Birds chirped and warm rays of sunlight fell through the gss of the high arched window between the half-opened, long purple curtains. An ambience of freshly cut, delightfully fragrant flowers stood on the bedside table, right next to a more than comfortable, ornate wooden double bed, with high corner posts and surrounding cherry red sheer curtains.

  This was the sight Samantha saw when she awoke again, but this time she felt much stronger and was able to pick herself up on her wide, back-supporting pillow. She was silent, for someone was flitting about this room and there was a slight clink, but she also heard the smell of freshly brewed coffee and of pastries, grapes and sausage.

  "Oh, you’re finally awake?" a woman’s voice remarked from beyond the curtains.

  Samantha hadn’t the faintest idea where she was, but she remembered: there was this huge monster, the snapping freaks, gunshots, gunshots everywhere! She rubbed her face hastily, wondering if that had just been a bad nightmare and maybe she was just waking up from her sleep, somewhere on holiday? “How could I not wake up to that lovely smell?”

  "That’s what I like to hear," the woman said, revealing the silhouette of a maid through the curtain, her clothes having a style of their own. "You have no idea how seldom I get to serve up a proper breakfast, and then really on an early morning when the sun is smiling."

  "When else should you have breakfast?" asked Samantha, slightly confused, as the sluggishness of awakening gradually faded and she wondered: where the hell am I supposed to go on holiday? On the other hand, she didn’t want to embarrass herself and call the maid on it in case she was just wrong and had perhaps had one too many drinks yesterday "What did you say your name was?"

  "Oh, we haven’t had the pleasure yet. I’m Emilie," the woman introduced herself and prudently opened the curtains so that more of the beautiful sunlight could be seen and felt. Then she quickly began dusting some stuffed birds on pedestals. "I’ve been checking on you for the past few days and also cleaning your wound."

  "My ... wound?" it horrified Samantha and only now did she see the multiple bandages around her left forearm, where the memory of the pain when she was bitten immediately fshed through her mind as if it was just happening again! This was not a dream?! She let herself ask. “Wh-what the hell happened?”

  “The way Raug reported it, a zombie bit her,” Emilie told her matter-of-factly, setting the tray of breakfast down on the bedside table. "I saw one in the bs once. Creepy, disgusting creatures."

  "Zombie? Bit me? Is that supposed to be a bad joke?!" questioned Samantha huffily. That was absolutely not her sense of humour. "And who is Raug?"

  "Your saviour, the only ghoul of the house."

  "What house? And what is a ghoul?"

  “As a matter of fact, I’m not too deeply versed in the matter,” Emilie admitted sheepishly, assuming an expectant posture in front of the bed. "Patriarch Stein once titled it that: Not alive and not dead, that’s a ghoul."

  "You keep adding more and more expressions and names foreign to me ...," Samantha remarked in frustration, dropping her face into her hands. "I beg you, if this is a bad joke, please stop it now."

  "I’m sorry, the patriarch figured you hadn’t digested all this yet," Emilie said, leaning forward apologetically, but she wasn’t going to let it get the best of her either. "But everything I’m telling you is true. Here, let me show you and don’t be scared, okay?"

  Suspiciously, Samantha squinted between her fingers to the entrance of the room where the maid opened the door and Samantha widened her eyes in disbelief and out of fear!

  There it was! The muscle packed monster that could rival an action figure like Hulk! "Woman must stay in room."

  "I know Raug," Emilie nodded at the giant, inviting him in with an outstretched hand. "But please, come in for a moment, or our guest won’t believe me."

  "Raug enter," the ghoul murmured, making a few stomps into the room.

  Hastily, Samantha pushed herself to the far corner of her bed! She wanted to get away from this critter if possible and fumbled carelessly around, looking for her pistol. "Just stay away from me!"

  "Take it easy," Emilie pcated gently. "Raug only smashes his enemies."

  "I SHOULD TAKE IT EASY?!" cried Samantha, stunned, and with no weapon to be found, her hand darted for a throw first to a cushion, then to a vase of flowers, and finally to the china coffee pot! "FUCK OFF!"

  Not a flinch came from Raug as everything in turn flew against his head and the pot shattered against his face. Clearly the scalding hot contents boiled on his pale skin as the colossus looked untouched at the maid. "Police woman is ungrateful. Raug saved her."

  "I know Raug," Emilie patted the ghoul’s thick arm as an aside, but she gnced at the bed. "You do realise that, don’t you? Without Raug, I’m sure you would have become zombie grub, like ..."

  "Like what?", Samantha narrowed her eyes and stared at the two strangers.

