The Mistletoe

I felt a strong and steady tapping on the window, startling me as I jumped from my sleep. The cat had disappeared, and I saw the Raven pecking at the window.

It must have been around five or four in the morning. Did I mention I usually have a heavy sleep? Yes, it’s heavy, but it usually lasts no more than three or four hours.

I was thinking about the woman from the dream, and she scared me quite a bit. I think the only thing that changed was that I saw her there, in my bed, wearing jeans and a black blouse, something modern compared to the Victorian clothing I remembered.

Most frustrating of all was that I could never fully remember her face, only the sensations. I just knew she was very beautiful. Well, now that the raven has awakened me, I’ll have to carry out the plan to go through the path alone. I had a strong impression that it was a place where my father should not go, or wouldn’t succeed, that feeling when you know you have to do something alone, just like when I fought the Peuchen.

I went out through the window and saw the Raven perched on top of an axe.

“Mr. Raven, the last time I used an axe, it bounced off the enemy and didn’t do a thing to him.”

“Caw, caw, caw!” The damn bird croaked.

“Shut up, you stupid bird! You’re waking up everyone. Alright, alright, I’ll take the axe,” I finally said. “God, I’m talking to animals!”

The axe seemed like a typical one used for chopping wood. I noticed there was a mark that looked like a rune, and the Raven itself seemed to have made it during the night. “A magical Raven?” I thought. I grabbed my backpack and belongings, started to move forward slowly, guided by the Raven.

I could see the footprints the beast had left during our only encounter, and as I followed the terrain, it seemed that the fog was becoming thicker and thicker, to the point where I couldn’t see what was in front of me, so I began to rely more on my other senses.

My nose detected nothing but leaves, my ears were alert, and I felt the wind, anticipating any change in the environment, but nothing. I walked and walked, perhaps I had already walked several kilometers, and I considered turning back for a moment, but I realized that the path had, let’s say, disappeared.

After disappearing, it seemed to become more difficult to walk around there. I couldn’t see the benches or the trash cans that were usually placed every so often, nor did I see the path where vehicles passed by.

I took out my compass and said, “Oh no, what I was expecting!”

The thing was spinning like crazy, and I didn’t understand why.

“Why does misfortune haunt me?” I cursed as I tried to wait for the fog to dissipate. I checked my smartphone for a signal, but there was nothing. Not even the GPS seemed to be working; it was as if the satellites had ceased to exist.

At least Mr. Crow was still there with me, cawing occasionally. I grabbed the flashlight and descended down a ravine; I thought I saw a carriage riding toward me.

“Okay?” I thought about it and asked for help in English. The carriage had four horses, and it looked quite pompous. There were two gentlemen in front and two behind; my gut told me there was at least one person inside. All the individuals were dressed in very old-fashioned clothes, like those seen in horror movies.

“Who’s blocking the way? What’s going on?” the woman shouted.

When I began to hear the sounds of drums in my mind, I already sensed that something bad was going to happen.

The gentlemen approached and dismounted, murmuring something to the older lady.

“Look at his clothes...” one said.

“He’s carrying something in his hand, it’s lit...” murmured the other.

“It’s like a torch...”

I kept hearing murmurs, but my instinct told me that something was not right; none of these people seemed... human, so to speak.

The elegantly dressed woman got off the carriage, accompanied by one of the men, and surveyed the surroundings while the others waited. They all had a penetrating, pale gaze, as if they hadn’t eaten in days, and the attire they wore was putting me on edge.

The lady made a facial expression, and the four men lunged at me; things had taken a turn for the worse.

Quickly they start to dive. “They are fast!” I thought.

They seemed to want to scratch me, and even threw bites, it was an animal fighting style. I held off the kick of one and the other one threw me backwards, while they tried to surround me, I kicked one of them, sending him towards the carriage, he grabbed my hand and hit the third one in the head.

The fourth one came at me like lightning and bared his teeth at me.

“Shit, they’re vampires!”

I get away from the second one, who was holding my hand, and I grab the fourth guy, who was trying to bite me. We did a hand fight and I managed to headbutt him in the nose. I quickly pull out the axe and the first one flies towards me, managing to intercept him and decapitate him with the axe.

Two guys come back to surround me and attack me from the sides, each one trying once again to hold my arms while the lady watches, slowly approaching. I get away from one of them and they hit me again and again, trying to knock me out. I punch one, and pull out of the way of another, dismembering his arm.

“Aahh!” He yelled.

One of them grabs my axe, which was on the ground and tries to chop my head off, the other one lunges at me and tackles me to the ground. In the struggle, I noticed that at the sight of my eyes he staggered a little and I managed to free myself and get him off me.

The one with the axe, lunged at me, and we struggled, while the guy who lost his arm seemed to be pleading with the lady. I managed to hit the guy in the balls and take the axe away from him, giving him cuts on his arm and head.

“Two to go.” I muttered.

