Chapter Six.
The rain was coming down hard as Vincent sprinted down the winding, cobbled path. The storm was making the stones slippery underfoot and he occasionally stumbled as he headed back towards the town square.
https://i.imgur.com/3jfRnc8.jpg
The torrential rain blurred his vision and he could barely see where he going but he pressed on, determined to make it back home in one piece. He was halfway down the path when he spotted unusual water droplets rising from the path travelling in the direction of Straud Mansion.
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Distracted, Vincent slipped on the slick, mossy paving. He stumbled and eventually lost his footing, flying backwards and landing painfully on his back.
https://i.imgur.com/4nAl4BJ.jpg
He laid there motionless for a while; dazed, in agony and covered in dirt. He closed his eyes, recounting the evening’s events in his mind. He couldn’t believe this was happening to him. Vampires were real. They were real and turning innocent Sims into more of them, murdering and feeding of their plasma for ‘protection against evil’. He’d never felt so utterly helpless.
His breathing grew fainter and his body heavier as the cold sleet stung his face. Constant thunderous booms and intense lightning flashes surrounded him, lighting up the eerie Forgotten Hollow sky like some dark, twisted version of the firework displays in San Myshuno.
“Sul Sul! Hello, can you hear me? Are you alright?” An unfamiliar voice yelled to Vincent through the torrential rain.
https://i.imgur.com/0X8GLe4.jpg
Vincent yanked open his eyes and let out a long, loud groan of pain. The cold, hard cobbles dug into his back as his bleary eyes tried hard to focus on the shadowy figure looming over him.
“Do you need help?” It shouted over the rain again.
“No, I’ve got it!” Vincent hollered back, “just give me a minute, would you?”
He gingerly rose from the floor and managed a squat position before turning to the stranger again.
https://i.imgur.com/u4OyjG7.jpg
“Who’re you?” He asked, voice dazed and head pounding from the fall.
“Caleb. And... uh... you are?”
“Vincent. Vincent Valentine,” Vincent replied as he cautiously rose to his full height.
“Nice to... uh...” Caleb’s eyes darted away from Vincent’s for a second before reconnecting again, “meet you, Vincent Valentine. Now, come on, let’s get you out of this storm.”
https://i.imgur.com/8BpBvPy.jpg
Caleb gestured at Vincent to follow him. Clothed in nothing but his soaked, thin, white shirt and his dirtied trousers, Vincent gave a grateful nod and trailed closely after him.
***
They arrived at a disturbingly familiar house. Vincent couldn’t shake the feeling that he had been to the property not so long ago but couldn’t quite place when. He was exhausted and freezing cold with a possible concussion. He just wanted to be safe inside his apartment once again and not stuck in some backwater town with an unhinged, paranoid, erratic vampire raving endlessly about the end of SimNation.
https://i.imgur.com/8u80yZC.jpg
“Get out of the rain, you big llama!” Caleb called out to him over the deafening thunder claps, “get inside, now!”
https://i.imgur.com/hS5s9aW.jpg
He had definitely been here before. He climbed the steps, pushed through the doors and entered the hallway. It was a warm, inviting space; a stark contrast to the one at Straud Mansion. The lamps glowed brightly and it oozed quaint, old world charm.
https://i.imgur.com/feO7UuN.jpg
A case brought me here. Vincent’s memories were starting to become clearer. Which one, though? There’s been so many recently.
His throbbing headache was starting to intensify at the back of his head and he started to worry more about a potential concussion. It was a rather nasty fall...
“Please, follow me into the lounge, Vincent. Would you like something to drink, perhaps?” Caleb’s question jolted him back into the room.
https://i.imgur.com/TWEc9nk.jpg
“Um.. I’m OK, thanks,” he said, declining his offer, “I just want to clean up and head home, if that’s alright?”
“That’s fine but first I’d like to show you something,” excitement glistened in his ghostly grey eyes, “follow me, Vincent!”
Vincent nodded warily and followed him into the lounge.