  While Emilie looked away sorrowfully, Raug revealed simply. "All the policemen in the forest were dead. Raug was killing zombies. Then Raug buried zombies and policemen well hidden."

  " ... They’re all dead?" gulped Samantha, dropping into a defeated crouch. "This must be a nightmare."

  "Yes," Emilie swivelled her head back and forth in understanding. "So it is with many when you are first confronted with such things and then so harshly at the same time. Fortunately, the patriarch was the first to open this world to me."

  "You speak as of this great patriarch," Samantha grated sceptically. "Who is that? The supreme ghul?"

  Raug looked displeased. "Patriarch no ghoul."

  "Right, he’s the head of this house, but not a ghoul," Emilie denied, becoming more composed. "He wanted to speak to you anyway, as soon as you were fit. When you have eaten, I will be happy to let him know."

  "You expect ... me to eat now?!" asked Samantha incredulously, spping the soft mattress. "Seriously?! If he’s the boss, I want to see him now or I’m going to get really pissed off!" That’s what Samantha needed now - control. She had dedicated her life to the w and needed to keep a level head at all times, but how was she going to do that here? Talking to the leader was her only option.

  "As you wish," Emilie leaned forward politely. "Raug, back to your post."

  The ghoul stomped back in front of the door. "Raug is guarding."

  "And in your interest, please note one thing," Emilie indicated, as she now not only drew the curtains on the window but, via an electronic input panel beside the entrance, extended metal fps on the outer facade that shut out all sunlight with a heavy closing. Then, as she left, she was still sweeping up the fragments of the can. "This room, I’m afraid you’re not allowed to leave for the time being."

  This bckout action did not make things any better for Samantha and she wondered what it was all about. However, tasteful floor mps and wall torches set in casings now unfurled their light, creating a pleasant after-work atmosphere for her and for want of better options, and because she was damn hungry, she ate from the breakfast that had been brought and at least still had a carafe of water to drink.

  The meal had been really tasty and had made Samantha papp full. The knock on the door just as she had put everything away gave her the impression that she was being watched. "Come in," Samantha said indecisively. Who would knock here, when she was guarded by a ghoul and not in her own home?

  Raug was still covering the background when the door opened with a creak, but in the foreground was an elderly man. "Good afternoon," murmured the stranger with white hair who could easily have been an actor! He possessed a characteristic stony face and a melodious announcer’s voice, though the loose six-foot-four man seemed amused. "Rare that I say that."

  "Who doesn’t say good afternoon?" retorted Samantha directly. "It’s common courtesy."

  "That’s why I knocked on this door in my own house."

  "Your house mh?", Samantha folded her arms. In bed, she was no longer. "So you’re that patriarch?"

  "Yes, Stein, Oskar Stein of Nassau," Oskar introduced himself with a deep bow, pcing his right hand over his heart.

  Scarcely, Samantha returned. "Police Officer Rockford."

  "A pleasure to make your acquaintance," Oskar said erect, in voice and posture. "Even if the circumstances are far less pleasant, and therefore, full of self-disappointment, I wish to express my regrets to you."

  "Full of self-disappointment?" questioned Samantha, combining suspiciously. "Did you set the so-called zombies on my unit and me?"

  "No, no one sicced the zombies on you," Oskar affirmed composedly, walking around the room inspectively. His whole, preened get-up had something of a mixture of nobility and German officer about it anyway. Grey was the tone-setting colour of his clothes, supported by bck and red. Leather formed the main part of the material, but yarn was woven into it as well, with the thighs of the trousers bulging out in a balloon shape and Oskar wearing an extra overcoat over his already broad-looking shoulders. "Still, it all happened in my territory. I bear the responsibility."

  The words meant nothing to Samantha and she did not hide her displeasure. "Your territory? Who are you? The head warlock?"

  "Normally someone like me is called a vampire," Oskar mentioned casually as he slipped the blossoms of a flower pced in a vase between his fingers. "But yes, I lead the cn that controls this area."

  "Zombies, ghouls, vampires," Samantha enumerated sarcastically on her fingers, but there was also a pinch of disbelief pying from her. "Now, if we add the werewolves and gargoyles, we’ll have everything we need for a scary story. Spare me such nonsense and tell me what’s going on!"

  "Your frustration I understand," Oskar confessed and now turned his full attention to the woman, standing taut and what was that look? His eyes seemed like a cat’s. "But your doubt? You saw those things in the forest, you saw Raug there and at your door, and from what I have learned about you, you are a highly intelligent woman. So why would you close yourself off like that?"

  "You know about me, eh? What have you been doing? Visited my social media profile?"

