A Tragedy in a Tragic Town

She preferred to travel at night, where the luminescent moon was the only rival to her pale skin. The length of her silky soft hair would melt into the night air around her and her clothes were the shade of the sky just before dawn. She could hide at night and no one would be any the wiser of her passing through the town and taking a meal or two. Not to mention her fondness of money and jewels that lined her pockets heavier after each town. She had forgotten her name, if she ever had one she had forgotten that as well, not that she had much use of one, her only contact lived half a world away. Even then a name wasn't of importance, she was simple known as The Duchess. A title given to her in a way that was ironic, supposedly. It was easier than trying to keep up with the many pseudonym that had been given to her over the centuries and what she needed was easy. Life, or Death as she thought of it, had become so tiring lately, her meals had become more frequent and in the case of last nights quite large. It was the holidays, she told herself, but it had still taken an entire family, young and old, to satisfy the craving at the bottom of her stomach.
The Duchess knew what this was, and as much as her contact tried to dissuade her, she knew the only answer would be in the Tower of Glum, in the middle of a town full of tragedy. If she was honest she was avoiding the visit to the Doctor, his reputation certainly preceded him. There was talk she had heard from the passing of others, that he was the first made and therefore believed all belonged to him. The Duchess hated that, everyone knew humans were the first to walk the Earth. Yet it was insisted by many of her own kind and a few of another that he was the first. He was mostly inactive now, bored with a long life and hidden in a town in the middle of nowhere. Every now and then a tale of his actions was spread out for the world to hear and fear. It often contained a lot blood, none of his own but plenty of others sometimes even those of her own kind. Of all the monsters, because that's what The Duchess was, her own kind were the only ones to seek out the Doctor. He had lived a long life, longer than any in living, or in death, memory and he had the answer, supposedly of how to survive the slump.
Her death-day had been so long ago and her actual birth was 20 years before that, it was only natural that she began to get tired, that her meals didn't full her like they use to and her body didn't heal as fast as it should. In all honesty she knew that she had been putting off this visit for sometime now, after all she had met the Doctor once before. When her life was alive and her pulse wasn't fabricated through other people's blood, she had been beautiful. Her skin had been pale yet not the paleness of death that it was now, her hair was often braided in flowers, a sister or someone of that kind had done for her. It was all she could really remember of her life before death, except for when Doctor Glum moved to town.
Lucy, for although she couldn't remember, that was her name when she lived, was the youngest of a small family that lived in a small town. It wasn't a happy town even though the crops they farmed flourished every year and no family was too poor and non too rich. It wasn't a happy town because of the tragedy's that occurred. A few happened around the same time each months, some happened frequently throughout the four weeks. Some left prints that didn't fit either animal or human and some left nothing but an empty space. For that's what they did, they killed the citizen of the town. Never enough to deplete the town of residences but never enough to ensure the safety of the people. Of course families had tried to escape, move away from the horrors as many would in that situation. They suffered the worst, sometimes a night would not have passed before the corpses, drained of blood and organs, would arrive in the town square.
The foolishness of men drew them from near and far to prove that the ones before weren't as strong or clever to beat the monsters that plagued the tragic town. They would arrive on horse back declaring in proud voices their intentions, laughing into the faces of the old men who had seen their family torn from them one by one or the young orphaned children with despair in their eyes. It became ritual to send the men off with a feast to honor the death they had stupidly given, eventually fewer and fewer heroes came with proclamation of rescue. After all it wasn't a problem men could solve.
Around her 19th birthday Lucy became enchanted with the beast. Her father, who she severely disliked due to his alcoholism, had been taken by a beast of the almost animal type. Something about the death had caught her attention, for it reminded her of how the butchers son worked. He was a nice boy, popular, strong and far too good looking for his own good. Lucy barely paid him any attention, except for the previous month when he had helped her carry her father home from one of his drinking nights. Lucy had thanked him, because not many others would journey into the night in a town like this, she may have also mentioned how out of all the people in town the one person she wished dead still lived. So when she woke to the screams of her mother and ran into the kitchen to see her father hanging from the ceiling, cut from head to groin, with vital organs missing, she couldn't help remember the back house the butchers had. Lucy smiled secretly as she looked at her father hung like a pig ready to be bought and roasted.
