Stricken with a curse – a prompt short story

Pain gripped my body as I convulsed on the floor. Try as I might, my feet refused to get underneath me so I continually to slide around on the greasy floor slick with blood. They has tracked me through the night. No matter how hard I tried to lose my pursuers they always seemed to know where I was headed. Every turn I made, there was a face staring back at me; a predatory grin bathed in waxy moonlight.

I had run on and on through the night. A church rose up in the distance and I thought my salvation was near. I had been so stupid to go out alone, it wasn’t safe in the city after nightfall any more. I could hear Wilhelm’s voice now, deriding me, wielding his patented ‘I told you so’ at me. How I would give anything to see his face again, to be safely inside with him and the others. But I had wanted to prove a point.

As soon as I had entered the churchyard, I realised I had made a grave mistake. I had been herded like cattle to their own place of choosing. Mulitple attackers had descended on me. Hands grabbed at my hair and arms as I tried to kick out and get free but there had just been too many of them.

It was too late now. My guts felt like they were turning inside out as the curse took hold. I could feel every cell in my body mutate and each one was screaming in agony. As another wave of pain rolled over me, a last surge of strength helped me to get to my feet and barrel through the circle of my captors. Clawing my way out of the mausoleum, I reached for the midnight air. The stench of dust and decay clogged my nose; I needed to get out.

The voices behind my rose to a crescendo and I knew they were at the end of their ceremony. It truly was too late. My body spasmed in agony and I fell to the floor writhing in pain. Tears rolled down my face as the pounding in my temple beat at my senses over and over. Ragged breaths started to come as I almost retched on the air.

“Don’t worry my dear,” a voice rained down on me. I blinked furiously, my eyes were so weak now. A person was hanging over me. He had been the one leading the curse. “It will be alright now, you’re one of us.” He grinned again.

Sobs lodged in my throat, fighting against the suden need for oxygen. I clutched at my chest where the foreign thumping made me cower in fear. They had cursed me and changed me. They had turned me into a monster. The thing the vampires feared most. I was human.

Written in respinse to October writing prompt no.4 from Putting My Feet in the dirt https://puttingmyfeetinthedirt.com/2021/10/01/october-2021-writing-prompts/