1982: Small Town Bloodline Records

Your dead relatives and friends will turn into ghosts on the windowsill.

At four o'clock in the morning, in the room at the end of the corridor on the second floor of Morrison's house, the lamp was still on through the crack of the door.

Karl was leaning against the head of the bed, with a small cross wrapped around his hand, and he closed his eyes and prayed in a low voice.

He knew that it was impossible for God to hear his faint voice, but he was willing to try for that little chance—he hoped that those terrible omens in the dream never really happened, and he hoped that his mother and Todd could get back from there. survived a terrible disaster.

After returning home, Dad locked himself in the room.Even if he didn't say anything, he could still see the pain and despair on his father's face.Human beings are such fragile creatures, facing dark creatures, even such clumsy unfinished products, they have no power to resist.

With every minute that passed, the chances that Mom was still alive were slim to none.Karl knew that Edgar would keep his promise, even if it was a remains, he would definitely take his mother away, but he still felt uncontrollably sad and painful.

- Blonde parents can't have a black-haired child.

He knew from a long time ago that he was not the biological son of his parents, but what did it matter?Compared with the biological parents who have never met, the Morrisons are the ones who raised him and gave him countless loves.

His memory started from the moment he came to Brodika Town.Here, he has parents who love him and friends who grew up with him, but everything was destroyed in this nightmarish night.

His family is in pieces, his friends are missing, and he can't even avenge them.

It will be dawn in more than an hour, Karl thought blankly.When the sun rises, all blood-sucking monsters will be reduced to ashes screaming.

It's just that those who died can never come back, just like the damage caused by this tragedy can never be erased from people's hearts.

Suddenly he heard something knocking on the window pane of his room, which made his heart hang.

He hadn't forgotten anything Edgar had told him that day.He tiptoed over, glanced cautiously, and was not relieved when he saw the familiar pale blond hair.

He asked in a dry voice, "Who are you?" He still held the cross in his hand, and he didn't let go even though he knew it was useless.

"Edgar Fogelsand." The voice was exactly the same as in memory.

He breathed a sigh of relief, but quickly became alert again.

"Prove it, prove that you are Edgar Fogelsand."

It was written in that book that many dark creatures have mimicry abilities.They will pretend to be relatives and friends of the owner of the house, and then trick them into opening the door for them.

The man didn't speak, Karl almost breathed out nervously, and at the same time as he was nervous, his shadow began to stir restlessly again.His pupils gradually expanded and turned into a pitch black color...

"The rose, the lance and the knight's head, cast in Spain in 1862."

Carl exhaled, "Okay, I know you are Edgar." He cautiously opened the window a crack.

Edgar stared at him quietly, not speaking.

"..." Carl waited silently for Edgar to break the silence.

"I have something for you." Edgar's tone was very soft, so soft that Carl was even afraid to hear what he was going to say next, "Hand over here, Carl."

After a few minutes, Karl held out a hand hesitantly.

He thought his hands were already cold, but he couldn't help shivering the moment he touched Edgar.

The cold metal ring was carefully placed in Edgar's palm.

He recognized what it was almost instantly, but he wished wildly that he was wrong.If he was wrong, my mother might still be alive...

The ruby ​​shone with a dazzling luster, and the gold around it was a little dull.He lifted it up, brought it to his lips and kissed it lightly, as if kissing her soft cheek for the last time.

"I...I know."

Edgar's eyes were full of compassion, "I'm sorry, it was already late when I went..."

Carl shook his head, "No, it's not your fault." Tears streamed from his eyes, "Thank you, you took her home."

There is not even a last ray of hope left.Just tonight, he lost his beloved mother forever.

The icy wind hangs on the roof, quietly stealing away those sad tears.

Carl nearly died from crying.He never thought that the day of parting would come so quickly, why must it be him?

Edgar waited for him to cry enough, wiped away the unshed tears with his cold fingertips, and said quietly, "There is still a little time before dawn, change your clothes and come with me, I will take you somewhere."

"Where are you going?" Karl stared at him blankly.

The snowflakes fell on Edgar's smooth skin but did not melt, and behind him were clouds glowing with a faint orange light.

