Chapter 20: Embrace by SlaYo.

The Earian marketplace was filled with life during the festival of the moon.
Louie Greenthorpe and his good friend Wallace Parker were dancing ecstatically in the midst of the enormous crowd. Wallace's father was a good friend of mister Greenthorpe and thanks to him Louie was allowed to leave Greenthorpe for several days. Their goodbye had been rather strange, Lawrence had tears in his eyes, it almost felt as if they would not see each other again.
But his father had always been rather protective of him, he was most likely afraid to come to face with that fact that his son had grown up.
Rabbits from all over Carrotus had gathered in Earian to celebrate the festival of the moon, which was the start of a new year. Fancy dressed street artists were playing joyful music as the sun slowly sank behind the horizon, shining the last few rays of sunlight of this year over their faces.
They had met with several people in a bar a few hours before the countdown until the most celebrated night of the year began and ran down the streets trying to soak up as much of the atmosphere as possible. Every little street was filled with rabbits from different parts of the world; all of them dressed in the garments of their own culture, different kinds of music fed their souls building up the inner excitement. Louie and Wallace found their way into a pub and were dancing with a pair of lovely and rather outgoing twins. The drinks flowed aplenty and the music was too loud for them to hold a normal conversation. But the looks in their eyes were plenty to communicate.
Wallace went to the bar and returned with another round of shots of spiked lemoncello.
The clock counted down the minutes and the two young men ran outside. The sun had gone down and fireworks were lit and exploded into bundles of brightly colored lights over the docks, coloring the dark sky. “Hah, this looks fantastic. It must be one of the best days I’ve ever had.” Louie said and he laughed and brought a toast to his friend Wallace. “I can’t believe you’re father allowed you to come, but I wouldn’t have wanted to celebrate this with anyone else… well, with the exception of those twins maybe. He laughed hard and finished his shot of spiked lemoncello.
They sat on two barrels standing by the docks and admired the spectacle, a large row of people made their way through the streets, all dressed in ridiculous, yet festive uniforms.
Wallace tapped Louie on the shoulder a little later and pointed down the street "I think you have an admirer." Louie turned around and looked into the face of the most gorgeous, young rabbit he had ever seen. She must have been close to his age and her eyes had the sparkle of a diamond to them. They seemed to grab him and lure him closer towards her. He set a few steps in her direction and she walked towards him, his heart was beating in his throat. Wallace's eyes were equally fixated on her beautiful face. A faint and warm glow seemed to surround her as she gracefully moved her feet over the cold, marble pavement. Louie took her small hand in his and placed a soft kiss on the palm of it, not breaking away from her breathtaking eyes. "My name is Louie Greenthorpe, miss. Whom do I have the pleasure of meeting?" He spoke softly, encouraged by the liquid fuel that had flown freely tonight. "I am Estella Bane, it is a pleasure to meet you, Louie Greenthorpe." She replied.
He asked her for a dance and but a moment later they were dancing on the shiny marble, she had her arms wrapped around his neck and put her head on his shoulder. This was all the introduction they had needed He had never met a girl like her before. The only ones he had spoken to were the stiff upper lip girls that he had seen on one of his father’s parties. This girl was so much more different than them. So much more alive, friendly and beautiful. "Would you like to go for a short walk?" She suggested when the musicians started to play a more cheerful tune. And he couldn’t say no, he did not want to.

They walked along the shoreline, the water softly rippled as they entered it with their bare feet.
The beach was calm and almost empty, save from a few youngsters that were sleeping in the soft sand. Drunk and fulfilled.
"Look at them, hollow caskets, death could come and claim those mortal fools whenever it's ready for them. And yet they think the life they lead is so beautiful and perfect." She said with a macabre tone to her voice that made Louie's body shiver, it was an odd combination of feelings he was experiencing at that moment, most of them hormonal and primal in nature.
"Surely you must see the beauty in life my dear." He whispered into her ear.
"I have, I’ve seen you. But until you see everything in the same way that I have seen it, you do not know what true beauty is." She said as she slowly licked his cheek.
"You’re such a pretty boy." She said followed by a soft sigh. "And I’m the lucky girl that gets to keep you for all eternity."
Louie looked down in the water at his reflection and a shock went through his body. He could only see his. Estella had no reflection, he looked up and his eyes met hers, they were blood red.
His head filled with irrational thoughts, voices screaming at him that he should leave. A perfect pandemonium. Her smile was wide and her canines had grown several inches. The last thing he could hear was the crackle of fireworks high up in the sky above him.
She sank her teeth into his neck, sucking him dry of life. He imagined the pain would be horrible. But all he felt was a unification of two souls, the perfect harmony of the world in his head.
A perfect bright light filled him up on the inside. And then there was nothing as his body sank into the salty water of the sea.