“What do you think, huh? Pretty sweet, ain’t she? The repairman did a great job on her, didn’t he?” Caleb exclaimed boastfully.
https://i.imgur.com/6vcLmc8.jpg
Before Vincent could answer him excruciating pain burst into his skull, doubling him over. Green flashes of light danced in his darkening vision. A shadowy Sim emerged out of the darkness and advanced slowly towards him. Its face was distorted and blurred and Vincent struggled to identify any unique features.
https://i.imgur.com/7TNyvUo.jpg
“Vincent? Uh, SimNation to Vincent. Do you read me? Come in, Vincent.”
Caleb’s jarring voice shattered the foggy image in Vincent’s mind.
What laid before him was an antique organ. Its polished pipes gleamed in the brightly lit lounge and Vincent marvelled at its exquisite, ornate carvings.
https://i.imgur.com/FIYyt33.jpg
He was almost certain that he recognised the room and the organ. His memory was still a little hazy but it was getting there, slowly but surely.
“Is my brother bothering you with his pathetic toys?” A gravelly voice asked behind Vincent.
He spun around in the direction of the sound and was faced with a female Sim casually sipping nectar from a large, round nectar glass.
https://i.imgur.com/NHMk9y3.jpg
“Ahem...” Caleb cleared his throat, “don’t be rude in front of my guest, please,” he replied with a biting tone.
She turned her head towards Caleb and shot him a withering look.
“Vincent. I’d like you to meet my darling sister, Lilith.”
“Nice to meet you, Vincent,” she batted her long lashes and smiled coyly at him.
https://i.imgur.com/67eGkBW.jpg
Lilith’s vivid purple eyes dazzled Vincent and their luminescence almost blinded him. She continued to sip her nectar while she waited for his response and stared at him intently, her eyes never leaving his.
“Li-likewise,” he stammered, as he headed towards the hallway, hastily pushing past Lilith and nearly spilling her nectar, “listen, Caleb, I really have to go now. It’s getting late,” he really needed to leave Forgotten Hollow and its strange inhabitants far, far behind.
https://i.imgur.com/Inhw2xU.jpg
“Oh? But you haven’t heard me play yet!” He said, with great disappointment in his voice, “can’t you just stay for one song, hm?”
https://i.imgur.com/SMRUtkG.jpg
“Err... I really should be -” Vincent’s answer was abruptly cut short. Moving at an unnatural, breakneck speed Lilith appeared before him.
“Not scared are we, Vincent?” She hissed at him, her fangs glistening in the soft lighting.
https://i.imgur.com/DzQsovV.jpg
“Lilith!” Caleb snapped at his sister disapprovingly, “Vincent, please excuse my sister. She gets... incredibly bored sometimes,” in warning, Caleb narrowed his cold, grey eyes at his sister.
“Fine. Whatever you say, brother,” Lilith sighed petulantly.
Vincent recoiled from Lilith and inched himself closer towards the hallway.
https://i.imgur.com/SUl1KWk.jpg
“The bathroom is just through there, Vincent. You can wash up in there,” Caleb pointed towards a door in the hallway, “it’s the first on your rig- .”
Vincent vanished into the bathroom before Caleb could finish his sentence. He slammed the door shut and locked it behind him. He turned the tap and began washing himself clean. The hot water and soapy lather felt pleasant against his icy, cold skin and the aroma of wolfsbane filled the air.
https://i.imgur.com/rOZODSL.jpg
Washed and somewhat dried, Vincent stood back and studied his reflection in the mirror. His unnerved expression peered back at him through the glass.
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It seemed as though Straud wasn’t the only supernatural being in this town; Lilith was most definitely one of his kind. Her mesmerising purple glowing eyes, sharp, pointed fangs and her extraordinary speed led Vincent to conclude that she, too, was a vampire. Caleb was more of a enigma, though, but there was definitely something peculiar about him that didn’t sit well with Vincent. He wasn’t entirely sure if he was just being overly friendly with him or in need of something else. He wasn’t sure if he could trust either of them.
