A MAZE OF GREED

"You will help me?" The man with dark hair asked Mr Payne.

His voice had not any hope or relief. In fact, It did not hold any kind of emotion. They were just words sprouted from his mouth. Did they mean anything?

"Of course, I will help you son. Tell me what are you doing here?"

The man was silent for a while. Then began, "I... I am lost sire."

It was the first time that Mr Payne picked up a slight touch of emotion in his voice..

"Hmm... That much I figured. But how did you got lost in the woods. I have not seen you in Vincardine. Are you from another town?"

The man nodded his head. "Yes. I do not live in Vincardine."

"Where do you live then?" Mr Payne asked.

Staring right in his eyes, the man answered. "Kinsville."

Mr Payne was taken aback by his answer. He had not expected to hear that name. For some reason, people were not allowed to visit that town without the permission of the ruling family- the Garfields.

So looking at someone from that town surprised Mr Payne.

"Kinsville? Then we have a lot to discuss son. Come on let me help you get up."

The man looked at Mr Payne's outstretched hand. He slowly placed his hand in his, and Mr Payne shivered.

He had never experienced anyone's cold touch. The man's hand was so cold that it was unnatural.

"You... are cold." Mr Payne pointed out.

The man did not say anything and stood up on his feet. He easily towered over the old man with his height. Mr Payne now looking at him up close, could see how dark his eyes were. He could not find out the difference between the lens and the pupil of his eyes because everything was black in colour.

His skin was pale... paler than Mr Payne had ever seen. But the man was strikingly handsome. His voice was gentle and sweet. His movements had an elegance.

Were all the residents of Kinsville like him?

"It is late son. We can not stay in the woods any longer. You must have heard about the unfortunate incidents that happened in the woods of Vincardine."

The man saw how Mr Payne had a stick in his hand for his defence. But he did not point it out.

"But I do not have a place to go sire. Do you know a place where I can spend the night?" The man asked hopefully.

"There is no place in or near the woods where you can stay. Why don't you come with me? I am heading my home." Mr Payne suggested.

The man looked surprised. "You... but I am a stranger. How can you trust a stranger?"

"Yes you are a stranger. But humanity means helping others even if they are strangers. Do not think much. My home is small with only two rooms. But they are enough to accommodate three of us." Mr Payne smiled.

"Three of us?"

"You, me and my wife!"

The man did not hesitate and agreed to come with Mr Payne. They began walking in the direction of Vincardine.

"Sire, you were saying something about the unfortunate events in this woods. What is it about?"

Mr Payne looked at him with narrowed eyes. "You do not know?"

The man shook his head. "As you may know news of the outside world rarely crosses the border of Kinsville."

That was true. Kinsville had always been a mysterious place for the outside world. People only knew the direction in which the town was situated. Some even had used the roads passing by the town. But no one had dared to cross the borders without Garfield's permission.

Neither a resident of Kinsville was seen outside the town. So Mr Payne understood what the young man said.

"Everyone knows about the five deaths that happened in these woods. The dead bodies were found tormented and devoid of a single drop of blood. The images still make me shiver in fear." Mr Payne admitted.

"That is indeed unfortunate. Have they find the killer?" The man asked.

"Not yet. They say it was done by some animal. But which animal drinks only human blood and leave the flesh behind?"

"Then what are your assumptions?"

Mr Payne shook his head with a smile. "I am not in a place to assume anything, son. All I can do is be safe and keep the people around me safe."

"Is that why you are carrying that stick in your hand?" The man pointed out.

Mr Payne looked at the stick in his hand as if he had just remembered about it.

"You can say so." He shrugged.

"Sire, I am well capable of protecting myself and you. You do not need to carry that all the way. Trust me!"

The way he said the last two words, made Mr Payne believe him. He immediately let go of the stick, and it fell on the fallen leaves with a thud.

Walking some more steps, Mr Payne said. "Tonight is strange with this strange weather. It is cold suddenly. I am sure you do not have that in Kinsville."

The man put his hands in his pant pockets. "We are used to the cold weather in Kinsville."

"Really? But that region is not cold." Mr Payne wondered.

The man shrugged his shoulders with a heroic smirk. "It is one of the specialities of Kinsville."

"So how did you end up in the woods? What happened to your clothes?" Mr Payne asked.

The man held Mr Payne's arm with his cold fingers before he fell again in the dark.

"Thank you!"

The man nodded with a smile. "I was trying to escape." He said calmly.

"Escape? From whom?" Mr Payne asked in confusion.

"You will not believe me sire."

Now Mr Payne was curious. "I will believe if you tell me."

The man walked beside him silently for someone to step. "Monsters."

