Darius' Journal: Into Darkness

The year was 1883. I had been tracker her, the mother of monsters, across continents. I never thought I'd become a monster hunter. My entire life was spent on a farm, except those four years of the war. My name is Darius LaCorde, and I only want to one more chance.

I've been looking for that chance since she died. My only love, Anna. I held her in my arms as she slipped away. If only I hadn't killed her uncle, if I had just waited. But I was angry, and now there is a mortal sin on my soul. I've traveled the world trying to find an answer to one question: Can I bring her back.

I thought I was close in Haiti. I watched as a man raised the dead to do the bidding of others. He was far more than a man. He called himself the Baron. But he wouldn't help me. In return for my favors he granted me the gift of sight. 'Gift', that word is so deceptive. With my new found ability I can see her. She walks around me. But she is broken. The experiments of her uncle have fractured her spirit. I am in purgatory without her and yet she is in purgatory without me.

The Baron sent me here looking for 'the one he could not collect'. He told me her name was Lilith. Somehow she had escaped his grasp and all of death. With her head I was promised the resurrection of Anna.

I had stalked her half was across Europe. Legends sprang up in her footsteps. According to the people I met she was a foul 7 headed beast with the body of a woman. I know people's tendencies to embellish but I am also no stranger to monsters.

They stories were often confused with tales of a similar beast out in Romania. A creature they called Dracula. I almost went that way before I learned that monster was male. Lilith was far more secretive about her movements. I lost her several times. But in the summer of 1883 I found her in a little village just outside of Italy.

I had been staying in a hotel room when the stories started springing up. Young men and women being lured off and never seen again. This was the first time I was able to bear witness to her appetite. I sent a telegram to Matthew, Anna's father and my benefactor, for more money. I was so close to finding her.

That evening as the sun set I prepared for my hunt. In my small suitcase I had three pistils. Two of them were given to me in Haiti and I knew would have no effect on Lilith. The third I pulled off a Union General in the Civil War, a Colt model 1860. I wasn't sure it would even be of use. But I slide it into my holster anyway. My long coat concealed my gun belt from prying eyes. I pulled my hat down low and headed out into the night. I would be my own bait this evening.

I followed the stories out into the woods. I was not the best tracker. But I couldn't give up, not this close. I underestimated the darkness and soon found myself lost. There was the sound of snapping twigs around me. I  sat my back to a tree and drew my pistol.

The moon streaked light through the branches overhead. I could hear something sniffing the air just out of view. A large beast stepped into the light. It's grey fur framed two perfectly yellow eyes. I leveled my pistol at the beast. Suddenly the words my mother used to say to me as a child filled my head.

"The great wolf hunts in packs.

If you see one don't worry.

You'll see the rest

After it attacks."

I shifted my gaze to my left. Another wolf stood inches from me. Before I could turn to fire it was on me. The pain only lasted a moment as they tore into me. I cursed my stupidity. In the before I faded into darkness I could see Anna looking down at me from above the wolves. Her tears floated away into the night.

I opened my eyes to find myself sitting by a campfire. The taste of my own blood lingered heavily in my mouth. Everything hurt. I tried to turn my head and found the pain took my breath away. She was sitting there tending the fire. She wore a shear night dress that barely covered her thin pale body. Her long red hair was pulled to one side.

"Keep moving like that and you'll die sooner than later", she said, never looking at me.

I tried to form words.

"Wh-wh-why", was all I managed to say.

"It's not common to find someone looking for me. I felt I at least owed you an audience before I let my children finish eating."

There was so much more I wanted to say. But my primary focus was on staying conscious.  Lilith began talking again. It was at this point I realized it wasn't me she was talking to. I followed her stare across the campfire. Anna was sitting on a log. She gestured toward me and back to Lilith. The sound of my own blood pumping deafened me to their words.

I blacked out. When I opened my eyes again Lilith had me in her arms. She was stroking my face with her hand.

"If I let you die now she'll be stuck in the between world for eternity. But if you are to stay you must choose. Do you want to stay?"

I didn't think. Anna was too important to me. I couldn't abandon her now. I nodded my head as best I could. Lilith smiled. She pressed her mouth to mine. I feel back into the void. But I could still feel her. her tongue probed into my mouth, into my soul. The taste of my blood was now mixed with the taste of her's.

I woke by the fire, alone. The sun was just setting. My wounds were completely healed.  Then I noticed the lack of sensation. I couldn't feel the grass beneath my bare feet. Only a pressure let me know they were even there. The darkened woods seemed illuminated by hidden torches. I easily found my way back to place of my devouring. I reclaimed my pistol and headed back to the small room I was renting.

I feared how I would appear to others so I took extra care not to be seen. Once inside I found the mirror. I was covered in dirt and blood. But what unnerved me most about my reflection was my eyes. They didn't look like mine. The entire reflection felt like I was looking at another person, mocking me by matching my movements. I pulled the sheet from the bed and covered the mirror.

Anna was in the corner of the dark room. She was playing with a flower she found. She was always picking up dead things. I walked over to her, but she didn't notice me. I had failed my first hunt. And in the process damned myself for eternity. I sat quietly in the dark. Hunger came at me in waves. But I could not let myself become the monster.

The sun rose and with it the house I was in came to life. There was a knock at the door, but i didn't dare answer. An envelope slipped under it. Inside was the answer to my wire. Matthew had made good on his promises and the room was paid till the end of the week. All I wanted to do now was get home. I made my way to the window and opened the curtain.

The light his my like a hammer. I felt my body wither on my bones. I looked down at hands that could belong to a corpse. I shambled over to the mirror and tore away the sheet. I stared into the eyes of a frail old man. His white hair was almost translucent. Those eyes still mocked me, even as they sunk back into his skull. I got dressed as best I could, everything took so long. I was exhausted by the time I left the house. I set my course for home. But that's another story.