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Tath woke up, gradually. He lay in his bed for a moment, and then pulled the blanket from his eyes, groaning a bit as the light hit his eyes through the window. “Damn…It’s still day, isn’t it.” He said, looking over at his shadow.

“Well, I’m here to answer you; what do you think, Tath?”

He pulled the blanket off the rest of his body, revealing his whole body, then rolling off the bed. “Damn…I hate waking up in the day…” What kind of vampire didn't?

His shadow laughed at him. “I don’t mind at all, it’s the only time I even get to exist.”

Tath glared at the dark shape on the floor. His shadow had a way of saying exactly what he needed to hear to get annoyed. He paced around the room, thinking about what to do for the day. “I don’t even have a feeding to look forward to tonight; I have to skip town, while they still think that buffoon is the problem.” He walked over to the trunk in the corner of the room and got himself dressed, pulling on his leather armor vest.

Shadow Tath laughed again. “Yeah, you’ve worked out a clever system over all the years,” he said as he matched his master’s every move. “Come to town, rob everyone blind, and feed when you need to. Then, when everyone suspects you, you turn the most influential man in town and desert him. The peasants catch him on his first or second attempt to feed; they see the problem is solved. That’s when you take everything you can and skip town.”

Tath only chuckled as he threw his dark robe on over the armor. “It’s been working so far; and it’s gonna work again tonight. Until then, we’ll just have to wait. Go grab the chess set. Oh, that’s right.” He got up, laughing at his shadow, pulling out the chess set and walking over to the table.

The blood was vibrant that night, trickling down her face and mingling with the ink of her hair. As her eyes closed and opened she watched him leave her behind. The terror on his face, his beloved face, as he ran away from the broken body at the bottom of the stairs would forever be etched into the blank slate of her mind.

"...love you..." Her cooling lips mouthed the words to the back of her young lover. His white face contrasted with his deep red hair, and as he ran away, the darkness began to creep up through her vision.

"...need yo-..." That was when her last breath escaped her lips, and as he looked back on her, all he would remember for the rest of his few days were the vibrance of her blood eyes. Just as scarlet as the fluid pooling about her navy dress, the tips of her raven hair turned sticky and matted with it. Her life was pouring out of her body, and her body froze as it was; one hand forever reached out to the one that left her behind.

They had gone to the hottest theme park in the whole country that night. She had been so happy, riding all of the rides, and eating cotton candy until she was sick. She bounced along in her dress, dragging her beloved by the hand to the scariest place Zero Parade had to offer. In her enthusiasm, she supposed she hadn't seen how dim his eyes were, or how little attention he really gave her. But in the Haunted House, with it's spray painted ghouls and fake skeletons, he pulled her to the side. In a side room, where only employees were supposed to go, he took her face in his hands. The gleaming machinary that controlled the mechanics of the house stood in the background as the moonlight glinted off of it. To the west side of the room was a set of stairs that lead to only God knows where.

There was screaming, and shouting, but the words wouldn't come back to her.

She could only remember as she sobbed and threw herself into his arms for what would be the last time.

"Please, need me! Don't let me go!" Her voiced echoed in the small room and down the stairwell. Her tears wet his shirt and in his disgust with her he pushed her away. But she fell down the stairs.

And he left her behind.

Translucent fat tears began to well in her blood eyes again. Sitting alone on the corner of the very room she died in, the beauty herself wallowed in languish. About the room was the many people she had kept as companions, only to have them starve to death later. In some brutal instances Miss Death herself had gotten a hold of them. She didn't like to recall those instances. In her corner she observed the bleached bones and rotting meat that was the remains of her last friend.

She remembered the pain she felt as this one screamed and screamed.
Having chained her up in a cage to keep her for all time, the beauty fed her little pet scraps of meat that she could find. Often, they were bits of human meat that had been lying around that was still fresh enough not to hurt the girl. Her hair had been the same violent red as the beast who had left the beauty behind.

" Please let me go! LET ME GO!" the red-head would scream over and over until she was hoarse and the beauty had to fetch her water. But this one instance of the screaming was too much; the Beauty wanted a friend to love her.

" You will love me or You will die!" The beauty's voice echoed in the grimy walls of her haunted house tomb. Running up to the change, with eyes of violent scarlet, she plunged her very hand into the chest of the captive girl. Once again, blood flowed down the arm of the beauty, and she pulled the "companion"'s heart still-beating out of her chest.

" You will love me! I will have your heart!"

Vanadia, I liked your post. Out of 10, I'll rate it an 8, for what my opinion is worth. More description of the setting would have been nice; once you establish that its a haunted house, there isn't much else. Also, I would have liked more description of the killing of the companion. I didn't really have a reaction to it, when it should have evoked something akin to revulsion. The post started out a great deal stronger then it finished. But, the style is enjoyable, you use good diction, and, overall, it paints a reasonably good picture of the scene. I'll rate this midway between literate and advanced lit.