He whispered, but the old man heard it.

"What monsters? There are no monsters in this world son. Humans are enough to fill that vaccum."

He was right. Humans are no less than monsters when they let their desires overpower their conscious.

"I told you that you will not believe me."

Mr Payne glanced at him from the corner of his eyes. The man's face did not let anything appear on it. It was guarding his thoughts and feeling like a loyal guard.

"I am sorry. Please explain."

"They say there are monsters. The blood sucking monsters. They are always hungry. Their hunger can not be satisfied with any amount of blood. They roam in the nights in search of a prey."

Mr Payne felt the chilly air frosted his fingertips.

"And you were trying to escape from them?"

The man nodded his head.

"You mean... those monsters... they are here? In Vincardine?" Mr Payne asked in alarm.

The man smiled. "Not yet. But they will reach here soon. I am sure about that."

He said that so confidently that made Mr Payne's heart skip a beat.

"Then where you encountered with them?"

"In Kinsville."

That answer made Mr Payne halt in his path. He turned to face the man and questioned him further, but what he found was an empty spot beside him.

Breathing heavily, Mr Payne searched around for the young man. But he could not spot it against the dark.

"Son? Where are you?"

He searched for him frantically but he did not found him.

Mr Payne did not know what to think. That mysterious man had something appealing yet something off about him. Mr Payne could feel it but he could not pinpoint what it was.

He gasped when he accidentally bumped into something. He turned around to come face to face with the same man. Mr Payne did not know if it was relief or fear that made his hair on the body stood up straight.

"Where were you?"

The man smiled but it was the coldest smile Mr Payne had ever seen on someone's face.

He instinctively stepped back.

"I am searching something, Mr Payne." His voice was hypnotic yet it rang all the bells of alarm in Mr Payne's head.

"Wh-what are you searching?" Mr Payne lost his balance while stepping back but he controlled himself in time.

He paused in his place and stared at the man in front of him who looked harmless. He was a stranger who needed his help. But at that moment, he looked far away from being harmless.

"Something that can satisfy my hunger!"

Mr Payne's eyes widened in shock. His brain put the two and two together at a lightning speed. His heartbeat accelerated and without wasting more time he broke into a run.

The man enjoyed the old man's state in amusement. Mr Payne did not care in which direction he was running. He forced his feet to work harder and ran where his feet landed on the ground.

The silence of the woods was deafening. It did not help his frightened heart. He looked above through the gaps of the green canopy to see the moon was still caged by the dark clouds.

In absence of light, his eyes could not see where his feet were taking him. All he knew was he needed to save himself from the monster that was chasing him.

How long his weak and old feet could take him? Not long enough to save him from the chasing monster.

A point came when his feet froze in their place, unable to move further. His panting breaths echoed against the acute silence. his shirt was drenched in sweat. The cold air hitting hard on his warm skin.

He took the support of a nearby tree. He coughed loudly, his throat dryer than before. Inhaling through the nose was not enough so he took the air through his mouth to fill his lungs.

Minutes passed and he did not hear the man following him. Maybe he had successfully lost his tail. It was past midnight and Mr Payne wanted to get back home to his wife.

After getting control over his breathing he straightened up and decided to leave the woods as fast as possible. But when he looked around he realised that it was not the way he wanted to take it. It was not the way that would lead him back to his home.

"You forgot to bring me along with you, Mr Payne."

Mr Payne's body stilled hearing that sweet voice. His insides churned in fear. There stood the same dark-haired man but he looked different.

The dim whitish-blue light cleared Mr Payne's vision a little and he saw the horrifying glint in the man's dark eyes. His fangs were out and so were his claws. His dark eyes shone red as if all the blood in his body had dissipated in his eyes.

Pain shot through Mr Payne's chest and his hand instinctively went to clutch it tightly. His body trembled in vibrations and he felt that someone was drowning him in the deep sea.

"Wh-who are you?" He managed to stutter.

The man smiled devilishly at him as he did not move from his place.

"Darius Garfield!"

The pressure on Mr Payne's chest increased by ten folds. His eyes sprang wide open as if he had seen a ghost.

He had seen something terrible than just a ghost. They say there are some good ghosts but the monster in front of him.... it was far from the word good.

His red eyes glinted with a promise of the end. And before Mr Payne could repeat his name in his mind, Darius was right in front of his face with his fangs barred at him.

"Say goodbye to the world and your dear wife, Mr Payne!"

Loud screams full of agony, the pain of betrayal and disappointment of not saying goodbye echoed in the woods. In that silent night, there was not even a single soul to reply to his call of help or witness his heart-wrenching end.

The cries stopped only after Mr Payne's pale immobile body fell on the ground.