He woke up several months later, veiled in darkness. It seemed like he was unable to escape from his dark grave until his lust for hunger got the better of him.
His two hands smashed through the wooden lid of his coffin and after several more punches it gave away. Louie tried to crawl out of his coffin and fell down on the hard ground. He had a hard time standing up. His legs didn't want to hold the weight on top of them and he fell down to the floor a few more times, crawling towards the exit of his crypt.
He had not used his muscles in months and his body was asking more from him then he could give. He stopped to take a breath, but his lungs had died along with him. He could inhale nothing and this made him panic. He clawed at his chest, but the hand on his chest was not answered by the familiar beat. He managed to grab the door handle and the door slowly opened with a creak, the sun blinded him and he pushed his head into to sand, trying to scream, but no sound escaped from his rotting mouth. He managed to reach the pond and slowly let himself sink into it… he couldn't breathe. He didn't have to but he felt the urge to inhale.
What was happening to him? He took a few sips from the water in the pond but it hurt as it found its way through his body, the pain was terrible and plenty, unlike anything he had ever felt before. He heaved, salty and burning tears in his eyes, fresh water running down his chest.
His eyes slowly adjusted to the bright and fresh world around him and he saw Estella sitting on the porch with the body of a young girl near her feet. "Hello baby. You must be starving."
His mind he had lost, but his unstill stomach ached for a drink of the young virgin. And he gave in…

Theodore’s fangs caught Louie completely off-guard and the monstrosity that was once an innocent man left his mark in Louie’s cold cheek. The sight of blood made Theodore lose the last bit of sanity he had left. “You shall not leave this place alive, master, I must feed, I must.” He heard the man speak. Poor Theodor had been through an incomplete embrace. An incomplete embrace left people in a state of delusion and mania. His sinister voice would make any normal man tremble in fear. This spectacle was not one witnessed by a normal man however. This house was filled with beasts. And the beast in Louie was awakened by the mere sight of the pure evil in front of him. He reached for his sickles that had dried out mud and strands of yellowing grass on it and had not been used for gardening for plenty of time. They would be put to good use now however and unleashed their fury upon the walking corpse that was standing but a few meters away from him. The sickles cut through the air, releasing a soft gasp of air with every strike they made. Theodore let himself sink back into the chair, missing the blades by an inch. He kicked Louie against the forearms, making him drop the weapons. The fiend reached for one but Louie grabbed him by his upper arm and slashed his neck open with the other. Within a breath, Louie stood behind Theodore and cut open his back, gutting him like a fish. But the strong man did not give up the easily, he kicked Louie into the chair. The vampire let go of the compact sickle he was holding. Making it fall into his own stomach. Theodore grabbed the other sickle off of the floor and made a 180 degree spin. Barely missing Louie, who had sank down into the chair.
‘That was close’ Louie thought to himself. He wanted to strike again, but Theodore jumped back and hit the Grand piano that had collected quite a bit of dust over the ages. .
“Stay still so I can kill you, you spineless worm.” Louie shouted. It seemed that the bloodlust had gotten the better of him, and his calm nature made place for the anger.
Theodore cackled and raised his sickle, preparing for his final strike. The two men faced each other, a moment that seemed frozen in time. Until Louie jumped forward, shoving the sickle deep into the intestines of Theodore who slowly sank down to the ground.
Louie grabbed him by the throat and placed his neck on the edge of the piano, before slamming the lid shut with all of his power. Theodore’s decapitated body fell down with a dull thud.
Louie turned around and leaned against the piano, taking a breath… so to speak.