  "I prefer more old-fashioned methods, such as enquiries, inspection of files, favours."

  "Bribery and corruption," Samantha said wfully, but it all went nowhere and she gave the man a chance. "But well, let’s assume for a second I believe everything you tell me - why am I here? What do you want from me?"

  "Insight and assessment."

  "About what?"

  "How about this: a cssic question and answer game," Oskar suggested, holding out his palm. "Someone asks a question, gets an answer, and then gets asked a question themselves."

  "Fair deal."

  "Wonderful, and as a gentleman of long ago, Ladies first."

  "Lady," Samantha snorted jokingly, but that mood immediately gave way to seriousness. "Are all my colleagues dead?"

  "According to Raug, yes," Oskar replied with a sweep of his eyes to the closed door. "He buried them all. But according to media reports, your partner Brown survived, as did the policemen at the road check. You yourself are presumed dead."

  "Great ... your question?"

  Oskar’s interest came across as trite. "Why were you in the woods?"

  "We were chasing a suspected murderer," Samantha told him, guessing that the man already knew anyway because of the media. "But that’s not news to you, right?"

  "Correct. Your partner said you were at a farm and found the body of a woman there, as well as the surviving youngest child of the house."

  "Why am I here?"

  "Ghouls are simple, but not completely stupid. Raug’s targets were the zombies and you gave him no valid reason to eliminate you immediately."

  Samantha quickly drilled further. "What exactly is a ghoul anyway?"

  "You’re going too fast, my ptoon: I know this is going to sound strange, but did you notice anything suspicious in the forest beyond zombies, screams and gunshots?"

  Only one thing came to Samantha’s mind. "There were virtually no animals there."

  "Yes, I’m sure it was the zombies," Oskar murmured soberly, scratching his marble cheeks with conspicuous, cw-like fingers. "I’m talking about strange symbols, phenomena or other people."

  "No, I don’t remember anything. There were no other traces to indicate such things, and as an avid game hunter, I consider myself to have a good eye, even in the dark."

  "Never underestimate the night," Oskar underlined loftily and came closer to the woman, but he kept enough distance not to become intrusive. In return, he became mysterious and rabid, as if he were caught between two stools of gratitude and contempt regarding Raug. "Even though ghouls are not bound to the night. Ghouls are humans who can be bound to this world on a knife edge to death by a powerful blood mage. It is a gruesome existence, neither alive nor dead, pgued by fragments of memories of the previous life, with no chance of reciming that or a real will of their own."

  Anxiously, Samantha put a hand over her mouth. "This is inhumane and wrong, worse than many punishments."

  "It is, but it was Raug’s dying wish and he was my first and st ghoul," Oskar added as he seemed to drift off for a fleeting moment before reflecting. "He is bound to my life force and his obedience is mine alone."

  "I ... don’t like this game anymore."

  "And yet we’ve only scratched the surface," Oskar asserted macabrely, not missing another whimsical question in the same tone. "Do you want to live?"

  "I’m sorry, what?" asked Samantha slowly, rolled over. "What kind of absurd question is that?"

  "How can that question be absurd?" countered Oskar, and even though he seemed elegant and distinguished, he now showed a subtle, threatening note in his manner. "A world has been revealed to you of which very few people have any knowledge, and yet you know nothing. You may be my guest here, but I’m sure you’ve already guessed that there’s a catch. So do you think you could leave so easily, with your present knowledge?"

  Samantha had rarely felt so small in her life. "No."

  "Then again, do you want to live?"

  "That would be fine with me, yes."

  "Excellent," Oskar nodded and sat down on the edge of the rge bed. "However, in order to do that, you will have to make a choice."

  "Which one?" retorted Samantha, taking a few steps back from the patriarch. "Is this the moment by which I am to become the immortal bride?"

  "Don’t mix fantasy and reality," Oskar pointed out, lowering his head in thought before murmuring into his hands. "There will only ever be one bride for me."

  "Gd that’s settled," Samantha breathed a sigh of relief. "So what is attached to my life?"

  Oskar indulged his previous thoughts for a moment longer, revealing a moment of humanity, but the vampire drowned that out with a quick rise from the bed. "The best option for both of us would be for you to commit to me. Good cops within the GKPD are a rarity."

  "Commit myself to you?" asked Samantha pointedly. "How old are you, Lord Vampire? Do I have to imagine this is like the Middle Ages, with knighthood and oath of allegiance?"

  So far Oskar had been polite, but the brash attitude of his guest did not quite pass him by. "I like you, but please extend the same courtesy to me that I extend to you, because I might as well save all that and make it quick and easy for myself."

