"Don't look down!"
The path to the castle was not meant for human feet. Mountain goats, perhaps, might have found a foothold here and there. I clutched at the wall of solid rock to my left, trying not to think about the abyss to my right.
"Don't look down, Fido," I whispered to my werewolf pup.
My voice bounced off the mountainside and broke into a thousand overlapping whispers.
"Don't look down!"
"Don't look!"
"Don't..."
The puppy whined behind me. I heard the soft sound of gravel slipping off the edge of the path and rolling down. Then an ominous flapping of wings. A vulture, I thought. It was not fully dark yet. The vampire would not be out in the open for a while.
Fido let out another weak whine. I turned my head and saw him pawing nervously at the gravel along the path. He was too young, his grey fur still fluffy, and his tiny fangs barely out. I shouldn't have brought him along, I realized.
"Good boy," I said to encourage him.
His tail began wagging at the sound of my voice, but he didn't dare look up.
"That's it," l said. "One paw in front of the other. You've got this."
He was walking faster now. Still looking down, his moth open in concentration, pink tongue lolling. The last rays of sunlight glistened on his tiny fangs, coloring them blood-red. An omen, perhaps.
Up above, the flapping of wings grew louder. Closer. Fido looked up and growled. An eagle's cry answered him from above.
"Easy, boy," I said, afraid he might chase after the bird and loose his footing. And again the thought whispered at the back of my mind: I shouldn't have brought him.
Fido growled one last time and turned his eyes back to the path. But the vulture would not give up so easily. It swooped in, nearly grazing the rocks with its talons. Fido pulled himself closer to the mountainside, his grey fur making him blend in, nearly one with the mountain. The vulture missed. But it swooped down again, scratching the rocks with its beak. My hand went to the wooden stake I had strapped to my back. Fido too had tensed, his body ready to jump.
"Stupid bird!" I muttered. "We didn't come here for you."
The vulture screamed again and swooped down a third time. Talons sank into soft fur, fangs sank into hard feathers. I pulled free the wooden stake, but they were moving too fast. I didn't know where to strike. Wolf and bird were one tangle of dust, rolling along the path. Then the bird broke free, and plummeted into the abyss with a cry. It hovered along the wall of the mountain, and soared again in the distance. Fido was left standing victorious with a tangle of bloodied feathers in his jaws. He sneezed, and they flew away.
"Good boy!" I said, holding back a sigh of relief.
Fido wagged his tail, gave a proud bark, and began to lick his wounds.
I tried to tie the wooden stake back in place, but my hands were shaking. When I wiped sweat off my brow, I felt my hands stinging. The palms of my hands were bruised, and blood was seeping through the cracks. I hadn't realized I was gripping the wooden stake so tightly.
The sun was already low, it's last rays creeping through cracks between the rocks. The cold shadows made me shiver. Soon the vampire would awaken. And here I was, not even strong enough to fight off a bird. I shook my head to shake off the cowardly thought that was creeping into my mind.
"If I die, I won't die in fear!"
The werewolf whined and rubbed his head against my boot. Deep in my thoughts, I hadn't noticed him get so close. The touch startled me. I screamed and took a step back. I heard the gravel crunching under my boot. And I felt it roll away. My foot found nothing to support it. I reached out my hands, but it was as if the mountain were slipping away from me. I wanted to scream, but the rush of wind blew the air out of my lungs. I hurtled into the face of the mountain, rolled and fell again. It felt endless, the pain reverberating with every bump on the way down. For a mad moment, I thought I was going to rise again like the vulture, riding on the air currents that slithered between the rocks. Then my back hit the ground and the pain exploded stronger than ever before.
All I could see above me was the blood-red sky, growing darker with every labored breath I took. I coughed and felt the taste of blood in my mouth. The wind was howling far above me, or perhaps it was Fido. My vision was growing foggy, and strange images leaped at me from the shadows. I saw my parents and my brothers huddled in our dark home, the way they huddled together on cold winter nights, back when they were alive. I saw them again as I'd seen them for the last time, a pile of blood and bones among the shattered walls that had been our hut. I saw Fido shivering in the frozen woods, the way he was on the winter night when I found him. And I saw the monster who had killed his parents and mine, saw him as if he were standing before me, his dark, bottomless eyes staring into mine.
I saw his fangs glistening in the faint light of the setting sun. I saw his pale skin shriveled and singed. I smelled the stench of charred flesh. And I knew he was not just a memory. The monster, the vampire, was standing there, bending over me as I was heaving my dying breath. And at the moment when the last ray of sunlight died, and his skin began to heal, I thought I saw him smile.