"Bless that you girls are fine," her mother cried into Lucy's elder sisters arms as she was carried from the room. Left alone with the corpse Lucy had an idea. It was a terrible idea for it involved the death of someone else, but as long as it wasn't her Lucy was willing to risk it, for the town of course.
She ran, skipped and jumped with joy all the way to the butchers shop, her dark hair flowing in the wind as her mourning dress begged to catch up. Henry stood behind the counter, yawning as he slammed a knife down on to a large piece of meat. As she entered the shop, Henry looked up with a smile, as he lazily leaned on to the counter while she came closer. No one was there but the two of them, yet Lucy had to be dramatic, she looked to her left then to her right before leaning across the counter her hand cupping her mouth and his ear.
"He's dead." She whispered her eyes staring straight into his before she stepped back and giggled, "dead." She shouted as she spun in a circle.
"Who are you talking about, to be so happy that a monster," he said the word with some disgust, "has claimed another life?" A smirk toyed on Henry lips as he watched her dance around the shop, raising the skirt of her dress higher than her mother would of liked.
"Oh, my father, he died last night. Gutted from head to groin, organs gone and hanging like a pig from the ceiling of the kitchen." She leaned back over the counter, her chest heaving from her dance, "maybe my wish came true, you know the one I told you about, maybe someone heard me and wanted my happiness to reign true." She smiled brightly into Henry's face, he really was handsome, all muscle and tanned skin with dark glossy hair and amber eyes.
"That sounds very unlikely," he breathed back a smile of his own toying on his lips.
"I know, but if it were true maybe they would kill...No I shouldn't." Abruptly Lucy turned her back on Henry walking with measured steps away from him.
"Why who else would you wish death upon?" Henry asked softly as he slammed a cleaver into one of the two pieces of meat.
"Cassandra Milock." Once the words were out, Lucy covered her mouth in the shock of her words, though she had measured them carefully.
"Why Cassandra?" Henry's voice was soft again, as another slam came down with the cleaver.
"Oh she has her eye on the man I would like for my own." With this Lucy smiled rushed forward a kiss on her lips for the cheek of Henry that once was planted left her running for the door with a girly squeal and a glance over her shoulder.
With that action completed Lucy began to realise that the town was housed to monsters as well as humans. The butchers and the Mayors family had never been touched, yet somehow that had gone by without notice. Although with Cassandra's death the next day Lucy watched them hard. She didn't want to find weaknesses, or a secret to plead with so she could escape death herself, she was certain Henry had already granted that for her. She wanted to be one, it was all fair enough that she could ask for someone to die in around about way, but she wanted to do the killing. She hated the town and the people in it. Their pleas and begs to creatures, Lucy didn't see them as monsters, were wasteful and truly pathetic. Power, she believed, didn't lay at the feet of humans, it was at the feet of these creatures the desire to do what they pleased whenever they pleased was exhilarating.
With Henry on side Lucy was soon learning more about the creatures of the town. They were two different types, Wolves that changed on a full moon and the nights either side of it. Then there was the bloodsuckers, as Henry called them, though they were actually Vampires. The creatures lived in a loose harmony together, keeping the town under its grips for their own food source. Lucy was hungry for the knowledge, she stayed with Henry most of the time, he was enchanting and affectionate. It was this that led Lucy to her life of death. A year by his side had given Lucy all the knowledge she needed to decided she wanted to be apart of this life. She knew already in away, but it was confirmed and rooted deeply with the words of Henry. It was also after a year that Henry became worried. The King of the Monsters was coming to town, he had away of showing up every now and then barely announced with the intention of proving he was the King. Henry was scared, more than scared. He had fallen for Lucy because she was a beautiful, even in life she had a deathly beauty that had attracted him to her. She was strong as well, she knew her own mind and went for what she wanted no questions asked, no worry for who she could hurt. When she discovered his secret, Henry thought she would run away from him screaming murder and bringing the town to his door. She hadn't done that though, she stuck with him, found out more, she was fascinated by his life and wanted it for herself. He wanted nothing more than to give it to her as well, to make her a wolf, his bride in a way. The King would ruin that, Henry was sure, he would see her and her fascination for their way of life and would want her for himself. It was too late for her to become his wolf bride, the moon was beginning its new cycle and The King would be here before it reached the crucial point. So Henry told her to run and hide.
