had been dilated while in the dark.

Shortly after adjusting, Cassie heard someone call out towards her right.

"Florence!"

"Florence!"

She turned to see a woman with a boy holding her hand and both of them were standing in front of a theatrical make shift hat.

" The creature is upon us! You must save us-"

Cassie watched on when someone stepped out from inside the hut and the woman let out a yelp before two hands grabbed at her; one pressing her head back so that her neck was exposed and the other was over her shoulder.

The person went on to bring his face down on the woman's neck.

She screamed and fell to the ground.

The same thing happened to the boy.

Wait. . .

Cassie's eyes narrowed, quickly noticing a flaw in this play.

Nobody dies in the script.

The person who had 'killed' the woman and the boy was then approaching her and she could see the red liquid smeared on one corner of his lips even though she could not make out his face as it was bent in the spotlight.

Well, she had thought it was fake blood until the man had vanished only to reappear behind her.

It was too late.

First, it started with the two soft but yet very strong hands grabbing at the back of her head and shoulder. Then her head was tilted so that her neck was exposed where the man then went on to sink his teeth in her, sucking out her warm blood. . .

She gasped and made a mess with the pen she had been using to write her script.

A beer bottle had then been placed next to her on the table.

It was as clear as daylight now. The same thing had happened. . .again.

"You alright over. . ." the bartender's words had trailed off as Cassie got up and quickly ran out of the bar.

She plunged into the darkness outside yet again and had been shocked to find that her phone's clock informed her that it was midnight.

The building with the neon banner was still there. The building where she had seen it happen.

Her phone still in hand, Cassie scrolled through to her contacts until she stopped at Natasha, saved as Nat.

If anyone was going to get her out of this, it had to be her best friend. So she went on to call her number while standing outside the bar.

The call was going through but no one was picking up.

She called again. Still nothing.

At the third call, Cassie had then felt something brush softly behind her. Like a breeze.

She turned, phone still over her ear.

There was nothing there just as she heard Natasha finally pick up.

"Hello."

"Nat! You have to come get me! I don't what the hell is going on-"

Cassie's voice was ecstatic and had already began to freak out when she stopped short after Natasha started giggling over the phone.

"Hey, I'm serious!"

Cassie heard the giggling turn into a hollow and hysterical laughter.

"Nat. . ." Cassie's heart began to accelerate. Her bff never laughed like that.

Her fears were confirmed when the person she had thought was Nat went on to speak in a very nasty tone.

"I guess we're having warm blood for dinner tonight. . ." 

The line then went dead and Cassie felt drawn to turn her head back away from the bar and into the darkness where she had been facing earlier.

It had happened so fast that Cassie was sure she had heard her own heart suddenly stop, her skin crawling over her skeleton when two arms had lunged at her from the darkness right before she felt the two pointy surfaces of teeth finding their way into her bare neck. . .

The beer bottle that landed on the table had made her ruin her script with her pen.

Cassie was then trembling. The bartender had  approached her.

"You alright over there?"

"I think someone's trying to kill me!" 

The bartender's rich features were calm with only a slight eyebrow raise.

"I know I sound stupid but you have to believe me."

"Do you know who the person is?"

Cassie explained to him how she suspected that her co-actor in the play was going to kill her during the performance.

"Maybe we should go check it out," the bartender had offered.

"But what about your bar?"

"Oh, don't worry about that. Place can damn well take care of itself."

Cassie got up and walked out of the bar with the bartender and into the darkness which was when she then paused.

"Wait, you actually believe me?"

Poor Cassie. She had walked right into the devil's hands at twilight yet again when two firm hands had grabbed both of her shoulders from behind.

"Of course. . ." the tall handsome man had responded, his face coming into focus despite the darkness and Cassie then saw his mouth open wide to reveal two sharp fangs.

"No! Please, NO!. . ."

Cassie screamed and tried to shake herself free of his grip but he held on.

It had been the bartender all along.

The fangs glowed white in the dark as they were brought down onto Cassie's neck.

She would soon feel the sharp sting of her skin getting punctured and blood getting sucked out of her veins in the next second.

She shut her eyes, awaiting the worst.

To her relief, however, there was no pain coming from her neck which had then caused her to open her eyes just in time to see the vampire disguised as a bartender having vanished and was replaced by what appeared to be bright red light, flashing in front of her in a sparkling effect like lightning and illuminating the darkness around her.

Her eyes then closed after something grabbed at her, fastening around her like a rope and pulling her away from the darkness and into a new and less frightening one that felt peaceful and free of lurking creatures of the night as she blacked out. . .