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Storm clouds choked the sky. Thick and black they unleashed their fury, a torrent of stinging rain which fell onto a dismal world. A world that was painted in murky shades of grey from a long failed light. There was no thunder to give a voice to the weather's ire. No lightning shattered the oppressive mood with a blast of light. There was only the spattering of water on the ground and persistent gloom. The cloud canopy had rolled over the small town as unexpectedly as an avalanche and now
the rain soaked the cobbled streets. Sheets of water came down off the roof tops and added to the torrent already swirling on the ground. The ground had more puddles than not, and the dry patches stretched out vainly like a few small islands being overtaken by a flash flood.

The standing water splashed up from running feet. A young woman, a girl really, fled through the dark rain-soaked streets as though hell itself were at her heels.

Perhaps it was.

Gabriella Pendolari raced through the stormy night. She dared not halt her flight long enough to bang on any of the wooden doors she passed to request refuge, her pursuer was too close behind
for her to risk slowing down even a little. Anyway, she doubted that the demon could be held back by the simple doors even if she could gain entry. Nor was the creature likely to balk at slaughtering any who tried to aid the petrified maiden.

So Gabriella made her way towards the only safe place that she could think of. The only location she could hope to receive sanctuary. She ran towards the small church on the outskirts of her small town.

The houses gradually gave way to humble plots of land used for the simple farming that allowed the town to support itself. The cobbled streets became bare mud tracks worn into the grass over many years of usage. The air seemed to be growing clearer. A bright full moon shone intermittently in the small gaps that
had appeared between the foreboding black clouds. Rain lashed down in sheets and finally the first bolt of lightening flashed. Thunder may have followed but Gabriella heard nothing beyond her own laboured breath and the blood pumping in her ears.

Her light clothes were now sodden and heavy with rain water and seemed to be actively working against her escape. The young woman slipped on the slick ground, she came back up instantly and ran on. She never looked back, afraid of what she might see. As Gabriella ran to the holy place she lost first her left and then right shoe to the sucking mud. She rushed through the gate and onto the grounds of the church. Her feet were bare, muddy, bruised, cut and bleeding, and she was too numb to notice. The
feelings of horror which filled her head could not be displaced by a purely physical discomfort. Keeping to the path, avoiding the graveyard and tombstones, she ran to the heavy doors of the church. The doors stood open welcoming her to the protective embrace of the holy building.

From barely behind came the wet slaps of the undead monster's feet on the sodden ground, maddeningly close and pacing with a beat that came so calm and even. Staring straight ahead Gabriella sped into the holy building. Putting her slender shoulder to the door she pushed it closed, easily ignoring where the roughly planed wood rubbed against her. The strong inner brace was positioned across the doors with an effort. Gabriella had barely lowered the brace when the
doors quivered as the vampire knocked to be let in.

Gabriella backed slowly away. The monster had been following her all the way from D'Silva's barn and it could have caught her long before now she was sure of it. She was almost exhausted from the dual drains of terror and exertion but that
thing
was only playing games, tormenting her.

Gabriella gasped for air, the knocking continued but it sounded faint and impotent against the strong doors of her sanctuary, perhaps now she was safe. Gulping down air and shivering from equal parts fear and cold she approached the front of the church and knelt before a faded portrait of the Madonna. Making the sign of the cross on her chest she bowed her head and
mouthed a silent prayer for salvation. She looked up at the representation of the Holy Mother. In the picture she was robed in simple clothes with a pale blue head scarf framing her pious face. It was a reasonably good painting held in a simple wooden frame. The portrait was mounted on the wall behind the modest table/altar, the focal point where the stained glass window might have been in a larger church.  Positioned up against the wall perpendicular to that upon which the portrait was mounted was a short stone font. Gabriella stood at the foot of the three small steps that led up to the raised area at the front. The small church didn't have a pulpit from which the priest could deliver his sermons, instead he usually stood beside the worn table made of a rich dark wood that Gabriella couldn't
name. The table had been draped with a thin cloth and called an altar. Most of the religious artefacts that were present during services had been removed leaving the altar uncharacteristically bare. Only a leather-bound bible and a small bronze crucifix remained.

Mounting the steps she reached out with shaking hands and took the decorative crucifix down, clutching it tightly to her chest. Theft from the church was a terrible sacrilege but Gabriella felt sure she would be forgiven. If the unholy creature outside found a way into the church before dawn this would serve her as her protection, if not Gabriella would wait until it was light outside to make her escape. She would return the crucifix to Father Eduardo at her soonest opportunity afterwards. So the object
wasn't really going to be stolen, just borrowed for a short time. Whatever others might think, He would know her intentions were pure.