He yearned to escape the property and leave Forgotten Hollow as soon as possible. He crossed to the small window and tested the handle. Locked. He searched for keys to no avail.
https://i.imgur.com/f06GUCQ.jpg
He was trapped inside a building with at least one plasmathirsty vampire for the second time that evening.
I wonder if Lilith wants my plasma to build an army and save SimNation, too? He thought dejectedly as he sadly turned away from the window.
A gentle knock at the door and Caleb’s concerned voice pulled Vincent from his dark thoughts.
“Sul Sul? Are you still in there, Vincent?”
https://i.imgur.com/mjTjEuW.jpg
“Pfft! What do we need some lowly human cop Sim for anyway, Caleb?” Lilith gave a derisive snort, “he probably escaped out the window and is miles away by now. He’s been in there at least a half hour!”
“Shh, Lilith,” urged Caleb in a hushed whisper, “he’ll hear you!”
https://i.imgur.com/VNwIwmK.jpg
“This plan of yours will never work, Caleb. He’ll never go for it! We’ll just have to figure it out on our own like we have been doing.”
“It will work. He’s... different. I can just tell that he’ll listen to us,” he snapped back at her, “I refuse to let our sacrifices be for nothing!”
Vexed by his sister’s lack of confidence, Caleb resumed his urgent knocking.
“Vincent? Please, open the door when you’ve finished. We...,” Caleb shot Lilith a scathing look, “would like to speak to you about something.”
“You’re wasting your time...” Lilith scoffed.
https://i.imgur.com/1ZYH2AI.jpg
“We’ll see about that!” Caleb retorted, with a dangerous look in his eyes.
“Fine,” Lilith threw up her hands in surrender, “have it your way, Caleb!” She rolled her eyes behind her brother’s back.
On the other side of the door, Vincent stood listening intently to their conversation. Unanswered questions raced through his mind.
What does Caleb need me for? What does he have to say to me? Why is he having to make sacrifices?
https://i.imgur.com/l4EcfqB.jpg
His hand reached for the door’s lock when pain suddenly burst into his eyes and skull. He braced against the door, shaking and panting while he waited for the image in his mind to focus.
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Sharp, piercing grey eyes loomed at him from out of gloom. A sharp nose culminated in even sharper fangs. Clawed hands appeared out of the shadows and the figured lunged itself at Vincent.
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The vision revealed Caleb to be the shadowy figure. Caleb was just about sink his teeth into Vincent’s neck when Vincent’s eyes flew open. He hadn’t been having stress-induced hallucinations at all; the strange visions he’d been having were... memories. Memories that Caleb had tried to erase with his vampiric powers.
Caleb, the nice Sim who’d helped him when he’d fallen and sheltered him from the rain had been his late night visitor. Caleb thirsted for and feasted on his plasma without his consent. Caleb was a vampire, too; the same as Straud, his sister and Watcher knows how many others out there. Were the siblings also turning human Sims into vampires against their will like Straud was? Was Caleb obsessed with the end of SimNation, too? Was he also a power hungry control freak with delusional fantasies and the need for a vampire army? Were they going to try to recruit him, too?
“Vincent?” Caleb wheezed through the door, “I know you’re still in there! I can hear your breathing. Is everything alright?”
https://i.imgur.com/aiXKiEr.jpg
Furious and disgusted by the revelation, Vincent reached for the door’s lock and forcefully yanked open the door. Startled by his irate sneer and flaring nostrils, Caleb immediately adjusted his features into a neutral expression to avoid antagonising him any further.
“We’d like to talk to you, if that’s alright?” He asked Vincent matter-of-factly.
https://i.imgur.com/mX8bVYT.jpg
“What do you want, vampires?” Vincent spat the last word at Caleb, his voice filled with hateful ire and he scowled at Caleb’s somewhat guilty face, “do you think something evil will destroy the planet, too?”
An astonished Lilith flicked her eyes from Vincent’s incensed expression to her brother’s confident smirk.
“The cop has met Straud?” Her jaw hung open in bewilderment.
Caleb flashed his sister a self-assured grin, “I told you he was different.”
https://i.imgur.com/RDNmnbV.jpg