"I found your friend, but for one reason or another, he can't come with me." Edgar pressed his forehead against Carl's, "I'll take you to see him now."

"He... is he okay?" Carl didn't dare to think about what the "reason" Edgar said was - whether he was dead or... no matter what he was afraid of facing.

"It's not very good to be honest," Edgar sighed, "but he's waiting for you."

Todd was waiting for him.This sentence undoubtedly gave him a shot in the arm. Carl swallowed the heavy worries and fears in his heart, "Then...then you wait for me, I will leave a note for Dad, and then I will come to you."

His head was still dizzy, and crying made it even worse, but his unspoken responsibility to Todd forced him to suppress his discomfort, staggered into a thick coat, and went downstairs to take his mother's wedding ring together with it. A crooked note was pressed together on the dining table—he hoped that his father could see it, but he didn't want it at all. After doing all this, he quietly left through the door.

"This is……"

His mother was sitting on a wooden chair in the garden.

She was like a sleeping white rose that finally came home again, but never opened her eyes again.

Snow that never melts falls on her, making her look like the Ice Queen from a fairy tale.

Tears welled up in his eyes again, and Carl held on to the wall next to him, otherwise he would fall down in grief.Just when he was about to fail, someone picked him up by the waist.

As he leaned against that warm embrace, many anxieties gradually settled down, as if he had known this fact many years ago.

"Put your arms around my neck, and I'll take you to meet your friends." Edgar's palms covered his eyes, and his consciousness gradually sank into the darkness.

Half asleep and half awake, he heard the sound of wind rushing past his ears.

"We... where are we going?"

He, and Edgar, are like creatures in legends, wandering on the edge of this quiet and beautiful town full of blood.

Everything is theirs until the sun rises.

fly.Karl was vaguely aware that they were flying at the moment.Through the clouds, through the wind, through the cold and loneliness.

The feeling of flying is so good, as if he does it for a living.

After galloping in the dark for an indescribable amount of time, Edgar stopped and placed him on the soft cushion.

"Here, open your eyes."

Carl opened his eyes, he could hardly believe what he saw.

It was 39 Wiggelson Street, but it was a little different from the one he remembered, at least not with soft knitted cushions and plush rugs.

"What...what did you do to your house?" Carl stammered. "Last time I was here...it wasn't like this."

Obviously there is nothing exaggerated, but the living room here is no longer barren and empty.

"He was locked in a room on the second floor by me."

Edgar didn't answer his question, and took his hand up the stairs, "You need to prepare for the worst. Because he was turned into a vampire by that guy, um, yes, incomplete first embrace. Out of two There are two reasons I didn't kill him immediately, one was your request, and the other is that he seems to be able to communicate, but you have to remember what I said, dark creatures are born liars, maybe that Todd you know Croft is dead, and what remains is a newborn monster."

Even though he was prepared, Karl couldn't restrain his inner sadness when he heard Edgar say this.

"I... I trust Todd," he said in a voice only he could hear.He had lost his mother and could not lose Todd.

"I hope so." The vampire's super-sensitive five senses let Edgar hear what he was saying, "so I brought you to him. Pay attention, Carl, you are the one who knows Todd Croft best, you One must always be careful to distinguish whether he is lying, and if he is lying, for what purpose? Is it a white lie between friends or a vampire's lie to hunt for any means."

He led Carl to the door of the room on the right on the second floor, and took out a key from his pocket to open the door.

There were scrawled symbols painted in silver powder on the door, and Karl stared at his toes, silent.He knew Edgar was right, but... he still felt bad.

His friend had become another creature, and maybe he would never be the Todd he remembered... Even so, he wanted to continue to be friends with the vampire inside.

I hope Edgar doesn't think his idea is ridiculous.

"I will stand guard outside the door. If something is wrong, you can silently say my name in your heart, and I will hear it."

The door was opened, and Edgar gave him a slight push on the shoulder, and he blinked, meeting a pair of twinkling red eyes.

"Todd, is that you?" He said tentatively, "I'm Carl, I... I'm here to see you."