Gabriella curled up behind the altar under the painting of the Virgin Mary. She was cold, she was wet and she was shivering. Her sky blue dress was torn, soaked and plastered in dirt. She had lost her new woollen shawl somewhere early on in the chase. Gabriella started to sob. It was ridiculous, she thought. She had been fleeing for her life, maybe even for her immortal soul, from a vampire and here she was bursting into tears because she had lost a stupid woollen shawl, it wasn’t like her mother couldn’t soon make her a new one. She sniffed and wiped her nose on the thin sleeve of her
dress adding to the considerable mess already there.

Gabriella held her breath. The rain lashed at the church's plain glass windows, a clap of thunder reverberated in the air. There came the sound of drips from inside the church, rain entering the building through the leaky roof. There was a collection box on the wall to the right of the doors to pay for the fixing of the roof. Father Eduardo, the priest who came to the church to perform services, had congratulated the townspeople on their generosity. They would have sufficient funds to repair the building in no time, he'd said.

She listened to the rhythmic drip-dripping of the precipitation on the stone floor for several minutes. After a while her heartbeat seemed to be steadying
down and her breathing returned to normal. After the initial knocking at the door by the vampire creature there had been no further sounds from it. Had the faith which had guided Gabriella’s flight to this sanctuary proven strong enough to turn the creature away?

Her courage coming back to her as she dried off and warmed up, the reckless courage that had led to a young woman being outside alone so late at night in the first place, Gabriella pushed herself up from the cold stone floor. Cautiously, her bare feet silent on the stone, she stepped around the altar. Clutching the bronze crucifix tightly in both hands in front of her Gabriella walked down the steps and down the aisle between the twin rows of wooden seats.

The leak continued to drip behind her matching the rhythm of her heart.

Gabriella slowed her footsteps as she passed the halfway point between altar and doors. What was that? Had she heard a sound emanating from the entrance or were her fading nerves playing tricks on her? Was the hell spawn still out there . . . . waiting for her?

Gradual drips continued behind her.

Gabriella tightened her grip on the crucifix, her knuckles were white.

She froze in place and held her breath. The noise of falling water was all she could hear, seeming to grow louder and louder with each passing moment. It had been nothing, simply her own imagination playing on her fears. She let the breath she had been holding slip away with a sigh.

With a thunderous crash, louder than anything the storm had managed, the thick wooden brace snapped. The heavy oak doors of the church exploded inwards in a shower of splinters.

Gabriella released her left hand from its hold on the crucifix and shielded her face from the stinging debris. Looking past her arm, which was cut under her ragged sleeve, she saw only the darkness and rain outside. There was no sign of her unholy pursuer.

Gabriella scanned the entrance attentive for anything to alert her to the vampire's whereabouts. She held her breath and waited anxiously. Her heart pounded in her chest and goose bumps appeared where her skin was exposed to the chill air. The church was silent, the only sound reaching Gabriella's ears was
that of the weather outside. It took a moment for her to realise what that meant. The dripping had stopped.

Gabriella turned. The demonic woman strode arrogantly towards her. She had no idea how the creature had entered the building. She cowered back holding the crucifix out in front of her. He would not abandon her.

The vampire walked calmly in measured steps up to the terrified young woman. The vampire moved her hips almost seductively, definitely flirtatiously, as she neared her. Gabriella stood frozen as the demon reached out to pry her fingers from the crucifix. She had her fingers bent back inexorably but without any pain and the crucifix fell out of her grip. Sweeping its arm down gracefully the vampire snatched it out of the air.
Taking the bronze piece to her face the vampire slowly placed her lips to the metal placing a languid kiss directly on the representation of Christ. She extended her tongue and proceeded to lick down the entire length of Christ’s body. The vampire never took its eyes from the petrified young woman’s.

The smiling vampire casually opened her hand to let the crucifix drop to the floor where it hit with an echoing clang. Then she placed her left hand on Gabriella's left shoulder and stepped behind the girl. She leaned in close pressing her cool undead body up against the human's suddenly hot back and tenderly swept Gabriella's wet hair behind her ear.

"Did you really think such a thing would stop me, child?" she whispered.

Gabriella felt a shudder run down her body as the creature’s cold breath touched her neck. She hadn't thought vampires could breathe, though how could they produce speech if they were without any breath?  Then again, before tonight she hadn't ever thought vampires really existed so surely she could be forgiven her misconceptions.

Although her mind was free to ponder such random things her body was fixed in place like a fence post forced deep into the ground. Her thoughts would not turn to more immediate concerns for her safety or of escape though she was sure she wished they would.

Gabriella was still frozen in her terror as the demon traced its right hand from her shoulder down her slender arm. The vampire ran her fingers over Gabriella's
stomach sending another quiver through her body as she brought her hand up to her breast. When the creature's hand reached its target Gabriella felt an intense thrill that shocked her back into action.