Kevin, Salina, and I strolled down the trail until we walked off the path into the woods. Fallen leaves covered the entire forest floor. Of course, October was in the Fall season. 

"So what else can you tell me about Dregan," I said. "Is he totally a vampire?"

"I am honestly not sure," said Kevin. "However, nobody knows about his true origin. They said he came from Europe with the colonists in the 1600s. He is an aristocrat who sold lands to people, just like a real estate agent. Moondale is the only town he founded in the New World. He ran the town for five years until the people discovered he was sucking blood from his victims. Some people even believed he built the town to only abduct people without getting caught. But nobody ever said he was a vampire. There was no supernatural evidence to confirm that.”

“I believe he is a vampire,” said Salina, grinning. “Sucking blood explains it all.”

I glared at her. “Any sicko can suck blood, Salina. But that doesn’t mean he is a total vampire.”

Salina smacked her lips. “I bet blood tastes good. Yummy.”

My face cringed. “Ewwwwww!”

Kevin held up his finger. “Vlad the Impaler drink blood from his enemies, but he wasn’t a vampire.”

Salina eyed him. “Isn’t Dracula based on him? His real name was Vlad Dracula.”

“Yes, but the vampire Dracula version is fictional. If people knew Lord Dregan is a vampire, then everybody would know vampires are real. Still, there is no evidence to confirm it.”

If everybody discovered that vampires were real, the entire world would freak out. I totally freaked out when I discovered werewolves existed. 

Maybe it was a good thing nobody knew terrifying creatures lived among them. Or maybe not, but someone needed to know to fight them so the rest of the world could live in peace. That was why Kevin, Salina, and me vowed to take on anything that threatens our home. We might only be teenagers, but we have the power to fight the supernatural.

"What happened to the victims after they were rescued?" I asked.

Kevin pushed a hanging branch up. "Tragic….. The four girls went crazy. They attacked their families, trying to suck their blood. And they kept calling out Dregan's name. Their families sent them to a mental asylum for help, but the girls committed suicide. The doctors found their bodies hanging from a tree."

"How terrifying," I said, breathlessly. "Did the doctors knew why they went mad?"

"The investigators believed Dregan tortured them, physically and mentally. Because Dregan vanished, the girls found no reason to live without him. Whatever the count did to them, it was unspeakable."

"How awful." I wondered if Mark would have done the same thing to me if I gave in to the beast. Any abusive freak could turn a girl into his slave for life. Count Dregan sounded totally evil.

I looked around, noticing we had been walking like total zombies for a while. Darkness already grew after the sun set beyond the surrounding green mountains. Then coldness chilled through my bones. "What exactly are we looking for out here?"

Kevin and Salina stopped near a tree. They checked behind it.

"Anything strange." Kevin turned toward me. "Spirit, artifact, or….. Creature."

I pursed my lips. "The only thing strange could be inside the castle. We should just head there now. It's freaking getting dark out here."

"Hmmmmmmm, perhaps you are-" Kevin paused and looked around. "Do you hear that?"

I opened my ears and gazed about, hearing crackling noises. "Yes. It sounds like someone is walking toward us."

"Who?"

My back shivered.