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“We have to kill him.” I could hear the dog growling and figured it had not eaten in ages. I kicked the man’s leg but he did not move.

  “Brother, he did us no harm.”

  “But he will.” I looked back as I stood in the doorway of the stable, the dog had seized this opportunity and attacked the man’s throat. Octavius laughed as he ran through the door,

  “Looks like we’re safe. No one saw us.” I looked back to the hearth as a lone light shone through the window, I could see a small girl watching us. I waved and smiled to her as we disappeared into the night.

  “I know you are only passing through, but I have to warn you that we have monsters roaming through these parts,” she said into my ear as I slept in her bed. I turned to face her as I said,

  “What sort of monsters do you speak of?” Her hair was wild from the night before as she pulled the blankets tight to her bosom. She took a deep breath as she whispered,

  “They call them nightwalkers. They attacked Old Magnus in his stable. The girl said she saw a man with pale skin and large white teeth. He had been drained of his blood!” She sank in her bed made of straw as I said,

  “What if I told you he died from a dog bite?” She laughed as she shook her head, “Impossible, he loved that dog!”

  “What if I told you I saw this.” Her eyes grew wide as she stared into my face and realizing that I was serious she was silent then said, “Oh bite me, please!” I was still for a moment as I smiled.

  “I drank the whore’s blood,” I confessed to Octavius when we were farther down the road. Surrounded by vast empty fields, the air was cool against our faces. A forest lay beyond the field and if I squinted I could see an ocean beyond that. He looked at me with guilt,

  “I did it as well.” We were quiet for the rest of our journey. We each other one another’s secret and for now it would go unspoken. If we didn’t talk about it, it didn’t happen. He stopped in the center of the road as he looked back at me,

  “Brother, I promise I will find a way for us to get back.” I shook my head,

  “I don’t think he’ll ever let us back in. And I’ve felt enough pain to know that I don’t want to go back to the way things were.” He nodded after a moment,

  “Then we shall stay here on earth. We’ll have to live in shadows, neither one of us is able to answer questions.” The sun was shining now as I looked up to the sky and cursed him for sending us into darkness.

  “Octavius, we must find shelter, I feel my skin will burn under this sunlight.”

  “I agree,” he said as we moved into the fields and headed for the forest that lie far off.

  We lived in darkness until the word of electricity spread. It was at that moment that I shunned the darkness and began my endless begging for Octavius to walk in the sun once more.

  “My soul belongs to the dark now,” he once said. I could not say the same for myself.