At full speed they both throw themselves against me, and manage to tackle me one more time, I push one and hit the other one, breaking his jaw with some effort. He tries to grab me by the neck, and I manage to dismember both arms, and then finish with his head.

The last one and I run towards the axe, and start an intense struggle, where he tries to drive the axe into my chest. The man with the missing arm slowly goes to help, almost crawling, but I manage to kick him away.

I manage in the struggle to take the axe from the last one and I give him several blows, before decapitating him. The last one tries to bite my leg, and I finish him off with the axe. The now known vampire lady tries to run and I throw my axe, which hits her in the back.

When I get there I remove the axe and see that she starts to heal. She crawls and tries to kick me, I was furious. I finally finished her off and the horses galloped off on their own, taking the carriage with them.

I saw others try to attack me but I decapitated them before they launched themselves against me, I could not even see who they were, I only felt their supernatural presences and saw their faces with their teeth towards me, hostilely.

Disoriented and soaked in the blood of these creatures, I continued my way along the path, my wound this time seemed to heal a little slower, but it was healing anyway.

I went over and kept walking. “What was that? Where the frick am I? Where did this damn Raven took me?!” I thought as I walked as if I had just walked out of a slaughterhouse.

My clothes were scratched, torn. Did I tell you I was soaked in blood? Ick..

If I see a house “What am I going to say? You know sir or madam, you don’t know, but I ran into a couple of vampires that were going to leave me drier than jerky? Don’t worry, this blood is not mine? Don’t worry, I went into Berserk mode for some reason I don’t know and slaughtered them?”

“God! What if the whole damn town I’m going to is full of them! I’d be walking into the lion’s den. Will I make it back?”

I wiped my hands as best I could and tried to look for a signal. There was no cell phone line, no GPS, I called my dad over and over and over again, nothing, not even the phone line was working.

I looked at the map and I couldn’t understand, nothing made any sense, I cursed the Raven that brought me here, I was supposed to be on vacation, not dueling with different creatures.

“Anyway,” I thought, “there’s no turning back. If I passed through a path seeking signs of civilization, pardon me, human civilization! it should be further ahead, or so I hope.”

I continued walking slowly, in case I encountered someone along the way and not to startle them. My backpack seemed fine, and the phone was working, but it was more of an ornament or a camera than a phone for now.

I walked until I reached a beautiful mansion. I saw a couple of people cleaning the entrance and doing chores.

“What the heck,” I thought.

One of the women, almost shouting, saw me in a comprehensible shock and then yelled, “Madam Perrodon! Madam Perrodon! There’s a young boy at the door, he seems to be very injured, please help.”

Several women and other people came out to escort me. A Ravend of servants began to gather around me, and I was relieved to see that they were all human.

They escorted me through a garden to enter a spacious place. They sat me on a sofa, and I could see all the decorations.

“Wow!” I thought, “There are luxuries around here.”

“Young man, young man. Are you alright? What happened to you?” asked one of the maids.

I found it really hard to understand their language; their German was quite different from what I spoke, and I tried my best to communicate, but we couldn’t get anywhere. A man dressed elegantly, along with a blonde girl who must have been around my age or a little younger, was observing me.

Finally, I managed to make her understand.

“Wolves...” I said... “Wolves...in the forest...” And I showed my axe, which I carried on my back.

“The young man says that he was attacked by wolves in the forest, father, but it seems he’s not injured, at least not physically,” the girl told the man.

“It’s good that I called the doctor; he should be arriving soon,” he said.

“Here we have two visitors in a day, father, it seems like fate,” exclaimed the girl attentively.

“So it seems. First the young lady we have in her room, and now this young man. Please find him a place to settle,” the man told the servants.

“Yes, sir,” they confirmed.

The girl looked at me with her warm face, blushing a little, and after a pause, she asked me:

“And what’s your name?”

I replied, “Miguel. And yours?”

She finally told me, “Laura, nice to meet you. I hope you feel comfortable, Miguel. Your name sounds very exotic; you don’t seem to be from around here.”

I thought for a moment about what to invent since I had no idea where I was or how I had gotten here. I didn’t know if this was a sort of costume festival, because it seemed like I had traveled to the past.

“I’m just a traveler from a very distant land; it’s... a long story.”

And there, peering through the shadows, while our eyes met like night and day, was a girl with dark hair and black eyes. She was strangely familiar to me but unknown. She seemed annoyed, but she couldn’t stop staring at me; it was unsettling.

“Ah, here she is! Miguel, let me introduce you to my new friend, Carmilla,” said the girl named Laura, pointing towards the dark-haired girl.

I stood up to greet her, but there was something in the air, a strange sensation, as if both of us were measuring each other. My neon blue eyes reflected in her obsidian black eyes, and as we shook hands, we both felt as if a strange spark came from our hands.

After they left, I surveyed the surroundings, trying to reflect and recollect what had really happened since I left the inn.

“Darn it... I’ve traveled to the past,” I thought after contemplating the environment.

I never imagined that my adventure was just beginning.