Darkness, this is Carl's first impression of this room.

I don't know what Edgar did. There should be only a dark reflection of the window.

Carl walks in and the door closes behind him.He knew that Edgar would definitely stand outside the door like a knight who kept his promise, and this knowledge made a hot current surge in his heart.

Even creatures of darkness have a bright side.

"Carl," the figure tied on the bed let out a weak groan, "don't come over. Just now that guy said that I became a vampire...I...I can't control my fangs yet, stay away from me, I'm afraid I'm going to hurt you."

After getting used to the darkness, Carl could see Todd's appearance clearly: he was tied to the head of the bed by a black belt, which seemed to be composed of some kind of flowing liquid.Except for the red eyes and the long canine teeth around his lips, he curled up into a small ball, moaning unceasingly, as if he was enduring some kind of severe pain.He made up his mind and took another step forward.

What Edgar had said earlier circled around in his mind before flying elsewhere.He didn't know whether the vampire was a monster, but the moment he saw those eyes, Carl could be sure that it was his friend Todd Croft.

The human side of him was not quite dead, was struggling with the beast side, and he had to help him through the hardest of times.

Carl held out his hand tentatively.When he touched Todd in the past, Todd's body temperature was always lower than that of ordinary people, but overall it was still warm. This time, Carl didn't touch anything, except for the coldness of frost and snow.

The skin that had lost its elasticity was slightly sunken under his fingertips. He took a deep breath, and slowly held the temperatureless hand, letting their fingers intertwine.

"Carl..." Todd's eyes widened.He couldn't believe that Karl was willing to touch him like this, "I..."

Carl noticed that the whites of his eyes were bloodshot profusely, and his lips were involuntarily bruised.His heart hurts like being torn apart, why did Todd become like this?

"Todd, I... I'm still scared." Carl squeezed a little more, "I'm afraid of vampires, afraid of death... oh well, except for the guy who brought you here, I don't know why I'm not afraid of him at all... ...In short, I will try my best to overcome my fear for you, you are still my best friend, okay?" He was a little incoherent, and he almost couldn't figure out what he was talking about.

He wanted to be near Todd, but he was still afraid of vampires, or rather he was afraid of what was in his subconscious when he saw a vampire.

—he didn't want to hurt Todd, in any way.

"I...I understand." Todd flinched back a little in frustration, but Carl didn't allow him to flinch, his eyes dodged, "I feel so hungry, I want blood...you shouldn't come near me, you Know what you are to me? A suckling pig, a big slice of bacon, that's about it, I have to fight these crazy desires all the time, let alone you, even I am afraid of myself like this. "

When he heard bacon and suckling pig, Carl couldn't help laughing, "Listen, Todd, it's okay." He coughed so violently that his lungs were about to explode, and a large swirling star appeared in front of him.He patted his chest, finally calmed down and said intermittently, "If you want my blood, I will give it to you. It's okay, just like humans will go hungry, and vampires rely on blood to survive... I understand, although I'm a little scared, but I won't turn you into ashes."

Todd struggled violently, "Carl, I don't want it!" His overlong fangs pierced his lips, and black liquid oozed from the wound, "Don't give me your blood!"

Sensing his intention to break free, the black string tied around his wrist tightened little by little, and he howled miserably, "...Carl, don't hurt yourself for me!"

The pain caused his pupils to dilate, and he collapsed on the bed, turning away from looking at Carl, "Get out, I don't want your blood."

In order not to continue to hurt Todd, Carl had to let go of his hand and stared sadly at the small figure on the bed.He could see that the irreversible and terrifying magic power of First Embrace was still eroding Todd's body, completely turning him into a dark creature that sucked blood for a living.

There was nothing he could do about it.He said Edgar's name silently in his heart.

"Edgar!" he yelled, "I need your help, please help Todd, if you know what to do!"

"Wait outside."

The blond vampire broke in and pushed Carl out without saying a word.

When the room was closed again, he could see at a glance that the condition of the person on the bed had not improved, and had even worsened: Todd's eyeballs were about to protrude from their sockets, and hideous veins appeared on the back of his hands and neck. The mouth was closed, and the tusks grew uncontrollably to more than double their normal length.If Carl had stayed in the room he would have noticed that he no longer looked like his friend Todd Croft at all, but rather one of those monsters at Wilbert Manor.