Lucy did hide, when Doctor Glum came to town. She knew a little about him, he was Henry's master in away and he had no fear of who knew what he was. She was worried about Henry, wasn't she suppose to be with him, or she should be a wolf by now, howling to the moon and ripping the throats out of unsuspecting towns folk. Lucy had to go back to town, had to make sure he was okay, that he wasn't being punished for something he hadn't done. That's when she saw him, the town folk hidden in the houses, Henry, his family, the mayors family and a few other people that were hidden in the shadows, stood before a tall man. He had white hair, not just the white of old age, but pure white like the first fall of snow or a single cloud in a blue sky. He was young though, his face flawless and his body looked strong under the white suit he wore.
"Children, I like the power you have gained over this town," his voice was deep, a magical note echoed through the words he spoke. "This shall be the town I shall settle in as I rule my empire, it is time for me to rest. I will eat the children of the people who defy me and I shall kill anyone who would try and stop me. I need a queen, for my empire to be complete." He looked, with almost certainty at Lucy then, his dark green eyes holding hers with such intensity that she thought her presence had been caught. A shuffle from the shadows caught her attention, ripping her eyes away from his. The King's voice echoed once more though the town"Let this new age begin." There he turned to the hill on which the mayor's house stood and made his way up, followed by the trail of his servants, except for those in the shadow. Lucy watched them disappear through the gates at the bottom of the hill as they made their descent upwards. Once they were far out of sight, she crept to the shadows, keeping to the light for she knew what they were like.
"Hello girl of Henry." One of the shadowed creatures said, she couldn't see their faces so she wasn't sure which it was, not that she had ever met one.
"Where is Henry going? Is he okay?" Lucy asked glancing over her shoulder at the house.
"Oh he's fine, Doctor Glum is just making his place in the town, this shall be his home now." The same voice said a laugh around the edge of his words.
"Doctor Glum, Henry just referred to his as The King."
"That's how the Wolves see him, he is a wolf himself, Doctor Glum. We don't see him like that at all."
"Oh not at all, at all..." chimed in another voice, this one more rich with tones, "...he means something to all us creatures. Yet he is no King of Vampires, would you like to see how we work."
"I know the gist." Lucy said eyeing the creatures in the shadows with unease, they were moving she was sure.
"But we can show you, you can learn." With that said, pale hands reached from the shadows, a slight hiss of a burn was heard as hands wrapped round each of her wrists and she was pulled deep into the shadows. Lucy felt several pairs of teeth sink deep into her flesh, then with a soft moan from her lips that had meant to be a scream, her blood began pulsing to each bite. They stopped before long, holding her weak body as her blood tried to move through her broke veins. One of them moved into her a vision, a striking man with bright golden eyes.
"Henry will hate us for this," he whispered as he slit his wrist and push his slowly warming blood into her mouth, "he wanted you to be his, now he's second in command. We need you more though, we need soldiers." Lucy began to choke on the sticky liquid sliding down her throat. The man dropped her then and with the other shadows they melted deep into the shadows.
Lucy didn't remember much after that of her brief view of Doctor Glum, pain contorted her body as she died and was reborn into the death that she was now. She hadn't seen Henry since, it broke her to think what he would see when he looked at her as a bloodsucker. She would see him soon though, he was still second in command to Doctor Glum.
The Duchess as she now was called knew it was time to go home, time to face the demons of her past that had made her into this monster she now knew she was.