  That had been a clear announcement for Samantha. "Forgive me, please: So, what exactly does your offer mean?"

  "You will continue with your life as usual," Oskar expined contentedly. "With the difference that I am your new secret boss, if you like it that way."

  "I don’t mean to be insulting, but there’s something about Mafia methods," Samantha stated, crossing her arms several times in denial. "I’m not a corrupt cop."

  "I would see it more as an expansion of your horizons," Oskar argued frankly. Suddenly a vase of flowers began to float towards him, rotating above his right hand. "If you want true justice, you would gain insights into human society through me as never before."

  This levitation trick certainly impressed Samantha. "Would I also, hypothetically, have to kill people? Something like unwanted witnesses?"

  Oskar levitated the vase into his guest’s arms before speaking clearly. "A rare but possible situation. Everything just has a price."

  Carefully, Samantha pced the vase on the dessert. "I’m not a murderer."

  "You would let the chance to act more freely pass you by?" doubted Oskar demurely. He must have had a different opinion of the woman. "Spare one perhaps innocent soul and let hundreds of vicious ones escape in exchange?"

  Yes, Samantha could not immediately deny. The thought of being able to do so much more for justice was tempting, but her conscience was stronger. "I would."

  "Honourable, but if you live to see 20 more years, you will see it differently - believe me."

  "Perhaps, but I must have that experience myself," Samantha said steadfastly and with conviction. "I would rather die than accept that offer."

  The patriarch’s look seemed all the more interested after hearing that. "Principledness is an even rarer commodity these days and your decision will not necessarily lead to your end."

  "It doesn’t? How else can I live?"

  "Everything you have seen and heard must never leave your mouth," Oskar decred less affectionately and he turned away. Instead, he looked at himself in a rge oval mirror, negating the fictional stereotype that vampires had no reflection. "But unfortunately, that doesn’t guarantee your continued existence."

  That didn’t sound good, but it was a better choice for Samantha right now. "And why is that the case?"

  "Rules," Oskar said, looking back over his shoulder at her. "I am willing to let you go for your silence, but even though I have enormous influence and control over these nds, I am part of a much rger society and I must answer to it. Therefore, your oath of silence may not be enough for them and you may be mercifully killed ."

  Mercy didn’t quite make sense to Samantha here, "What’s merciful about it?"

  "Mental destruction would be an option," Oskar pronounced mirthlessly, pying out the scenario. "You would be the perfect target for such a campaign: the incident in the forest has taken a heavy toll on you and unfortunately your mental state is very unstable. That’s why you’re being committed to a closed psychiatric ward and then when you start talking about vampires and zombies who did this to you ... do you realise how diabolical that would be? Locked away for eternity and incapacitated."

  "Holy shit," Samantha muttered to herself and swallowed. That really would have been far worse than her death, but still, her sense of honour still prevailed.

  Oskar realised this and made a new suggestion. "Your choice is in no hurry. Be my guest and think about it for a few days."

  "You say guest, but I am captive," Samantha observed. She was not taken with the idea. "And I don’t think my answer will change."

  "I could well imagine that," Oskar admitted, but the patriarch was still pursuing an approach with his suggestion. "However, things will settle down a little more with each passing day. Perhaps enough so that the Tenebrae would accept your current choice."

  "The Tenebrae?"

  Oskar smirked. "As I said, stay here a little longer and broaden your horizons. It might be worth your while and of course the whole estate and grounds would be at your free disposal."

  "Ah yes?"

  "Certainly, but please no bad escapes," Oskar admonished, angling his left arm like a perch. All at once feathers flew from above and one of the stuffed ravens fluttered nimbly to the vampire. "We see a lot and if you find yourself in a pce were you feel like you shouldnt be there, just turn around."

  Samantha wanted to lie to herself, but she couldn’t quite. This vampire certainly piqued her curiosity, even if the bird thing was more like a cheap, if good, magic trick, and he seemed genuinely interested in her wellbeing. So if a few more days could ensure her survival, what difference would they make now? "All right, I accept the offer of your hospitality. Just one more question absolutely must go out."

  "I’m curious."

  Crifying, Samantha raised her doctored arm. "Am I not becoming a zombie too?"

  "Pure fiction, my dear," Oskar ughed softly to himself. "But it’s about time. I will rest now. You have a pleasant day."

  "And to you, er, a good night ter?" waved Samantha tensely as the vampire left after a polite bow.

  "Raug, she′s free to move about our pce," Oskar was still saying outside, becoming more thoughtful at the end. "I have to leave ter. You go patrol the estate."

  "Raug guard Kn," the ghoul grumbled and slowly left his post.