"I'm sick," Todd said vaguely. "Help me, I don't want this..."

Edgar was reflected in his eyeballs.Edgar watched his face condescendingly, with guilt and sadness flashing in his eyes.

He was sure that Ignatz had improved his formula again—Ignatz liked to use his own blood as guinea pigs, because it would ensure his absolute dominance over them.

"Blood, give me blood, I...I need more blood!" The flowing blood rope was deeply pulled into Todd's wrist, but he struggled desperately as if he couldn't feel the pain at all, "Give My blood!"

He growled, wept, and even cursed Edgar, who was beside him.

Through the crazy red eyes, Edgar saw not only the poor boy in the body, but also a newborn beast.

It is vicious, cruel, tormented by hungry desires, and is on the verge of losing its mind at any time.He thought of himself who had just accepted his first embrace and was tortured by the same pain.

"Be patient."

Edgar took out a pocket knife, cut his own wrist, and squeezed two drops of black blood into Todd's gaping mouth.Soon the shallow incision healed, but Todd, who received Edgar's blood, did not feel so well.As if he had been burned, he screamed terribly, the sound even the well-informed Edgar felt horrified.

Seeing that the thin bloody rope was about to cut off the poor boy's hand, Edgar relaxed his suppression a little bit.

At this time, Todd had no human appearance at all. He stared into Edgar's eyes, like a beast that had found its prey, excited and cruel.

"Listen, I'm not as kind as Carl," he whispered in Todd's ear, "I know you can understand me. I'm telling you, it's about half an hour before dawn, you If I can't make it through, I will remove the magic on the glass and let the sunlight shine in. I have lived for hundreds of years, so a little sunlight is nothing to me, but to you, just a little bit can turn you into ash."

The threat of sunlight made Todd's pupils lock tightly.He stared at the blond man above in disbelief, forgetting even to struggle.

But thanks to Edgar, he also regained a bit of human reason.

He wanted Edgar to repeat what he had just said, "But Karl..." Karl wants you to save me.

"You are the blood of Ignatz, of course I can't trust you." Edgar said without any emotion, "You better pray that you can stay sober all the time, or I will drag you directly to the sun Under the sun."

The blond man released his hand from his shoulder and snapped his fingers easily.

The glass that was completely opaque a second ago became completely transparent at this moment.When Todd saw the leaden clouds heralding the dawn, his eyes were irritated to two lines of blood tears—the newborn vampire always has a period of adaptation, during which time, no matter how weak the light and sound are, it will affect his body. Deals great damage.For Carl's sake, Edgar didn't intend to really hurt him at the moment, and soon restored the little magic on the glass, and the room became invisible again.

"I will give you blood on time." I don't know what Edgar did to him, he is very sleepy now, so the voice of the blond vampire seems to come from a very far away

——Hypnotism, vampires have natural hypnotic ability, and you will have it in the future.

Hearing such whispers from someone other than Edgar, Todd opened his eyes wide and shook his head in fear, "No, no, no! Get out, get out of my mind!"

"What's wrong with you?" Edgar sensed that something was wrong with him, and forced him to look up into his eyes again, "What did you hear?"

"I heard someone talking..." said Todd blankly. "He's still laughing, laughing, ah... and he's calling you a liar, saying there's no way you'll save me. Give old John a penny and he'll It's been repeated all the time."

Thinking of what Edgar said before, Todd was silent for a moment, then choked up and said, "I...I feel like there are monsters in my body. Am I going to become a monster?"

Edgar didn't look him in the eyes, "I, and Karl, we will work hard to save you until the last moment, so don't give up on yourself easily."

At first Karl just wanted to take a nap, but many things that could happen in less than 24 hours flooded his mind, and he soon fell into a quick and short sleep on the brand new and soft sofa in the living room of 39 Wigelson Street .

In the dream, he saw his mother wearing a plain white dress and waving goodbye to him. He reached out to reach her fingertips but couldn't reach them. The next second, the beautiful scene of heaven disappeared, and he returned to that place. In a treacherous stone corridor.This time he managed to reach the closed door, and heard the creature inside calling him eagerly, but the moment he was about to push the door, he suddenly woke up from the dream.

Edgar sat beside him, holding a cup in his hand.

The air was filled with the sweet aroma of milk, and Carl's empty stomach secreted a lot of stomach acid.He swallowed quietly, "... What time is it?"

Edgar didn't speak, just handed him the cup in his hand.The moment he touched the cup, he was scalded and immediately withdrew his hand. After a few seconds, he stretched out his hand cautiously again, "I thought you were going to eat in front of me again."

The cup was filled with hot milk, and Carl blew on it for a while to make sure it wasn't too hot before taking a small sip.Sweet, too sweet, about half a jar of honey was added to it, so sweet that Carl's tongue felt greasy.

He looked at Edgar suspiciously, and Edgar said somewhat unnaturally, "Vampires don't have a sense of taste."

In another situation, Karl might laugh, but at this moment, he is not in the mood.

A lot of sugar relieved Carl's anxiety. He quietly drank the overly sweetened milk in the cup, and asked in a low voice after a long time, "Is Todd okay?"

"Not so good." Edgar sat beside him, making sure he drank all the milk, "I'm not his blood father, so my blood can only slow his pain a little and make him change less quickly. Quick. I've never actually seen him in that situation, so you have to expect the worst."

"Thank you." Carl put the empty glass aside, "I'm a bit confused, I can't believe it until now, all this happened... It's terrible, why is the hospital like this?"

Edgar didn't answer his question, at least not now—he hadn't forgotten how bad Carl had been a few hours earlier, and he wasn't going to destroy his mind with another round of bad news.

Maybe Ignatz was right, Dawn had ruined the old him, killed the cruel and ruthless him in a way he had never imagined before.

"You just looked bad."

Carl sighed, "I dreamed about my mother. Edgar, I don't know if you can see that, I am not a child of my mother's blood, to be more strict, she is just my adoptive mother... But I really love her , compared to the biological parents who abandoned me for some reason, I only recognize her as my mother. I dreamed that she said goodbye to me, and the moment I was about to meet her, I returned to the one who was always entangled In my nightmare."

"Nightmare?"

Carl didn't notice that Edgar's face became very strange.

"The stone corridor, like a labyrinth, should probably be underground...on the wall there is an oil lamp made like a monster's head, and there is a green flame inside," Karlby sketched the scene in his dream, "I became a child, It's probably so small, and then I keep walking, I don't know why I have to walk, maybe there is something waiting for me at the end of the maze."

Edgar was silent for a long time, "Carl, these are all dreams, not things that really happened."

"I know, I know it's just a dream..." Carl's voice gradually trailed off, "My childhood has always been very happy, and it is absolutely impossible for this kind of thing to happen to me. I guess it may be because I watched too much The Goosebumps series, my mother always told me to read less of them so I wouldn't have nightmares at night. If... if I could get my mother back, I would swear I would never read these poor fantasy novels again."

Just when tears were about to overflow his eyes again, he raised his hand and wiped the corners of his eyes vigorously, "...I'm sorry, I'm talking about such a sad topic again. Edgar, it's almost dawn, don't you go back to sleep?"

The daytime does not belong to vampires.

Even though he knew that the weak sunlight could not hurt Edgar, Karl couldn't help worrying about him.

Edgar shook his hand, "Good night, Karl."

"Good night." Carl sat on the sofa. "Can I stay with you until the evening? I swear to you, I will go home when I see you at night."

"As you please." Edgar's figure quickly disappeared.

After confirming that Edgar would never be seen again, Carl jumped off the sofa and quietly opened the curtains by a corner.

The dazzling morning light made him almost cry again, but he stared at the newly born Asahi without blinking his eyes.

The bloody night is finally over.

The blood that flowed could not be erased, and became a wound that would never heal in the hearts of all living people.

Basking in the sun, Karl felt for the first time that what the sun brought was not warmth and light, but heavy redemption.